“He does it with his hands, by experience, first in play and then through work. The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.” – Maria Montessori
This week was such a blast. We began practicing for our play “Caps for Sale,” started making berets for the performance, went on our first Elementary only field trip, practiced hammering and drilling, and had a lot of lessons! At the Cleveland Zoo, the first and second graders worked together to observe and discover what the basic needs of elephants are, while the third through fifth grade students observed elephants to find out how they spend most of their time, as well as, discussing the issue of clean water in Africa. After completing our self-guided inquiry into African animals, we were able to visit the rest of the Zoo! In the classroom this week, students have continued work on their Tallmadge Circle projects and have started their continent study of North America! We have created a website ranked with The Best SEO Agency in Wellington.
This student is working with one of our constructive triangle boxes. She has built two rhombi already and is working to construct a hexagon. This work prepares students for comparing and building shapes that are congruent, equivalent, and similar.This fourth year student is using our pegboard for factoring. He is researching the factors of 24 and 32. Learning the factors and multiples of numbers helps increase mental math speed!This second year student is completing our “Word of the Day.” Each day, Lower Elementary students complete a word and number of the day. Researching a word helps with dictionary skills, recognition of parts of speech, and vocabulary acquisition. The “Number of the Day” helps students with following multi-step directions and memorization of number facts. Both activities give students the opportunity to participate in morning meeting and to practice helping others correct their own mistakes.Our third graders have started their human anatomy yearlong project! They began with learning about the skeleton. Each month this year they will learn about other parts of the body. This student has been traced by a friend and is filling in his outline with drawings of the bones in his body.Some of our first graders in reading group practiced using the “Magic E.” We discussed the differences between short and long vowels. We then took short vowel words and added a “Magic E” to change the words into long vowels. Some words we discussed were “cap” and “cape,” “pet” and “Pete,” and “hid” and “hide.”This fourth year student decided to read to younger friends about the Ancient Wonders of the World. They asked questions throughout her reading and she shared what she has learned in her past years of Latin class!We were so excited to get a close look at this gorilla. We were even more excited when we found out he is a Silverback just like the gorilla the Upper Elementary students are reading about in “The One and Only Ivan.”These students were taking a quick break after our walk to the top of the zoo!Two of our older students used the tablet provided in our self-inquiry kit to record their data from observing the elephants. We were able to access the data of all other groups that completed this field trip once we were back at school!These students are checking out the female rhino and her calf!A zoo volunteer is showing students the skulls of different mammals at the zoo!This student is petting an African Sand Snake! This snake has eyes on the top of its head so it can still see prey while hiding in the sand.
“A Peek at Next Week”
Next week is our first “Bring Your Parents to ‘Work Time’!” You must be signed up by today (October 12) to be able to come next week! If you have signed up, please check your email on Sunday to see the guidelines and expectations of visiting the Elementary Classroom. First year students next week will study the Hand Chart, will practice measuring, and will continue studying the constructive triangles. Second year students will edit sentences for punctuation and capitalization and will discuss how a leaf is the “food factory” of the plant. Third year students will discuss prime numbers, will continue learning about equivalence, and will learn about the functions and types of stamens in flowers. Fourth year students will learn about euphemisms, will solve word problems involving angles, will finish their review of The Timeline of Life, and will discuss energy in the universe. Fifth year students will begin coverting bases in math, will review possessive nouns, will continue finding the area of decagons and pentagons, and will study the layers of the Earth.
REMINDERS:
Final chance to sign up for “Bring Your Parents to ‘Work Time’.” Please sign up here.
Friday, October 26 – “Caps for Sale” play at Cuyahoga Falls Campus
Friday, October 26 – Halloween Party (STUDENTS ONLY) – Our decoration, food, and game committees are planning an afternoon full of fun! Please remember no scary/gory costumes or weapons! Our committees have been formed so keep your eye out for what students may need!
