Week of 9/1/17
It has been a fantastic beginning for students, Ms. Sheena and I. It is lovely to see the smiling faces of all your children in the morning.
We started the school year off by answering some questions such as “What are some subjects you would like to know more about? What is something you are very good at doing? What is something in which you struggle? Or asking the question, if you could be any kind of insect, what would it be and why? What parameters do you feel would make a safe and enjoyable working environment? Please state three truths and a lie about yourself.
Some of these questions are for meetings with me. Our meetings together are to encourage communication between the student and myself, explore their interests and goals and the opportunity to provide my observations and ideas. Some questions are to support when we get together to talk about guidelines in our class and others are for a guessing game we will play throughout the school year.
The students have collaborated on math puzzles and have tied the process of figuring them out to the eight tenants of problem solving skills of Jedi Masters. I am looking forward to the next few weeks when we explore tin and electricity in a petri dish.
Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday!
Week of 9/8/17
Week of 9/15/17
Week of 9/22/17
This week, on September 20th, we celebrated International Peace Day. We were so lucky to have art that day!
We started out by speaking about Picasso, a few of his friends, and the discussions they were having about war and violence in society. We showed them a video that takes apart the various parts of Picasso’s famous painting, Guernica, which is a study of the Spanish Civil War; specifically an attack on the city of Guernica on Market Day. Each element was isolated and spoken about as it refers to war and human suffering.
We then spoke about social justice and what message Picasso was trying to convey in his art. Your students were then asked to explore their thoughts on social justice and to create an artwork that reflects their thoughts and feelings. It will be wonderful to see what they all create and present to each other next week.
In the afternoon, we took part in a special art instillation that will occur at our Race for Radmoor this Sunday, September 24th. It is called Pinwheels for Peace. This is collaborative artwork that happens worldwide where students create a pinwheel that contains their thoughts and wishes for a peaceful world. It is estimated that this year over 5 million children, worldwide, will take place in this activity.
This could be a great opportunity to have a wonderful conversation about your own hopes and wishes for our world.
Have a great week!
Christine and Sheena
Week of 9/29/17
Dear Parents,
Some children are exploring how to cube a binomial, work with fractions, and how we can break up numbers to make adding easier.
There has been a litany of voices coming from the room to announce when you should capitalize mother or father and when one would not. We have been pouring over books to identify clauses and phrases. We will continue with all of these studies and begin to learn about additional aspects of our language.
But probably the most exciting rousing event of the week has been the start of music with our new teacher, Miss Laura! The children are all very excited to see where our new music class takes us this year! As well, in class we have been learning the Irish folk song “Tell Me Ma”. We will be learning Folk songs from around the world this year.
Don’t forget that next week, Friday, October 6th is First Friday. You may come to class from 8:40 to 9:15 to have your child share with you an activity they have been working on or possibly a new lesson they have received. Hope to see you there!
Thank You,
Christine and Sheena