Ocean Film Festival

These are the documentaries created and produced entirely by our older students (1st - 4th graders). The students chose and designed everything from the pictures, text, music, and storyline to create an effective movie documentary about the ocean. We hope you are as moved by them as we were today at the Film Festival.

Aubrielle Tells us About our Special Visitors

On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday some Guatemalan women came and talked to us about their culture. We asked them questions through a translator (they speak Spanish). We learned that only rich children got presents from Santa Clause and they've never even heard of the Easter Bunny! Amparo de León de Rubio was 50 and Oralia Chopen was 34. In Guatemala they weave all their clothes. They learn when they're seven years old and only make outfits once a year. Even worse, they only have one pair of shoes! Many families are very poor, so there might be a class with 50 kids and only 10 books! These women have been very generous and gave us bracelets that they made. We gave them note books because they said most kids only have one piece of paper all day!

Dr. Lynch Brings a Surprise

Monday afternoon the doorbell rang...

To our surprise Dr. Lynch was at the door! She brought a box full of toys for our students to play with on the playground! We are very thankful and plan to write her thank you notes!

Miles

Miles had his All About Me this week! Next up is Isabel and Savannah.

We finished Geometry this week!

We finished our study of geometry this week and plan to move into measurement after spring break! While your child is off for our spring break look at all the different ways you use measurement! Cooking is a great way to practice!

Guatemalan Women

On Monday and Tuesday the women from Guatemala visited our classroom to tell us about their culture and what school is like where they live. They also taught us how to weave bracelets! Their clothing, bags, and other textiles are beautiful! If you are interested in buying some of their beautiful items, they will be selling TRAMA products all this week in Columbia Foyer from 12-5 pm. To learn more about TRAMA go to www.tramatextiles.com.

Shape Hunt

Multiage continues to explore the wonderful world of shapes! Miss Watkins's math group has been busy hunting for shapes all around our classroom, outside, and beyond. The students created a book of shapes and included photographs they took while searching outside. We created a video to share what we found!

Animal Action

Today in morning meeting, the 5 and 6-year-olds read the book Animal Action ABC by Karen Pandell and Art Wolfe.


We acted out the movements and sounds of each animal for each letter of the alphabet. The students focused on using their body to become the animal on the page. The movement was a great way to wake up and start the day. In literacy, students continued thinking about animal movements and sounds in their writing. Take a look at the students' action in the video below.

New Release Day in Literacy

On Friday's students get a chance to share what pieces they have been working on all week or sometimes even longer. Today we welcomed some pre-schoolers from Miss. Michele's class to come and share their own work too!

Ocean Experiments

In the slide show of Oceans you will see the youngest group of students working on two different experiments. We focused on the density of objects when placed in water.

Students made predictions about which objects would sink or float. Then they tested out their predictions by placing them in a bowl of water. We discovered objects that were heavier or "more dense" sunk and lighter objects or "less dense" of objects floated.

Next, students had to design and create a boat out of aluminum foil. Trick was that it had to hold the higgest amount of paper clips. First they drew a plan. Then we tested their boats design by placing them in a tub of water and gradually adding paper clips. Rachel G. seemed to have the higgest amount because we stopped counting at 400!

ALL ABOUT ME

We enjoyed listening to Colin's All About Me on Wednesday afternoon. He has two dogs at home. He loves being in Las Vegas. He has been to Disney Land. Feel free to learn about him by checking out his collage of pictures in the display case! Next week will feature Samantha and Alex.

Music Inspires Children

During literacy this week Thomas Sc. created a song in his draft book. When he was done publishing he said, "I think I want to be famous with this song!" He decided to ask the older students if they could produce a song on the piano to complement his piece. Together they worked and found a tone that would match his song. This has inspired many other students to create music, so next week we will work with popular nursery rhythms to help generate ideas! We will also have a variety of musical instrument to experiment with.

Geometry All Around

Miss Riley's math class went to enjoy the beautiful weather and to discover what shapes are in our world. They walked around campus to the quad and around the playground. Students were surprised to find that shapes make up everything surrounding us. Savannah realized, "We are organic shapes!"

Students found a cylinder while looking at a trash can and pole, a trapezoid made up the top of the trash can, and hemi-spheres and circles were found in the letters of a dorm hall. What shapes can you find with your family?

A Letter from the Parent Group

Hello parents,

A small group of parents have been communicating about starting a parent group. The purpose of the group would be to support the school by coordinating several social and fundraising events and to serve as a conduit to address common parent questions. (Any funds raised would be used for teacher appreciation, teacher wish lists, and extracurricular events such as school wide picnics or parties.)

We are currently planning several bake sales for this semester. The first bake sale will be on March 17 and 18. In the past, parents have provided goodies for the children to sell to the Stephens College community. To that end, sign up lists will be posted at the school to solicit your support with this endeavor. We hope you will participate by baking or purchasing items for the children, teachers, and college students to sell.

Additionally, we are planning on having a teacher appreciation event on May 5. Venus Morris will be heading that effort and will be seeking volunteers. So, please be on the lookout for more information about that in the near future.

Of course, no parent group will be successful without the support of the parents. If you have any ideas, questions, or concerns please feel free to contact either of us.

Sincerely,

Erika Fadel (Manny and Olivia’s mom – multiage) erikafadel@hotmail.com
Mellissa McAllister (Jackson’s mom – multiage) melissamillmcallister@yahoo.com
Venus Morris (Marvin’s mom – multiage) ygmorris22@hotmail.com
Chimene Schwach (Zachary’s mom – preschool) cschwach@hotmail.com
Jeanne Sullivan (Joey’s mom – multiage) Jeanne@more.net

The Art of Publishing

Part of the reason our students love to write (and write with purpose and passion) is because they love to publish. Students know their writing holds meaning and will be made into something beautiful to be celebrated and enjoyed by others. Publishing in many ways drives the writing process. What do we mean by "publishing?" Well, after drafting, the writing is made complete through sculpting, painting, building, making books, crafting dioramas, making an exhibit - this list goes on! Take a look for yourself and see...

Math is Language

In our classroom, our students know that math is more than a right or wrong answer. They know math is a process of trying strategies, talking, building, drawing, sharing, reflecting, and analyzing. Math is seen as a way to share information, a way to learn more about the world around us, and a valuable skill in life. We believe that writing, talking, and mathematical thinking go hand in hand. Take a look at how math happens in our classroom everyday.

3rd and 4th graders are busy at work collecting data on cats through analyzing characteristics and finding the mean, medium, mode, and percentages involved. They represent their work through creative posters to share their research findings.






















Kindergarten through 2nd grade students investigate geometry through discussion and creation. Through cutting out shapes, creating shape art in small groups, and identifying shapes in the world, these students see math as a way to communicate ideas.