Dear Families,
I wanted to let you know that Team Harmony is planning a very special Holiday Party for Friday this week. We will have a pajama day and watch the movie "Polar Express." We ask that your child does not wear slippers or bring in special stuffed animals to school on Friday, however. We will have outdoor recess as well, so please make sure your child has regular winter gear for Friday as well. If your child wants popcorn for the movie, we ask that you provide already popped popcorn in a ziplock bag for your child. It is easier for the children to eat the popcorn if they are placed in a large ziplock bag (with plenty of room to spare) rather than filling a small bag to the fullest.
We will also have a Holiday Party in our classroom after lunch and recess, starting around 1:30pm and we kindly ask for some treats for this party. If you are able, and willing, to provide muffins, cookies, cupcakes, juice, napkins or plates, please let me know. Healthy treats are also welcome, of course! The students love fruits and vegetables too! Thank you for your generosity. If you would like to join us, you are welcome, of course. Please let me know. We will start around 1:30, as we will have a special Kiva Singing Assembly after recess.
Thanks again for your continued support. We look forward to a great week and Friday!
Maria
Monday, December 15, 2014
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Weekly Update
Dear Families,
I hope you all enjoyed our snow-day yesterday. The kids certainly did! They had so many fun stories to tell today about all the exciting winter activities they did yesterday!
Earlier this week, the students finished their first Voicethread and we are sharing it with you (and the rest of the world) today. We are very excited. Voicethread is an online platform that allows the users to share a digital image and comment on it, using text, video or voice. It also allows other users to comment on what the Voicethread is already about. In other words, it is like an online, targeted conversation around a specific topic. We created a Voicethread based upon some books we read in class about how we can all work to make the world a more beautiful and inviting place to live. For example, we read some books by the author Todd Parr and we also read "Miss Rumphius" by Barbara Cooney. The students participated in various reading response activities and were partnered up to think about what they can do to make the world more beautiful, culminating in their own reflections and ideas. We integrated some art as well, as the center image will show in this Voicethread. Each student then recorded his/her ideas. We are now inviting others to share what they can do to make our world more beautiful Our reading buddies in Ms. Davison's class are invited already to comment, and we hope you will as well. If you do not want to create your own account (which, by the way is free, but you do need a password), you can email me your comment and I can get it up for you. Before creating this Voicethread, the students also learned how to upload their own acvatars. They are getting so good at accessing out H drive for pictures and they are getting more and more comfortable manipulating file structures every day! What a group of kids we have!
Well, here is the Voicethread link. Please take the time and listen to what they had to say. They did a great job.
This week, we also started using a computer web-site called gonoodle. Gonoodle is a program that encourages students to make healthy choices in school and at home through various relaxation and movement activities. We signed up for an account here at school and you can too, at home. Gonoodle gives you access to many songs and movement breaks, all very short in length. We take these short breaks throughout our day and "earn" points for our gonoodle "avatar" (or online profile). The more we do on gonoodle, the healthier and stronger our online profile will be. It is so fun and interactive. The students wanted me to share this web-site with you so perhaps your child can gain access to this at home. Click here to visit or sign up. Thank you!
This week, we also participated in "Hour of Code". Hour of Code is a world-wide effort to educate young learners about technology and programming of computers. We visited the computer lab and with the help of Linda Scott, our Technology Integration Specialist, we learned to manipulate Angry Bird though a series of obstacles and puzzles. WOW, this is really amazing and I encourage everyone to explore this at home. Code allows students to problem-solve, develop stamina through difficult and challenging tasks and see immediate results. You can access Hour of Code here. For those kids who want an extra challenge, scroll down on the main page at code.org and try to solve the problems for Anna and Elsa. Let me know how it goes. Our reading buddies from Ms. Davison's class joined us today and here are some pictures. Enjoy.
Have a great day tomorrow and enjoy our snowy winterland outside.
Maria
I hope you all enjoyed our snow-day yesterday. The kids certainly did! They had so many fun stories to tell today about all the exciting winter activities they did yesterday!
Earlier this week, the students finished their first Voicethread and we are sharing it with you (and the rest of the world) today. We are very excited. Voicethread is an online platform that allows the users to share a digital image and comment on it, using text, video or voice. It also allows other users to comment on what the Voicethread is already about. In other words, it is like an online, targeted conversation around a specific topic. We created a Voicethread based upon some books we read in class about how we can all work to make the world a more beautiful and inviting place to live. For example, we read some books by the author Todd Parr and we also read "Miss Rumphius" by Barbara Cooney. The students participated in various reading response activities and were partnered up to think about what they can do to make the world more beautiful, culminating in their own reflections and ideas. We integrated some art as well, as the center image will show in this Voicethread. Each student then recorded his/her ideas. We are now inviting others to share what they can do to make our world more beautiful Our reading buddies in Ms. Davison's class are invited already to comment, and we hope you will as well. If you do not want to create your own account (which, by the way is free, but you do need a password), you can email me your comment and I can get it up for you. Before creating this Voicethread, the students also learned how to upload their own acvatars. They are getting so good at accessing out H drive for pictures and they are getting more and more comfortable manipulating file structures every day! What a group of kids we have!
Well, here is the Voicethread link. Please take the time and listen to what they had to say. They did a great job.
This week, we also started using a computer web-site called gonoodle. Gonoodle is a program that encourages students to make healthy choices in school and at home through various relaxation and movement activities. We signed up for an account here at school and you can too, at home. Gonoodle gives you access to many songs and movement breaks, all very short in length. We take these short breaks throughout our day and "earn" points for our gonoodle "avatar" (or online profile). The more we do on gonoodle, the healthier and stronger our online profile will be. It is so fun and interactive. The students wanted me to share this web-site with you so perhaps your child can gain access to this at home. Click here to visit or sign up. Thank you!
This week, we also participated in "Hour of Code". Hour of Code is a world-wide effort to educate young learners about technology and programming of computers. We visited the computer lab and with the help of Linda Scott, our Technology Integration Specialist, we learned to manipulate Angry Bird though a series of obstacles and puzzles. WOW, this is really amazing and I encourage everyone to explore this at home. Code allows students to problem-solve, develop stamina through difficult and challenging tasks and see immediate results. You can access Hour of Code here. For those kids who want an extra challenge, scroll down on the main page at code.org and try to solve the problems for Anna and Elsa. Let me know how it goes. Our reading buddies from Ms. Davison's class joined us today and here are some pictures. Enjoy.
Maria
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Weekly Update
Dear Families,
The weather is getting cold outside. Thank you for sending mittens, hats, boots and snow-pants with your child to school. As you know, we have recess every day and it is important that we bundle up to stay warm now! It is still a little muddy outside, so your child's snow-pants and boots easily get dirty outside. I will remind the students to bring all of their snow-gear home this weekend. I know many students have an extra set just for school, but since we still have mud outside, it might be a good idea to bring it home to be washed.
This week, we continued our solar system workshops on Team Harmony and the students rotated to a new workshop. It is wonderful to see all of Harmony's students work and learn together. They are so inquisitive and curious about space and our solar system. Many children also chose these types of books to take home when we went to the library earlier this week. I hope they share about all the new knowledge they are gaining in school.
This week in reading, the students began partner reading. We are very excited about partner reading because it gives us the opportunity to read new books together with just one other friend. We have a special "Partner Reading Library" in our classroom filled with books for just 2 people. They books are bundled together and we even have a special sign-out system for these books. This week, the students learned to sign partner reading books out, return them and how to be a good reader with a friend. we talked about what it looks like and sounds like when we partner read. We also talked about how partners choose books together. This can be challenging if you and your partner have different interests or preferences. As a class, we came up with many different ideas for how we can resolve these issues. For example, the students said that they can take turns choosing books, offer their friend to choose first, or even let the person whose name comes first in the alphabet choose first. They did an amazing job. In fact, we had a parent volunteering in our classroom during one of our partner reading blocks, and she noticed that all the students were so kind and polite to each other. She also noticed that the students helped each other with different reading strategies when difficult words appeared in the text rather than simply saying the correct words to their partners. WOW! I am so proud of all of you!
This week in writing, the students continued working on their new small moment stories. We started talking about the importance of adjectives, or describing words as we sometimes call them. We started exploring the use of adjectives in many books so we can learn from already published authors. For example, we read the book "Alexander and the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day" by Judith Viorst. The students will continue exploring the use of adjectives in their writing next week.
Have a great day tomorrow and a restful weekend,
Maria
The weather is getting cold outside. Thank you for sending mittens, hats, boots and snow-pants with your child to school. As you know, we have recess every day and it is important that we bundle up to stay warm now! It is still a little muddy outside, so your child's snow-pants and boots easily get dirty outside. I will remind the students to bring all of their snow-gear home this weekend. I know many students have an extra set just for school, but since we still have mud outside, it might be a good idea to bring it home to be washed.
This week, we continued our solar system workshops on Team Harmony and the students rotated to a new workshop. It is wonderful to see all of Harmony's students work and learn together. They are so inquisitive and curious about space and our solar system. Many children also chose these types of books to take home when we went to the library earlier this week. I hope they share about all the new knowledge they are gaining in school.
This week in reading, the students began partner reading. We are very excited about partner reading because it gives us the opportunity to read new books together with just one other friend. We have a special "Partner Reading Library" in our classroom filled with books for just 2 people. They books are bundled together and we even have a special sign-out system for these books. This week, the students learned to sign partner reading books out, return them and how to be a good reader with a friend. we talked about what it looks like and sounds like when we partner read. We also talked about how partners choose books together. This can be challenging if you and your partner have different interests or preferences. As a class, we came up with many different ideas for how we can resolve these issues. For example, the students said that they can take turns choosing books, offer their friend to choose first, or even let the person whose name comes first in the alphabet choose first. They did an amazing job. In fact, we had a parent volunteering in our classroom during one of our partner reading blocks, and she noticed that all the students were so kind and polite to each other. She also noticed that the students helped each other with different reading strategies when difficult words appeared in the text rather than simply saying the correct words to their partners. WOW! I am so proud of all of you!
This week in writing, the students continued working on their new small moment stories. We started talking about the importance of adjectives, or describing words as we sometimes call them. We started exploring the use of adjectives in many books so we can learn from already published authors. For example, we read the book "Alexander and the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day" by Judith Viorst. The students will continue exploring the use of adjectives in their writing next week.
Have a great day tomorrow and a restful weekend,
Maria
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