“The only way to have a friend is to be one.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
One of the toughest things about working with children in this age group is helping them navigate through interpersonal relationships. It is hard to see students not getting along and we know it can be hard to hear your child come home and be upset about an argument with a friend. At school, we do our best to help students talk through what each person is feeling, what can be done, how we can continue throughout the rest of the day respectfully, etc. Although it is tough, it is important for children to learn skills to handle conflict resolution to be prepared for the rest of their lives. I found a good article about how you can help navigate these situations at home. You can find that article here.
Lower Elementary
This student is working on the Racks and Tubes. This material allows young students to understand the process of division in a concrete way. Students build the dividend with beads in a cup, then use “skittles” to mark a divisor, and take turns sharing the beads between the divisor. Learning division in a concrete way allows students to come to abstractly dividing on paper in a much easier way that they actually understand!This first year student is working on our six square chain. This chain has all of the multiples from 6 x 1 to 6^2! Doing this work will help students recognize number patterns and memorize multiples of numbers! After he is finished counting the beads, he can write the equations for each bar or use our bead stamps to recreate his own chain.
Upper Elementary
Unfortunately, we lost our new fish, Dale, this week. One student emptied her lunch into a sandwich bag so we could use her container for a coffin. Many of the students worked together to build Dale a grave, found him a tombstone, and held a service for him where they each said what they liked about him.These fourth and fifth year students are working on their World’s Fair project. Between the four of them, we are learning about Libya, Mexico, Sudan, and New Zealand! These students were asking each other questions and offering advice on the best way to write what they learned or which resources were best.
Valentine’s Party
The children were very exited for the Bounce House Rentals we hired for this party. Local residents, businesses, churches, and schools love having these games for the kids and see them enjoy their day.
Thank you to all the parents that sent in supplies!
