Weekly Update

Dear Families,

We had great turn out for our Curriculum Night here at ABS.  Thank you all for coming.  We hope it was informative.  For those of you who were unable to attend, I want you to know that I share all the information in these weekly blog posts so if you keep up on these weekly updates, you will not miss anything!  Information regarding our curriculum is linked on my web-site and also on the harmony web-site under "Parent resources."  You can get information about our math program Bridges there as well as information about Fundations and many other curricular programs used here.  Let me know if you have any specific questions.  Thank you!

Our Learning:
Science: We launched science this week.  You might have already seen some of the notes and pictures posted yesterday about our first 4 Winds class of the year.  In addition to 4 Winds, the students created their own "scientist puppets."  They listened to a book called "What is science?" and were encouraged to think about what scientists do and how we ourselves can "act" like scientists in our classes together.  They talked to their friends and together, we brainstormed ideas.  They decided that scientists use their senses to describe things around them and they also decided that scientists test and carefully observe things around them.  We will continue science next week with a Nature Scavenger Hunt as well as some explorations which allow us to use our senses to describe a series of objects.  Stay tuned!

Math: All Harmony students had their first math homework this week.  Thank you for supporting your child at home so this can successfully be completed.  Please know that if your child struggles with his/her homework, we would like for your child to bring it in to his/her math teacher so we can address it together and revisit concepts and practice some more, if needed.  Math homework should not be a struggle.  If it is (or becomes), please let us know.  Thank you!

Reading The students continued to explore how good readers choose books.  They learned that good readers sometimes choose books based upon topics they are interested in but sometimes good readers like to read in a series or stay with an author.  Together as a class, we are doing the latter.  We just began our first author study.  We will do many throughout the year.  We are currently studying Mo Willems, the author and illustrator of the Knufflebunny and "Pigeon" books.  Throughout this study, the children will learn various reading response strategies, such as making personal connections.  They will also learn more about the author's craft, ie how the author uses the words/pictures to convey meaning.  Lastly, we will also explore different comprehension strategies, such as character traits and plot.

This week, the students also had a substitute teacher twice because I administered our beginning of the year reading assessments.  We do the Benchmark Assessment System by Pountas & Pinnell.  I will share the results with you shortly when we meet for conferences.  If you have any pressing concerns or questions, please contact me earlier of course and I will find a time for us to meet.  For now, supporting your child to read every night is the best you can do for our future learning.  We hope to establish good study habits and we hope that our young learners develop stamiona to read for longer periods of time.  Thank you!

 Writing: The students are currently exploring different types of writing.  They are learning how to come up with new ideas for new writing pieces.  They are also learning how, and why it is important, to add to our words and pictures before we start a new writing piece.  Next week, we will continue by adding some writing about science, some letters before we close with the publishing process.  Once we have published our first piece and met with our editing partners, we will begin our unit on Small Moment writing.  Stay tuned!

Upcoming Events and Reminders:
We have no school on Wednesday, September 23rd due to Yom Kippur celebrations.

We will have Parent Teacher Conferences on/and around October 9th, which is a day off for students.  I will send out a conference sign up sheet soon.  In the past, we have signed up online so look for it in your email.  Thanks.

We are in need of empty cans, nuts, bolts and metal washers for our classroom if you would like to donate.  We make robots with these materials, using small magnets.  If you can donate some, please make sure the materials are clean and not rusty as little hands will manipulate them.  Please make sure also that the cans are already empty with no sharp edges.  I prefer the cans that have the "pull-up lid", not the one you need a can opener for because those tend to leave a sharp edge.  Thank you so supporting our learning.

Have a great weekend.

Best,

Maria