Changes Are Coming

     We shared some tough news with the class this morning around changes being made to staffing at the end of this school year and moving into the next school year. Students had a lot of questions and a lot of emotions around this news, but we are here to support them through this change as best as we can. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns you wish to share with the team.

     We play a lot of games in our classroom to supplement the learning that students are doing in both literacy and math. Games are a great way for students to have fun while also practicing skills. It's also an opportunity for teachers to embed social cognition skills. Games often require teamwork, patience, flexibility, and sharing. We have also been able to get outside lately to do some of our learning outside as the weather has improved. There have been some beautiful afternoons!

Unified Arts Update:

Music - Students have continued to do a lot of singing and musical movement games.

Enrichment - Students had a substitute and learned about the water cycle.

Library - Students have been listening to read alouds and experimenting with robots.

Spanish - Students have continued to practice the Spanish alphabet and learn about the Mayan culture.

PE - Students have done a lot of different things recently like ball throwing activities, tag games, frisbee throwing, and disc golf.

Art - Students continued to work with mazes by creating their own 3D mazes with cardboard and toothpicks.

Math Menus and Informational Writing

      Things are starting to wrap up for the year, but we are still pursuing increased learning and understanding. Students have begun using math menus in math to practice existing skills on their own while still working with teachers individually or in small groups to learn new content and skills. Several students have been doing a lot of work in literacy to learn blends and how to sound out tricky words - even those with several different blends. Students are also doing a lot of independent reading and exploration with books that interest them. We wrapped up How To writing and asked students to continue writing informational texts about topics that they know a lot about. It's been neat to see what students know.

     We have been having a lot of fun at recess time with the nicer weather. Swings and tag games have been the favorite choices lately. The class even earned an extra recess celebration this week due to reaching the goal for positive behaviors in our classroom. They have been working hard!

Unified Arts Update:

Music - Students have been doing a lot of singing.

Enrichment - Students have started working on their paper rockets while exploring other games and creation centers.

Library - Students listened to a read aloud and did an art project turning mistakes into new artwork.

Spanish - Students have been doing a lot of reviewing of Spanish vocab (food and colors) along with continuing to review the Spanish alphabet and numbers.

PE - Students completed their scootering unit and have started a frisbee unit.

Art - Students made their own mazes.

The Home Stretch

     With our return from April break we are now in the home stretch of this school year. There are about 6 weeks of school left and summer will be here before we know it. As we wrap up the school year we will continue to work with students on their math, literacy, and social emotional goals. We will come together as a community to say goodbye to those who are leaving us and celebrate all of the good times that we have had together as a community of learners this year.

     Right before break students had the rare treat of enjoying some time with our school principal Mr. Rector during recess. He played tag with the students and everyone had a lot of fun!

Unified Arts Update:

Music - Students explored the musical nature of bird sounds, learned some songs in minor key, and practiced steady beat with The Wellerman, a popular sea shanty song.

Enrichment - Students were able to explore and be creative with some typical stations they've used before.

Library - Students used a Kahoot quiz to review all of the Red Clover books we read this year and voted on their favorite.

Spanish - Students reviewed the Spanish alphabet and learned about the Mayan people and culture.

PE - Students used scooters and ripsticks.

Art - Students did some painting and folding to create symmetrical paintings.