Force and Motion

We have looked at many different aspects of force and motion in Science.  We used a marble maze, balloons, tops, videos, found items in the classroom, and parachutes to illustrate properties of movement, force, and their favorite…gravity.  They talk about gravity ALL DAY LONG in their little conversations at school :-)

Today we got to go outside and test out our parachutes.  Many ideas for improvement came out of this as they considered size, shape, and the weight of their passenger.  Some of them are choosing to bring their parachutes home today to repair and play with.  

What fun!

Sharing/Special Helper new routines

We have a new routine and schedule for sharing/special helper.  Each child will remain special helper for a full week.  They will also share during this week.  Most parents have found it easy to just send 5-7 items to school on Monday of their child's week.  Please encourage your child to bring things that teach the class something about them and their special interests.  Family pictures, creative works, vacation momentos, talent related items or skills (i.e., singing, karate uniform, etc.), or maybe even reading a story they have practiced to the class :-)  Just some suggestions.

The schedule will be as follows.  New parents, please note, this schedule was made with the end of the year in mind…18 children with 19 weeks to go.  I will figure out a plan for our newbies, ASAP.

Week of…

Feb 2 - Mannix
Feb 9 - Nathan
Feb 16 - Bodhi
Feb 23 - Ethan
Mar 2 - Keegan
Mar 23 - Isla
Mar 30 - Zackary
Apr 6 - Jake
Apr 13 - Charlie C
Apr 20 - James
Apr 27 - Cole
May 4 - Maddie
May 11 - Len
May 18 - Molly
May 25 - Charlie R.
Jun 1 - Lachlan
Jun 8 - Dayton
Jun 15 - Maya

Sharing change

Sharing is officially over in its current form.  We are taking a week off next week (Feb 26-30) and beginning a new, more simplified routine after that.  More information to come.

Friday Activities

We introduced a couple of new activities at our Friday centers today.

Sand trays are a great tool for children to practice printing skills.  They have the option of using a tool (stick) or their finger for those children who love the feel of the sand on their fingers.  Personally, I would rather fall in lava!  It is a great tactile activity and very engaging.

We also had an activity called "touch and match."  In this game, students turn over a card to reveal an object.  They then fish around in a container looking for that object by touch only.  It is a very fun way of eliciting vocabulary about the characteristics of objects (i.e., "that one should feel round, fuzzy, soft", etc.).  It is also great to exercise the sense of touch without any help from the rest of the senses.  Oh, and it is just plain fun!

These are things you can definitely do at home if you like!

Grade 1s also worked on their word study by reading, stamping, and printing words that we picked out of our story of the week.  Many of them recognized that these are words they see all the time.  Their goal is to make these words like pictures in their minds so they don't have to think about them.  This is an ongoing project with all sorts of words throughout the year.

Beautiful playground pics :-)

We have everything in this class from adventure seekers, make-believers, spies, jocks, floaters who go wherever the fun is, dizzies, and relaxers.  I hope I got everyone…they move pretty fast!

Children as teachers

Both grades continue to practice skills involving number sense.  Today we looked at ways to make 10. After a group lesson, Grade 1s worked in their workbooks (subtraction coming soon!) and Kindergarten children got to take turns being teacher and asking their students to make sets of 10.  It was great to see how they encouraged eachother and checked for understanding before ending their turn.

Syllables

Kindergarten students have started to learn syllables.  They picked this up very quickly.  Maybe get them to show their stuff by asking them how to segment 1 (hardest), 2, 3, or 4 (challenging) syllable words!

Tennis!

We started Tennis with Markus today.  They were so well engaged and behaved and practiced those skills.  I figured they wouldn't remember much about what they did so here are the pics to help initiate some conversations.

Welcome back!

So good to be back…except for that whole alarm thing this morning!  It is wonderful to see the children, and they are so happy to be back with their friends.

Thank you all so much for the Christmas gifts and, in particular the Spa Utopia gift card.  I enjoyed a wonderful 3 hours getting my hair done over the break (sigh).

New things to come as far as what we're up to!  Will update soon.

In the meantime, just an FYI, I am attending a series of workshops with the primary team each Wednesday morning (until lunch) this month so there will be a TOC in here at that time.  Please be sure to call absences into the office on those days in particular.