Our classrooms have been busy with excitement and creativity. We have begun introducing some of our holiday work. With the end of Hanukkah this week we wanted to make sure we shared this beautiful celebration of light with the children. The classes enjoyed listening to the Hanukkah stories. In the next few weeks before the holiday break we will share many different holidays and celebrations of light. We would love it if any parents have holiday traditions or any fun holiday crafts that they would like to share with our classes in these next few weeks.  Please let us know.

 

This week both classes started our "Share Bear" projects. Each class has a "Share Bear" that will spend a week at each of your homes. During its stay at your home, your family will write a summary of time with "Share Bear" in a special journal that travels with the bear. This is a great project that gives your child the opportunity to share, strengthen their communication skills, as well as broaden their understanding of the world around them.  When it is your family's turn with "Share Bear", there will be a more detailed description of the project that comes with the bear.

 

On Thursday we had a lovely performance by children's musician, Julie Austin. She played several instruments including the guitar, the ukulele, and the jaw harp. The whole school enjoyed listening and moving to her fun up-beat music.

 

Thank you to Liz Lambert-Oswald, Catalina's mom, for coming today with a flowery craft for the children.  They loved making their individual flowers. (See photo above: Liz with Ava, Cecilia, Jenna)

We are quite busy in the Lower Elementary.  We have been making our holiday gifts for our families, decorating snowflakes and building snowmen, too!  This week we had a special guest musician, Julie Austin, visit us here at Beach Park School.  The children had a fabulous time singing and learning all about the instruments.  It was really a lovely morning singing in the Florida sunshine with the entire school.  We also have been busy practicing holiday songs for our performance on December 18th at Westchester Gardens for the patients there. 

           

Katie with Elana & Parker

Right before Thanksgiving break, we had Shane and Katie Perkey visit our class during P.E. time.  Shane did soccer drills with half of the group, while Katie taught jump rope to the other half.  Then they switched.  It was awesome.  The children worked so well together and had a great time!  As you may already know, Laura Curts continues to teach aerobics on Thursdays during this time.  We would love to have other parents share their athletic skills with us!  Please let us know if you are interested.

 

As this is the season of giving and sharing, please consider donating a brand new toy or two to the Joshua House.  We are having our annual gift drive for the Joshua House.  The children at this home are currently in foster care and for most these are the only gifts they will receive.  It is a great opportunity to discuss the importance of giving to those in need with your own children and family.

 

Attention parents of the third year students:  As you look toward 2014, please mark your calendars for the St. Augustine trip (for third years only) on April 25-26.  On this trip, we ask parents to drive their own children and stay overnight with them as we tour historic St. Augustine. More information about the trip will be coming in the new year.

Alec & Michael joined the ukulele workshop and played along

This week, we started a unit on mysteries and forensic science.  Students researched different jobs that forensic scientists might have, for example, ballistics expert, toxicologist and odontologist.  Did you know that a palynologist studies pollen and dust?  The class learned how these specialized fields could contribute to solving different mysteries.

 

We also talked about being an eye witness.  The students learned about physical characteristics of individuals and themselves, such as rolling the tongue, detached and attached earlobes, widow's peaks and hitchhikers thumb. 

 

In preparation for our visit to Westchester Gardens on December 18th, we practiced holiday songs.  Musician Julie Austin performed for us on Thursday and had everyone up and moving to the music.  We enjoyed painting in art and a challenging aerobics class with Ms. Laura.

 

This week, we welcomed Naveen Jayaram to our class.  His brother, Saathvik, is in Ms. Katrina's primary class.

Within a few minutes, Julie Austin was leading the students as they played & sang songs.  Fast learners!

This week has been very exciting. On Monday, we had art at Hubert Park. The class made holiday ornaments for their families.

 

Tuesday we had a yearbook meeting. Wednesday was a typical school day full of work.

 

On Thursday, a professional children's musican named Julie Austin came and gave the school a musical presentation . After the presentation, she taught the middle school about ukuleles and held a workshop.

 

On Thursday, the eighth graders took a math test and the whole class took a physical science test.

 

On Friday, the class had a Latin test about the Latin roots of words. Overall, this week has been fun.

 

LOWER ELEMENTARY: We had a busy, activities-filled week. We read a captivating story about a magic serpent that lived in the bottom of a lake and a princess that was not allowed to leave her palace. The short tale was intriguing, enchanting, and kept the children's interest at all times. The illustrations were beautiful. Our weekly review included family, clothing/accessories, and transportation. We also had an introductory lesson on the solar system.

 

UPPER ELEMENTARY: We had a complete unit on birds. We talked, drew, and labeled the main part of a bird in Spanish. We also discussed habitats, characteristics, and curious facts about our "winged friends". Each student then wrote 10 different types of birds in Spanish and some children wrote sentences or a paragraph about their favorite bird or a specific one.  On Friday we made dioramas or pictures related to a story that was read this week about scarlet macaws.

 

MIDDLE SCHOOL: "Peaches and More Peaches" was the title of our weekly unit. We learned about the origin of peaches, their colors, shapes, varieties, and how we can use these delicate fruits. We can use the leaves, flowers and branches of the peach tree for medicinal purposes, elaboration of cosmetics, and of course in the kitchen, from the soup to the dessert-literally! We also learned that peaches belong to the same family as nectarines and apricots. We had some fresh and canned peaches to savor~ delicious!

 

TRIVIA FACT: Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, is the most visited city in South America. Buenos Aires is known for its European -style architecture, rich cultural life; with the biggest concentration of theatres in the world. It is often referred as the "Paris of South America". The current Pope Francis and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands were born in Buenos Aires!

Holiday Singing

We are over the half-way mark with drivers for the holiday singing at Westchester Gardens on Wednesday, December 18th.  Thank you to all who have volunteered.  It is a sign of dedication from our families when we are able to transport so many students.  All elementary and middle school students are going.

If you may be able to drive, please check your calendar and let us know if you can help out.  Just call the school office or send an email.

The cars will leave at 10 am and will return to school around 1 pm.  At Westchester Gardens, the children will sing for the residents and patients, present them with small gifts they have made and then have a tour of the facility.  They will be treated to a pizza lunch before returning to school.