Our youngest students spent the first 6 weeks of school playing many games where they worked on identifying the sounds of letters in our alphabet. After giving them all a letter/sound assessment in October (see above) we decided they were ready to start a class we call Blend-it. This class focuses on teaching children how Read More >>
Archives for November 2015
Picture stretch
Four of our youngest students started a class in late October where they are using pictures to help them identify sounds in the words. For the activity each child draws a picture out a bag, identifies the letter the word begins with, writes the capital and lower case version of the letter and then S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-S Read More >>
Words as Boomerangs
Every year, and more than once a year, we facilitate discussions at school to help children understand the power of the words they use. Last week we asked children to consider the following quote. This discussion involved the entire school and had children in all grades participating. Words are alive. They shoot out like boomerangs Read More >>
Women’s Hall of Fame
As part of our social studies unit on Government, the oldest students went on a field trip to Seneca Falls to learn more about the Women’s Rights Movement. They visited the Women’s Hall of Fame, which was opened in 1969. The Hall of Fame’s mission is to recognize the contributions made by women to our Read More >>
Government and Social Justice
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In class we discussed the meaning of these words from the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence. We then brainstormed Read More >>
Rain Forest
The eleven youngest students started the year learning about the Rain Forest. New concepts and vocabulary were introduced as they listened to and discussed the content of many books on the subject. If I Ran the Rain Forest by Bonnie Worth and Rain, Rain, Rain Forest by Brenda Guiberson helped the children learn about the Read More >>
Equalizing and Word Problems
Evan and Glady are participating in a math class together. They are working in DMP (Developing Mathematical Processes) topic 27 Representing Other Equalizing Situations. Working with addition and subtraction facts 0-20 they create and validate math sentences using pictures and manipulatives. They have began reading and solving math word problems, focusing on the language that Read More >>
Electromagnetism
Last year the teachers began a long term project that integrated science, technology, social studies and language arts. As teachers we began by jointly reading an inspiring book called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. We were able to ascertain that a young people’s version of the book would be issued in February 2015. Once Read More >>