Dear Families,

Here are some highlights of the past few weeks:

Language Arts/Social Studies
We began to read books about Mexico to get a feel of the country. A book the children are enjoying is Look What Came from Mexico by Miles Harvey. The children, so far, are showing interest in the culture of Mexico both modern and ancient. They are excited about Mexican artifacts, food, music, and are looking forward to learn a bit about some ancient sites. Next week we will begin to gather facts and make illustrations.

During our reading and writing time, particularly on Monday and Wednesday mornings, the children have been enjoying choosing activities designed to help each child learn at his/her own instructional level. Several children are choosing to make books – story books, poetry books, wordless books. Some are choosing to use our small reading books to create their own versions. At this time in the school year, it is awesome to watch the children manage their learning time with skill and balance.

Science
One of the children, Brian, brought in a bag of feathers belonging to a ruffed grouse bird found in his yard. Brian told the class that the deceased bird was examined by Mr. Stone at the Wildlife Pathology Unit in Delmar. The bird died of injuries caused by flying into something. The children were fascinated with the feathers – patterns, color, and size. They learned that a female ruffed grouse is called a partridge, and they totally enjoyed looking at the report and attempting to read big words such as: “A Record of a Pathological, Toxicological, or Physiological Examination Report.” The feathers, the report, and information Brian printed from his on line research are in the Science Center.

The children built nests using material they gathered on an exciting hike through the school’s muddy trails. They shaped the “bowl” portion of the nest with dough they made from flower and cornstarch. The children enjoyed pretending that the dough was mud. And as they shaped the nests with their hands, they tried to imagine how the birds build their nests with their beaks and their claws. They also wondered how the birds can build such strong nests weaving materials without using “glue.” They discovered how challenging it was to build them even with glue.

The children have continued to learn about the human body with Emily. Particularly, they enjoyed learning how the body gets energy from food as Emily read The Magic School Bus Inside The Human Body.

Math (First Grade)
The children are having fun investigating two and three dimensional shapes. They are learning the mathematical language to describe the characteristics of three dimensional shapes, and have been building polygons and polyhedrons. The children enjoyed spending one math class outside in the gardens looking for shapes in nature (but it turned more into looking for signs of spring). It was truly a very special and fun time and the children enjoyed posing for a few “first grade group photos.”

Kindergarten Math
Using the book Grandfather Tang’s Story by Ann Tompert as a model, the children made various animals from plastic and paper tangram shapes. They ended the week using paper tangrams to make the birds they researched with Liliana. The birds are hanging in the hall above the Hudson River outside our rooms. The children also conducted surveys in the 2/3 room and compiled the results.

Sharing
Through a democratic process of discussion/votes, the children came up with a sharing schedule and what to share. We are in the process of trying it out, and are discovering that sharing more than one item at a time (a set of something is also considered one item) can take a long time. So, we think one item at a time might work best time wise and in keeping everyone’s interest and focus. Here are the suggested things to share and the schedule:

Things to Share (children’s words with some help from me)
Something special to me
Unusual clothes like a Chinese dress
Special rocks
Unusual things
Pictures
Different kind of toy (for example: Jamie’s double deck bus)
Special card
A story
Things from nature
Special coins

The schedule can be adjusted to meet everyone’s needs. If we do not have time one day (things do come up….), we will share the next available day/time. Also, the children know that they do not have to share—-it is their choice.

The children have been wonderful about keeping things in their bags until their time to share.

A Special Time
grandparents from England spent a little time in the classroom talking to the children about England, showing pictures, and performing a card trick/magic. It was a wonderful time for everyone.
Spring break is the week of the 14th. I wish everyone a happy and sunny break.

Liliana