TWAS December 8
Hello Everyone,
I hope you have all had a good week!
I'll start with the concert details:
Our week has been very . . . energetic. Life is exiting for most of the children right now and I will do my best to share the school side of that excitement with you in a somewhat condensed version (I'm so sorry that these posts are so long).
The children were thrilled to see the parent created blue monsters that came from their written descriptions. We got a lot of laughs out of some of the extra details that turned up, such as mustaches and flames. It seems that we have some very creative dads out there :) This project was such a success the we've decided to take it a little further. The children have been asking to create their own monsters to write about. I'm all for anything that gets them exited about writing and thought it might be fun to give them a little extra special feedback as they've been working so hard on their writing this year. I asked the children if they would like to send these new monster writing designs to the Dr. George Stanley Junior High art program to see if their ideas could be brought to life by the art students there. They were all very excited and up for this writing challenge. I cleared the project with our Cranston Administrative team and then got on with the logistics. I'll let you pass on the good news to your little ones: today we had our professional development at Dr. George Stanley. Over lunch I was able to sneak away and track down Dr. George art department teacher. I presented the project idea to her and she said that she would be thrilled to take on our project, and was confident that her students would be as well. There is currently a group of grade 9 students who are learning to illustrate children's books so this request could not fit better with both of our programs. My goal is to have our student writing submitted to them this upcoming week (we wrote our first drafts on Thursday) so that the grade 9's can get started on the illustrations right away. I am hoping that we can organize a community walk to drop off our writing Thursday morning, around 9:30. I'll send out an email confirmation this week, but maybe keep this day/time in mind as we would love to have some walking company (yes we love little siblings)!
Also exciting this week was math. Wow do these kids love math. Just a heads up that I was offered money (2 dollars) and trips to Hawaii if I would let them answer more math equations in their heads. One student even begged me for a sheet to show off his skills. We are leaning to use doubles +, doubles - and 10's as anchor numbers. I they think that they were shocked at how good they are at working out equations in their minds when using these strategies. They are good at it, that is for sure. A few of the students also did their first work using base 10 rods and units for calculations and I was extremely impressed by how quickly they picked up that skill as well. We are also going to be implementing some short chunks of DEAC (Drop Everything And Calculate) into our days, when we can fit it in. If any of you have the math game Yahtzee at home, I'm sure they would love to play with you and practice showing off their addition skills.
I'll be short with the rest:
Thank you so much to everyone who was able to donate care items and little gifts for the schools who have identified these needs in their schools. And thank you so very much to parent council who is ensuring that all of our children will be able to fill a bag. We have asked that the receiving children "pay it forward" with a card or act of kindness instead of thank you cards back to us, as it we felt it would create a sense of empowerment in those receiving to remember they also have much to offer.
I'll leave you here and can't wait to see everyone concert night,
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. McArthur
I hope you have all had a good week!
I'll start with the concert details:
- Every student has taken home two tickets for the evening show.
- I have forwarded all extra ticket requests to the office.
- Our main performance is Wednesday December 13th, doors open at 6:15.
- Our group will be performing a matinee that same day at 1:00pm. Everyone is welcome and no tickets are required.
- During the evening of the performance the children will be with their teachers in the classrooms except for when they are performing.
- It is going to be fantastic!
Our week has been very . . . energetic. Life is exiting for most of the children right now and I will do my best to share the school side of that excitement with you in a somewhat condensed version (I'm so sorry that these posts are so long).
The children were thrilled to see the parent created blue monsters that came from their written descriptions. We got a lot of laughs out of some of the extra details that turned up, such as mustaches and flames. It seems that we have some very creative dads out there :) This project was such a success the we've decided to take it a little further. The children have been asking to create their own monsters to write about. I'm all for anything that gets them exited about writing and thought it might be fun to give them a little extra special feedback as they've been working so hard on their writing this year. I asked the children if they would like to send these new monster writing designs to the Dr. George Stanley Junior High art program to see if their ideas could be brought to life by the art students there. They were all very excited and up for this writing challenge. I cleared the project with our Cranston Administrative team and then got on with the logistics. I'll let you pass on the good news to your little ones: today we had our professional development at Dr. George Stanley. Over lunch I was able to sneak away and track down Dr. George art department teacher. I presented the project idea to her and she said that she would be thrilled to take on our project, and was confident that her students would be as well. There is currently a group of grade 9 students who are learning to illustrate children's books so this request could not fit better with both of our programs. My goal is to have our student writing submitted to them this upcoming week (we wrote our first drafts on Thursday) so that the grade 9's can get started on the illustrations right away. I am hoping that we can organize a community walk to drop off our writing Thursday morning, around 9:30. I'll send out an email confirmation this week, but maybe keep this day/time in mind as we would love to have some walking company (yes we love little siblings)!
Also exciting this week was math. Wow do these kids love math. Just a heads up that I was offered money (2 dollars) and trips to Hawaii if I would let them answer more math equations in their heads. One student even begged me for a sheet to show off his skills. We are leaning to use doubles +, doubles - and 10's as anchor numbers. I they think that they were shocked at how good they are at working out equations in their minds when using these strategies. They are good at it, that is for sure. A few of the students also did their first work using base 10 rods and units for calculations and I was extremely impressed by how quickly they picked up that skill as well. We are also going to be implementing some short chunks of DEAC (Drop Everything And Calculate) into our days, when we can fit it in. If any of you have the math game Yahtzee at home, I'm sure they would love to play with you and practice showing off their addition skills.
I'll be short with the rest:
- Socials: was all about community and the home.
- what our homes tell us about where we are from: climate, community, materials.
- Science: Adaptation/migration/seasons
- Art: Creating gift bags with our little buddies/snowflake science and teaching our little buddies how to make snowflakes.
- Gym: Outside fitness in Canadian winters
- Music: Concert rehearsals.
Thank you so much to everyone who was able to donate care items and little gifts for the schools who have identified these needs in their schools. And thank you so very much to parent council who is ensuring that all of our children will be able to fill a bag. We have asked that the receiving children "pay it forward" with a card or act of kindness instead of thank you cards back to us, as it we felt it would create a sense of empowerment in those receiving to remember they also have much to offer.
I'll leave you here and can't wait to see everyone concert night,
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. McArthur
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