Wednesday, February 12 - LE Field Trip, 

                                              Old McMicky's  Farm

                                              Drivers Needed

 

Wednesday, February 12, 7 pm - Auction Meeting

                                              All Invited, Help Needed!

 

Monday, February 17 - Staff Planning Day, School Closed

 

Wednesday, February 19 - Moving Up Meetings (See Office

                                              Notes below)

 

Tuesday, February 25 - Friday, February 28 - 

                        Standardized Testing - New Dates

                                (See Office Notes below) 

 

Avalyn doing math with the bead frame

Jayen conducting an experiment about hydroponics

This week we continued our studies of Ancient China.  We discussed China as it is today.  It is one of the largest countries in the world and is home to nearly 1/6 of all humans living on this planet.  With so many people, comes lots of diversity.  The majority of Chinese people are Han Chinese.  These folks can trace their ancestors back to the Han Dynasty.  Besides the Han, there are 55 other groups in China. 

 

We also discovered that about 40 years ago, the Chinese government declared Mandarin to be the official language of the country.   Now everyone speaks Mandarin, as well as their own dialect or regional language.

 

Please note:  Valentine's Day will be celebrated in the Lower Elementary.   On Friday, February 14th each child will "deliver" a valentine to each child in our class.  We have 21 students.  Please do not address valentines to individual children.  Homemade valentines are great!  Please do not send candy.  Our students will be decorating their very own "mailboxes" on Friday morning. 

Nathan, Trez & Wyatt

Another week in the classroom has flown by while we were busy at work! Upper Elementary students participated in regular work. In geometry students are exploring how relative figures have related areas, the nomenclature of the circle and how many straight angles are in any given polygon.  We are also continuing ancient Greece and lessons in language.

 

This week we also spent some time stretching our minds with some brain games. Students worked in teams to create as many words as they could from the letters in summertime.  Our highest record was 50 words by Elena and Gabe. Sol and Isa came up with 38 and Tristan and Michael had 41. Students also learned about famous threes such as reading 'riting and 'rithmatic and some famous sayings like "A watched pot ...."

 

We had a substitute for Yoga, Ms. Koko, who taught us deep breathing and a game of Toga. Toga is a game where students crab walk to the middle of the circle where there is a pile of puffballs and then select one . They retrieve it with their toes and return to their mats. It was a fun game that required a lot of patience.

 

In music students began learning about recorders and each received their own to use for the next few weeks. Ms. Teresa explained the importance of treating them with care and cleaning them regularly.

 

We are glad to hear that Ms. Ann is doing great and walking daily. We wish her a speedy recovery.

 

Try one of our Friday Brainteasers: A man builds a rectangular house, and all the sides have a southern exposure. A bear walks by: what color is the bear? Why?

 

Valentine's Day:  We have asked the students to bring in a box (no bigger than a shoe box) before Thursday so it can be decorated to hold valentines on Friday.  They should bring their valentines to exchange with their friends on Friday.  

It's the first week of February and with Valentine's Day coming, Middle School has been hustling and bustling with work. 

 

On Monday, we went to art at Hubert Park where we painted our Valentine's Day projects. On Tuesday, we had Physical Science and Yoga. On Wednesday, we did our Manager Jobs, were observed by a student from USF, and our yearbook meeting was cut short because of technical difficulties. On Thursday, we had a Physical Science test. On Friday we ended off our week like any other, with hard work and a happy mood wafting through the room. 

 

We sure hope for another amazing week like this one!

 

Drew Falkowitz

LOWER ELEMENTARY:  This week we introduced three songs in Spanish:   "Chocolate Candies" which has to do with sweets and numbers, the second one was about the month of February and professions, and song number 3 was related to love. All the songs have an upbeat tune and lots of movements. We all enjoyed singing and learning Spanish at the same time.

 

UPPER ELEMENTARY:  Precious, semiprecious, and birthstones was our main unit this week. We listed the names of 15 stones in Spanish and used them in oral and written sentences, and also in our conversational Spanish.  We also practiced this vocabulary via crosswords and a word search. We took a survey in school and according to it, the most popular stone is diamonds, followed by emeralds and rubies (tied), the third place was for pearls.

 

MIDDLE SCHOOL:  "Light houses" (Faros) was the back bone of our weekly lessons.  We gathered informative data about the oldest light houses, the tallest ones, and the most famous. We then formed our own paragraph in Spanish. This was followed by a question/answer period on the same topic. Individual reading was emphasized.

 

TRIVIA FACT:  Ecuador bases its economy on oil exportation. Shrimp, roses, tuna, and bananas round up the list of their exportation products. "ENCOCADOS" (dishes that contain a coconut sauce) are very popular and desirable in Ecuadorian cuisine.     

Re-enrollment is now under way.  Please respond by February 21st to assure a space for your child for next year.  Contact the office if you have any questions.

Information for Parents:  Moving Up Meetings

The annual Standardized Testing is for students in 3rd grade and up.  The school calendar originally showed February 4-7 as the testing dates.  The testing is being rescheduled for February 25-28.