Kindergarten
Kindergarten has been so busy learning! We feel so independent as learners! This month was super fun with two very important celebrations! We celebrated the 100th day of School. We counted 100 items, made sculptures with 100 cups, we wrote out numbers to 100 and so many more fun activities connect to the number 100. Then we celebrated Valentine's Day. We wrote about friendship, read books, shared a treats and exchanged Valentines with our classmates. We are also learning about needs and wants. We are investigating this topic during Inquiry and throughout the day. We are making so many connections! We are excited to learn and explore if kids around the world have the same needs and wants as we do! So much to learn and do!
Primary
Between the 100th day of school, Valentines Day, Portfolio Shares, assessments, and the rigor of daily learning, our kids are busy. Over the next month we will be starting a new planner about how the world works, specifically how matter works! We will be doing a lot of experiments with different materials in different states of matter and we will analyze how they change forms.
This is the time of year when we see a lot of growth in reading! Please listen to your child read at home and encourage them to read signs, labels and directions that they encounter in daily life. This will help boost reading confidence and the kids will see themselves as readers! The best way to grow readers to to give them time to read! Have a dedicated time for reading and model a lifelong habit for your child.
Our classes are continuing to work on writing nonfiction pieces we call "All About Books," or research papers. One way to support this writing is through reading nonfiction books and magazines with your child. Find a topic they love or want to know more about and read! While you are reading point out the text features and how you use them. Your child is becoming an expert at using nonfiction text features and they may teach you a thing or two. We always need more ideas to write about! Make a list of topics your child is an 'expert' at and could teach someone about. This can become their next book!
In math, younger friends are learning about different forms of measurements and fractions. They are learning the concepts of longer and shorter while they measure using different materials ,as well as, learning the fractions of halves and fourths. In addition, students are learning how to read clocks to the hour and half hour. Please practice at home. Point out the analog and digital clocks around your home and places you go. The kids should be able to tell time on both types of clocks. Older friends are working on adding different forms of coins up to one dollar. It's a great time to play with coins. Have students count them in different ways and practice trading in coins for equivalent ones. Older Friends are also practicing telling time and should be able to read a clock in five minute increments, as well as, be able to use and understand terms such as quarter to and half past.
Elementary
The Elementary Level classes have been engaged in two social studies based planners. One planner investigated how communities around the world use organization to meet their needs. Classes read about the hottest/coldest place on earth or the most crowded/least crowded place on earth and discussed how people meet their needs in those extreme places. Students looked at the idea of interdependence and kept track of where their food and household goods come from. Classes also discussed the difference between needs and wants and how where you live may influence what you need.
Our other planner has looked at cultures around the world. The central idea of this unit is each community and culture has a unique identity. Students dove into this learning through read alouds, reading folktales, studying holiday traditions from different cultures, and researching countries. Our unit culminated with students doing a comparison of two cultures to help see the similarities between them.
Our next planner is a science based one. Students will learn about different Earth processes such as glaciers, earthquakes, erosion, and natural disasters while studying the geology of New York State. This unit is full of hands-on lessons which always excite the students' curiosity to learn more!
Intermediate
Students at the intermediate level are finishing up the planner Biology, Culture and Ancestry by sharing a bit about themselves with their classmates. Each student is preparing a Brown Bag About Me or Culture Iceberg project as part as the summative assessment.
We will begin a new planner titled Human Beliefs & Perspectives. During this planner we will learn more about how human beliefs and perspectives influence change, conflict, peace and tolerance. We will also look at how power influences social order throughout periods in history.
We finished planning, designing and constructing sled for the QUEST sled race. We learned about how to work cooperatively with others, be flexible with our thinking and also to be patient for snow. Thank you goes to Mr. Booth for all of his work to make the sled race happen each year.
