The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Today the younger students finished reading the book, The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. We were all captivated by the story and thought a lot about what life might be like for a mouse living in a hotel. During read aloud, we have been talking about how we imagine the characters to look in our minds. The students spent some time drawing how they imagined Ralph (the mouse) to look. Some also drew how they were imagining the motorcycle to look. It was interesting to see how many different pictures we had in our mind, but yet how similar they were in some ways. The following are a few of the students' interpretations of The Mouse and the Motorcycle.

At the Circus

On Friday, we attended a performance at the Warehouse Theater on Campus. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed the dancing, magic, and circus tricks. Some students were even called up to help on stage! Read the entire article in the Columbia Tribune here.

Playing to Learn

"During the school day, there should be extended time for play. Research has shown unequivocally that children learn best when they are interested in the material or activity they are learning."

This is what journalist, Susan Engel, of the New York times wrote this week. Certainly, this is the philosophy SCCS holds too and this belief is reflected in our curriculum. I was thinking about this article today as I helped students prepare last minute details for the Living Museum. This is what I observed:

A group of students pretending to bats while creating a cave and discussing echolocation, while another group worked out who would be the horses and riders for the Pony Express. Aubrielle constructed last minute details to her model of Stephens College, while William was playing conductor in the train he built as past of his study of the MKT. Nicole, dressed as Sacajawea, adjusted her papoose and beaded headdress, and Paris got into costume as the flowering Dogwood, the Missouri State tree.

Certainly, all of these students were playing to learn. As they created, pretended, and explored, they learned about Missouri and knew an incredible amount of information. If you were able to make it to the Museum, you know what I'm talking about. This article in the New York Times is a reminder to us that play certainly should a central component of the classroom. We are so glad to experience this model everyday at SCCS.

Read the entire article here.

Missouri History Living Museum

The project we have been immersed in this week was the culmination of our Missouri History Study. Students have researched and created projects and costumes to reflect topics in Missouri such as: Lewis and Clark, caves, Stephens College, Missouri River, Laura Ingalls Wilder, State Capitol building, Mark Twain, George Washington Carver, the Pony express, and the Arch.

We hope you can make it to our Living Museum this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. A coffee social will follow for parents.

This Week in Math

Here is a quick look at our week in math. Next Monday, all math groups are celebrating the 100th Day of School! Have your child count and bring 100 items to school, such as paperclips, Q-tips, beans, coins, cotton balls, etc. Be as creative as you want, but please don't send anything edible.

Miss Watkins: We continued to work on estimating and counting. We did an activity called "Fill the Box," where students chose a box to fill with cubes and count. We then discussed the size of the box and how it determined if we would need few or many cubes.

Mrs. Watson: We started the week making combinations of 12 using addition and subtraction. They then wrote their own word problem that equalled 12. We finished the week by reading word problems and solving them using a variety of manipulatives.

Miss Riley: This week, we focused on word problems and key words to help decide whether the problem is addition or subtraction. Here is a great website to check out with your child.

Mrs. Johnson: Our group began a new study in data and statistics. We are looking at data collection, representation, and analysis. We discussed how to find the average (or mean) and the median to help analyze data. We hope you had fun participating in the homework this week - look for results of our study to be published next week.

New Character Education Focus

We are excited to announce we are beginning a new focus on character education to explore qualities such as respect, honesty, compassion, fairness, and responsibility. Each week, we will have a quality to learn about in our classroom! Next week, we will focus on friendship. You can help at home by discussing what friendship means with your child. Use the questions below to help guide your discussion:

1. What does friendship mean to you?

2. How do you know someone is a friend?

3. How can you make new friends?

4. What can you do if you argue with a friend?

5. How can you be a good friend to kids at school?

Here are some books to read at home to discuss friendship further.

New Literacy Groups!

Beginning Monday, we will have new groups in literacy. Read below to see which teacher your child will work with.

Mrs. Johnson: Paris, Samantha, Thomas Sa., Jack, Lilly, Collin R., Rachel G., Chase, Ethan Y.

Mrs. Watson: Will, Kaitlyn, Natalie, Konnar, Jeannie, Savannah, Jackson, Colin M., Thomas Sc.

Miss Watkins: Lillian, Joey, Olivia, Ethan M., Marvin, Rachel E., Miles

Miss Riley: Ben, William, Alex, Manny, Lexi, Isabel, Jacob, Alec, Molly, Nicole, Aubrielle