April Blog 1

First Grade Highlights

April 13, 2018

Dear First Grade Families;

Happy Spring!!!  Our students are already looking like 2^nd graders.  They are growing physically, socially, and cognitively.  What an amazing metamorphosis!

This week we explored crickets, mealworms, and hissing cockroaches at the Lawrence Hall of Science.  The students tried to figure out which insect ate part of a carrot.  They had to use previous knowledge and hands-on exploration to solve the bug mystery.

During the month of April we will be studying transportation. So far we have discussed what transportation is and various modes of transportation.  Throughout the month we will learn about the history of transportation, who built the first roads and railroads in the United States, vehicle inventors, read informational text about transportation, and discuss how communities are connected.

Language Arts Activities include:

·      Word Work: Poetry (acrostic, rhyming, haiku, narrative poems – to name a few)

·      Writer’s Workshop – students are writing Transportation Stories/Journey Stories, writing a short story with a 7 point structure

·      Practice writing sentences and best guess spelling

·      Reading “Just Right” books

·      Read Aloud – The Wild Robot Escapes by P.Brown

Math Lab Activities include:

·      Composite shapes – constructing real word drawings with squares and triangles

·      Counting down by 5’s and 10’s

·      Identify, name, describe compare two-dimensional shapes

·      How Much Is Your Name Worth? (Adding quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies)

·      Pattern block designs

Announcements and Reminders:

1.  We are going to see the play Judy Moody on Thursday, April 19^th.  Please see link for field trip information and forms HERE is the Bay Area Children's Theater field trip

2. Year book information PLEASE READ

Dear families:

This year, lower school families have the option of ordering a lower school yearbook to commemorate the 2017-2018 school year through an online service called Treering. The cost is $13.41 (tax included) and it is a full-color, softcover book. Purchasing this yearbook is completely optional, and each year, about 30% of our LS families do.

If you *do* want a yearbook:

1. Many of you have existing accounts from last school year, especially in grades 3-5. If this is the case, please log in to that existing account (usually a parent’s email) at https://www.treering.com/signin.  Please do not make duplicate accounts. Unsure? You can check with your child’s teacher or Cris Mytko (cmytko@blackpinecircle.org)

2.              Are you new to Treering?  Please visit treering.com/validate and enter the following passcode: 1013310662824746. Then you will create your account.

More details:

• The lower school yearbook content is curated by individual classes and teachers, managed by LS yearbook sponsor, Barbara Banez.

• You will have an option to design "Personal Pages" for your student (first two are free) - these will appear ONLY in your student’s copy of the yearbook. The yearbook can be paid for before you are done with your personal pages.  Be sure to set your "personal pages to "print-ready" by 4/26 - if you do not set personal pages to print-ready, they will not appear in your book.

• The lower school yearbook accounts are separate from the upper school accounts. So if you have a child on both sides of campus, they have two different ways of logging in.  

• If a yearbook purchase adds financial stress to your family, please contact Ms. Mytko and she can make arrangements.

• If you miss the April 26 deadline, you can still order a yearbook, but it will be shipped directly to your house after the end of the school year.

If you have any questions about accounts and ordering, please contact the BPC K-8 yearbook sponsor, Cris Mytko at cmytko@blackpinecircle.org

In art class we have been glazing our clay sculptures and working on Basquiat inspired self portraits for our rapidly approaching art show. The art opening is such a great opportunity for the kids to talk about their art pieces and to see the creations of all the other grades. We are looking forward to sharing all our hard work with the community.

Art

In art class we have been glazing our clay sculptures and working on Basquiat inspired self portraits for our rapidly approaching art show. The art opening is such a great opportunity for the kids to talk about their art pieces and to see the creations of all the other grades. We are looking forward to sharing all our hard work with the community.

Music

It’s Rhythm Bingo time! The First Grade students, learning about rhythm and note values, are making their own Rhythm Bingo cards. Having played the game several times at this point, they are now excited to make their own game!

Gardening!

Right before Spring Break, the first graders finally got a sunny day in the garden! They love to explore, discover garden critters, and work hard to beautify our school.

This week we took a break from gardening because of the Lawrence Hall of Science field trip. Ms. Kanoe invited me to join the class, and I was delighted and honored to be included. It was fun to see the students learning more about our six-legged friends outside of the garden setting.