Field Day, Being Engineers and Making Ice Cream

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End of Year

Wow it has been a busy end of the year. We had our Spirit week last week and had a lot of fun; Wacky Hair Day, Beach Day, Board Game Day, Backwards Day and Ice Cream Sundaes. I want to thank everyone for the beautiful hanging basket and gift certificate! The basket looks beautiful on my porch and I am excited to go and use my gift certificate. Last Friday we were fortunate enough to have Corey's mom come in to our class with some friends from IBM. They talked to us about engineering and we got to build structures our of spaghetti and marshmallows. The goal was to work together in small groups and to make the structure as high as we could. We had some very successful engineers. Check out our photos above to see our creations. Jack from the second grade classroom did his Discovery table on icecream and we had the opportunity to make icecream as a class. What a treat. It was delicious and fun to make. See our photos above to see the work in progress. We also had a wonderful Poetry Slam. Every student in both Firefly and Dragonfly shared a poem that they wrote and illustrated. It was great to watch them get up in front of everybody and read their poems. We'll have to work on volume next year:) It was a successful event that we hope to do each year! Some photos of the event are in the slideshow above. Field Day pictures have finally been posted in the photos above as well. I hope that everyone has a wonderful summer. I have had an amazing year with your children. They are wonderful and I am looking forward to my time with them again next year!! Have fun and I will see you in August, Mrs. Nakhleh

Jog-a-thon, Garden and Hands on Nature

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Week of May 21st

I can't believe we are nearing the end of the year. There are only 12 more school days left. Yesterday we had our Annual Jog-a-thon. This is always a favorite with all of the students. They love it. I was so impressed with their determination to run as many laps as possible. Everyone in the class set a goal for themselves and it sounded like everyone made or exceeded their goals. They ran for about 40 minutes and then had a popsicle. At lunchtime we got to go our with all of the K/5 Teams in the school to have a picnic lunch, listen to a DJ and dance, and to play on the playground. It was a good day had by all! At the beginning of May we had our last two Hands On Nature days. We learned about Bird songs and about dandelions. Ask your child to identify some of the birds in the morning and I bet you he/she will be able to. We also learned how tough a dandelion is and about the different parts of a flower. Ask your child to tell you about these. In writing we are writing various poems. We have learned how to write Lantern poems, Haikus and Acrostic poems. Everyone is loving writing poetry. Wait until you see all of their great work. In math we continue to work on our farms. We have now added chickens, cows, goats, pigs, and sheep along with the house, barn, silo, and tractor. All we have left to do is add the horses and gardens. We should be wrapping it up in the next couple of weeks and will be sending home an invitation to come in and see your child's finished product. Next week will be our K/2 Field Day. It will be on Friday from 9-11 am. We are looking forward to this. Keep your fingers crossed for Nice Weather! Check out our Spirit Week in the upcoming events! Have a wonderful long weekend, Nancy

Shelburne Farms Photos

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Working together and Farming

I am happy to report that week 1 of my solo weeks has gone smoothly and has been a lot of fun! I have planned my own unit for these weeks that connects a math unit on farming with reading and writing strategies. Everything is brought together under the central life concept of "Interdependence."

So far, this week, we have started to learn about the different interdependent parts of a farm, which work together to produce the food we eat. The class is really enjoying building model farms and adding to it, as we learn about buildings, machines, and jobs on a farm. They have also made farm folders and used farm money to pay for everything they "buy" for their farms.

In reading, we are reading about and discussing the word "interdependence"? We have been reading some really good stories about different examples of how people count on each other, such as family, friends, and community. In writing, we are working relating these examples to our own lives, by writing letters about interdependent groups of people we belong to. Everyone has been having a great time talking and writing about how they help others and what their responsibilities are in different areas of their lives.

I have a lot of fun and exciting things planned for next week to continue learning about farms and how we all work together to be successful. The class will be split into groups and creating different projects together about farms. They will all be writing a song, acting in a skit, and building a model farm over a span of three days. These model farms will be based on the ones they are making individually, but they will have to pool their ideas together and create one group farm. I'm looking forward to seeing what they have up their sleeves!

Have a wonderful weekend,
Ali

Week of April 2nd

Wow it's hard to believe it's April already! Our week began with a presentation from Madeleine on "African Animals". Madeleine told us some interesting facts about several animals that you will find in Africa such as the zebra, giraffe, cheetah, and crocodile. We found out that her favorite is the cheetah. Great Job Madeleine! Last week Max began our week with a presentation on Ocean Life. He shared some shells, coral and had a great video that students watched during Choice time. He even made up a game that students could play where they learned about various sea life from a book brought in by Max. Great job Max! Check out their pictures above.

Last week on Thursday we went to a concert in the gym which was performed by an orchestra called "VYO Sinfonia". It was a real treat! The students were excited to hear some music from "Harry Potter" and learn about the different instruments found in the orchestra.

For the past 2 weeks Ali has worked on some lessons with the students on cooperative learning. They have worked together to direct each other in making pattern block patterns without looking, having to trade puzzles pieces to make 3 circles without talking and this week they were each given a specific job (facilitator, reporter, recorder, and materials manager) and together designed a pattern block picture. They will be using these skills over the next 2 weeks during Ali's solo weeks. They have done a terrific job working together.

In math we wrapped up Unit 5 and will begin our Farm Unit next week. This will be an interdisciplinary unit like the Penguin unit. It should be a lot of fun for the students. They will be building farms, learning about the different farm animals and having to earn money in order to purchase items for their farms. It will be a great learning experience.

In writing we will be wrapping up our Opinion writing by vacation. When we come back we will start a unit on Poetry.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Nancy