Dear Parent Partners,
The school year is quickly moving along! We have
been busy in room 128 celebrating big accomplishments – like the fantastic
“Jack & The Beanstalk” performance – and working on new ones, our class
garden being one. We have been learning
so much about plants, gardens, trees, and forests. We had the opportunity to do a “tree walk” in
our own Forest Park forest and then connected
our studies to the field trip to the Tillamook
Forest Center
where a great time was had by all! “Write Night” was another fantastic April
event that was not only valued for the opportunity to celebrate some of the
kids’ journals and writing but also for the coming together of community to
share the process and reward of thoughtful writing. Here’s more detail for our last full month of
school (wow!)…
Literacy
Our literacy centers have begun exploring the
topic of transportation. However, we
continue to weave in our studies of plants and forests. Activities have included anything from
science experiments to reading “leaf charts” for math skills. In writing, we will be publishing our final
drafts of our all about books and start compiling each child’s school year
writing anthology. To complete this
project, we will focus on skills in illustration. We will also end the year with another
opportunity for the kids to write personal narratives. It’s hard to believe but, with the
approaching end of the school year, we will begin our last set of literacy
assessments for the year.
Math
Within the topic of geometry, we have moved into
the realm of 3-D! We will be wrapping up
our study of shapes and moving onto new number studies. Whole group math will focus on “How Many in
All?”, a unit that brings together the concepts of counting, measurement and overall
sense of the number system. The first
grade math will primarily focus on number sense through the practice of number
games and story problems.
Science
We are hoping that the April showers are really
officially finished so that we can get to the business of gardening! Weather-permitting,
I’d like us to have the opportunity to garden at least once a week before the
end of the school year. I’ll post pictures of our vegetable garden on the blog
soon – after we’ve done more weeding! J A new plant experiment that we have started
is our lima bean experiments. The
leading question: can a seed grow without soil? There are varying opinions in our class but
the children are recording their observations in individual science packets and
it will be sent home with the scientists as soon as the experiment is complete.
Social Studies
The children have been working hard at practicing
and modeling good problem solving. The
most important and very challenging lesson to learn: how to use respectful
words to solve problems. I have seen a
big difference in the way the kiddos are relating to each other and
communicating. April presented the
opportunity to discuss Earth Day and all that we can do to take care of the
world around us. We have been putting
this to practice in our classroom by composting and recycling. The children have had the chance to view
three puppet shows that supported our themes in class: “Kenji and the Three
Rs”, “Compost City” and “Mother Nature’s Garden”. If you have a moment, reflect with your child
on what you and your family are doing to help the environment.
Thanks to families for your continued support and
assistance in the classroom! Please do not ever hesitate to contact me with
questions or concerns. Cheers, Jennifer
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