Acorn Nursery News from Ms. Jan:
We have a winter seasonal circle and a story about "The Mitten" for January. We had our first Soup Day and it was a big success! Thank you to all of you who sent vegetables for our delicious soup. We had broccoli, corn, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash and a bag of mixed vegetables from our families for our first soup. It was delicious! Of course not all of our little ones were as excited as we were about the vegetable soup. We are learning that we can eat what we like from our bowls and leave the rest. We can even sip the broth and not eat the vegetables (although we don't encourage this!) Our hope is that exposure and a wishing stone in the soup will soon have the children trying (and even liking) the soup and a greater variety of vegetables. We will be making soup with the children again this Wednesday. Please remember to send a vegetable, beans, pasta, to add to our pot. We thank you in advance!
Jasmine Kindergarten News from Ms. Diana:
We continued the work on the giant loom and very soon we will prepare it for the auction at the Starry Night event. It took tremendous work and determination on the part of the children and they all want to finger-knit now, longer and longer chains of wool, just like Ms. Diana!
Our circle this week included finger games and nursery rhymes, that help unlock the speech and build confidence.
Our Stone Soup and bread warmed us up and every week we hope to find the stone(crystal) hidden in the soup. Thank you for your donations! Our snacks would never be so delicious without your help! My gratitude!
Grade 1 News from Ms. Contento:
We have been working with word families through poetry. Students learned some “ad” words like, mad, sad, and bad. Students also learned the “ay” family of words such as, day, way, and play. Students included these word into their main lesson books. They were introduced to the “en” family of words such as hen, pen, and ten. I will continue to work with word families this week. First-grade students are learning their lower case letters as well and practicing their handwriting on a daily basis.
We will use “The Four Skillful Brothers” by The Brothers Grimm to discover new word families. As the students tell this story back to me, we will talk about the sequence of events, important details, and main characters.
I am seeing how excited students are to start or continue learning how to read. I am forming reading groups and will start next Monday.
Grade 3/4 fro Ms. Brown:
Last week, we focused a lot on creating a strong number sense during mental math, which carried over into the practice of walking fractions forwards and backwards. We will continue this skill next week. I was able to introduce equivalent fractions, and most students have a basic understanding of what equivalent fractions represent. The students listened to a very interesting biography of Alon Shaya, and on Wednesday I bought the class Pizza from Domenica Pizza. In our garden some of the salad greens were ready to be harvested, so to eat alongside the pizza, we made a lemon vinaigrette, following one of Alon Shaya's recipes and dressed a simple green salad with it at lunch time. The students also began creating their triangle manipulatives for their Main Lesoon books and for later use, during the next fraction block. The students who missed a number of days last week should not worry, we will have plenty of time to catch up, I just want their focus to be on getting well.
Grade 5 / 6 News from Ms. Nelson:
It was a whirlwind five days as we entered in to our second week of play rehearsal and honored Dr. King's legacy. A big thank you goes out to the class for cleaning Clay Square Park in preparation for the Lantern Walk, especially the brave fellow members of the "Poop Patrol". Thanks also to Mr. Ben who was there to provide acoustic guitar support our singing, despite a super-intense recording session. I felt like our first annual Martin Luther King Lantern Walk was a success! It was great to see all who were able to attend. Here's the news:
MAIN LESSON: CLASS PLAY - This week we got into a rhythm of running through the complicated script. It's still difficult to judge the complete running time for the play, but I suspect it will be about an hour. We are making some really good progress overall. The biggest area of concern is ensuring that the students know their lines. Few were truly able to forego their scripts on Friday. Students were asked to bring home their scripts yesterday, but just in case, I have attached the script to this email. The best help your child and the class could receive is making sure everyone sleeps well and eats well, and that they review their lines daily.
Grade 7 / 8 News from Mr. Pauzolis:
This week, continuing our Creative Writing block, we delved deeply into the way to construct stories. We focused on how to build tension, how to utilize vivid language, and how to show the reader something through actions by triggering their imaginations, instead of simply telling them about it. We also focused on how to write effective, meaningful dialogue. A lot of fantastic story ideas were explored and the students were able to develop their own ideas both individually and in teams. Of course, this all involved quite a bit of writing and they handled it very well. I have been so impressed by their passion, enthusiasm, and willingness to embrace this block!
Furthermore, the 8th Graders took a trip with Mrs. Nelson to the WWII Museum, and the whole class traveled to Tulane University to see an exciting performance of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'! We also ended a week of thoughtful commemoration in celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through art and discussion, and topped it off with a lovely candlelit Lantern Walk at Clay Park. I hope that the message he believed in (and fought so fiercely for) is in all of our minds as we go into his official holiday on Monday. In light of the turmoil that may surround us, it is all I can hope that we keep his love in our hearts always, and carry on his legacy in the way we treat others.