Working on book covers and Aidan visiting

Last week, my son Aidan spent part of the day with the class after a doctor's appointment for a fractured hand.  He helped us in math and literacy.  We also started working on our non-fiction book covers.

Family Newsletter and Iditarod Update

Dear Families,
Yesterday afternoon's Kid Iditarod Race was a huge success!  The weather cooperated and we even saw the sun as the children raced across our fields behind our school.  They worked so well together in their teams, completing all 10 check-points.  Thank you to those parents who took the time to join us and man the stations.  We could not have done this without you!
Here are some pictures I took.  more will follow as we compile the hundreds of pictures and videos we usually get from this event.

The teachers on harmony also decided to extend the Iditarod Reading Logs for another week as many children felt inspired to finish more.  We sent home another packet with your child's Friday folder.

Next week in writing, the students will continue their work on African animals.  We will continue our writing conferences and the children will finish their covers for their published work.  We will also start building our representations of the habitats. Stay tuned for more information and pictures.

Next week in technology news, we will also start our google slides about our African animals.  We will be able to work on these from home as well (for those who want to) as they are linked inside our emails as google apps.

Have a great weekend.
Regards,

Maria

Visit to WCS

Yesterday, we went to WCS to meet the authors Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen.  They were great and very funny.  They interacted with the audience and read some of their stories.  Here is a link to their web-site and some pictures.

Science: The Solar System

We started our unit on the Solar System this week.  Due to the weather, we were unable to go outside to kick-start the unit.  Instead, we watched a video on how shadows change and move as time passes.  We had a scientist meeting afterwards and the students shared their observations and wonderings, some of which were scientifically correct and some that were not.  We will address these throughout the unit.  Here are some pictures of our science wall.  This will evolve as the students learn more about the solar system.

Iditarod Workshop

Here are some pictures from last week's workshop when the students worked in small groups and created their team flags for the race next week. They did an amazing job working together and they came up with very creative names for their teams, such as "The Huskians" and "The Trackers."

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
I hope you all had the chance to play in the snow this week!  It looks like the weekend will be gorgeous, so take this opportunity to enjoy some outdoor winter fun! Despite having two snow days this week, we accomplished a lot in our classroom. Our animal reports are almost completed and we hope to give you a sneak peak at our conferences soon.

Reading:
All reading groups are currently reading non-fiction books together.  While participating in guided reading instruction based upon individual needs, the students are also practicing specific strategies for reading and understanding non-fiction texts.  We continued to explore non-fiction features, such as headings, sub-headings, glossaries, captions and diagrams.  Ask your child to find them in books at home!  The students also started creating their own Non-Fiction Conventions Booklets.  Together, we "hunt" for features in magazines and cut out the appropriate features which we glue into our own booklets.  The kids are doing a great job explaining the purposes of these features as they find them in our magazines.  We hope to share these at our upcoming conferences as well.

The Iditarod:
While the real Iditarod race already has a winner (Mitch Seevey), our Iditarod Reading Challenge will continue until March 30th, the last school day of March.  Thank you for supporting your child's reading and writing at home.  The logs are terrific and the writing is getting more complex and thoughtful.  The children track their own progress in the classroom, and each child has his/her own Iditarod map.  There are 27 check-points between Anchorage and Nome, so 27 reading responses are required to finish the race.  We decided that the half-way point is at 13 check-points, at Ophir. All certificates and prizes will be distributed on March 30th.  Keep it up, and once again, thank you so much for supporting literacy at home!

Technology:
The students started a Voicethread about the Iditarod earlier this week. Voicethread is an online platform that allows its users to share information and their understandings about a particular topic sing videos, text or voice.  The students are currently learning how to share their knowledge of the Iditarod using their voice.  We hope to finish our entire thread next week and will share it with you as soon as everybody is on it.  Stay tuned.

Science and Engineering:
This week, the students continued to work in their small groups preparing for the Kid Iditarod Race, which will take place in the afternoon of March 30th. This week, they finished their team flags and started working on a plan for the construction of a structure that will protect the un-cooked egg which will be traveling with them along our own Iditarod Trail on the field behind our school.  We are still looking for volunteers to help us man the stations/check-points, get the children/teams ready and to cheer them on.  Please let me know if you are available from 12:15-dismissal on Thursday, March 30th to help us with this culminating event.  Thank you.
We are also looking for clean recyclables, such as cardboard, paper towel tubes, and newspaper to use for the engineering challenge.  If you have some of this at home, please send it in with your child.  Thank you!

Upcoming Events & Reminders:

• Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for the week of March 27th.  If you have not signed up, please do so.  If the times available do not work for you, please let me know so we can find a better time for you and your family.
• ABS is scheduled to attend the WCS Play on Thursday March 23rd.  Buses will leave ABS at 12:45 and we will return to ABS shortly after 2pm.  Dismissal will be from ABS that day.
• Jump Rope for Hear is after school on March 24th.  Please contact the front office or Lyn Porter if your child needs additional information or sign-up forms.  Thank you.

Best,
Maria

Snow Days

Dear friends and families,
I hope you are enjoying our snow days.  Stay safe and try to enjoy the outdoor fun in the snow.  Hope see you all soon.
Here are some pictures from my front deck.  Perhaps you have some pictures to share as well?  Ask your child to post on KidBlog, or send me an email.

Iditarod Engineering Workshop

We had our first Iditarod Engineering Workshop last Friday.  The students were grouped into small teams, with members from all the classes on Harmony.  These teams will work together to design a team flag, come up with a team name and eventually create a structure that will protect an uncooked egg, which will have to be transported through a series of check-points when we do our culminating event; Kid Iditarod on March 30th.

Lego Workshop

Dear Families,
Here is another picture from the lego workshop, which was offered as a school-wide celebration special event before the break.

Iditarod Reading Event

Dear Families,

Welcome back to school!  I hope everyone had a restful break and had the opportunity to spend some fun time with friends and family. It was great to see the children again.  They all seemed ready and happy to be back at school, learning and playing together again.

I wanted to share some information regarding the Iditarod Reading Event that we do on Harmony for the month of March.  Traditionally, we follow the Iditarod Dog Sled Race in Alaska, and this year, it actually started today due to poor weather conditions.  We read some books on our team and watched a short documentary about the history behind this dog sled race.  We will continue to learn more about the race, the dogs and the mushers, in the weeks to come

The children will also have the opportunity to follow along the mushers and "complete" their own Iditarod race by completing reading logs at home.  Each reading log is worth one check-point along the trail.  I sent home a package with reading logs for the first week today so please look for it in your child's backpack.  Your child is encouraged to write about the book he/she read and fill out one book summary page each night.  Participation in the Iditarod Reading Event is voluntary.  If you wish to use the familiar reading log, please let me know, and I will send that home instead.  (You can also find it online, on the wiki, where all reading logs are linked, including the new Iditarod Book Summary page.  Click here.)

There are 26 check-points along the Iditarod Trail.  Your child will have a copy of the map in his/her book box here at school and we will check it off as reading logs are handed in here at school.  The children will earn a prize at the half-way point and another one for completing the entire race.  All children will also receive a special Iditarod bookmark. 

If your child wishes to start writing the logs tonight, please encourage him/her to read "just right" books and write complete sentences with capital letters, lower case letters, finger-spacing and periods where necessary.  We do not want the children to "rush" through the reading/writing to get to the finish line; rather, we hope your child will take the time to write neatly and really be thoughtful about the writing on each summary page.  I told the children, they can bring in their first log tomorrow and show me so they know better what to expect.

Lastly, we will also conduct a Kid Iditarod Race behind the school on March 30th, starting after recess/lunch.  Instead of Friday workshops for the month of March, the children will work in small groups to complete a series of engineering tasks relating to the Iditarod race, eventually culminating in our own "race" on the field.  I wanted to give you all a heads up.  I am also asking for parent volunteers to join us for this special afternoon.  We will have several check-points set up around the field and each team will have to go through these checkpoints and perform different tasks before continuing the race. I will send out more information as we approach the 30th but I hope by letting you know early, you might have more flexibility to join us.  Thank you so much for considering.