Upcoming Calendar Events:
Friday, January 28th: NO SCHOOL for students
Grading & Staff Development- End of Semester 1
Monday, January 31st: NO SCHOOL for students
Grading & Staff Development- End of Semester 1
Monday, February 21st: NO SCHOOL President's day
2021-22 School Year Calendar
A message from Art Teacher Stephanie:
Yearbook is on sale now for $20.
To purchase a yearbook please go to www.treering.com/validate and enter the number 1016052158063632. Students are now creating the cover of the yearbook. A yearbook is a great way to remember their time this year. If you have any questions please email Stephanie at [email protected]. Thanks for all your support!
Snack Time:
Thank you for all the generous snack donations! The students really appreciate all the healthy, individually wrapped snacks that continue to be provided by our families.
A Reminder about Food in Level 2:
- Please note that for birthdays, sadly, we are not able to share food in the classroom this school year. We enjoy having a "birthday interview" to get to know our friends better, but we won't be passing out treats as we have done in years past.
What’s happening in the Puffin Nest?
Once upon a time…
We continue our work with our fairytale writing unit!
By reading and discussing many different fairytales and their adaptations, students deeply connect with story arcs, archetypes and lessons.
This week, we learned more about how to write our own fairytale adaptations, and we practiced:
- Making a character with traits and wants that runs into trouble
- Story-telling or acting out the story, then writing the scenes
- Figuring out an ending that solves the character's big problem
- Using narration to give a backstory at the start and stitch the scenes together
This week we finished our class Read Aloud:
Where The Mountain Meets The Moon by Grace Lin. This story incorporates many Chinese folk tales, which made it a great fit with our focus on folktales & storytelling. Ask your kiddo to tell you about Minli and her journey to Never-Ending Mountain.
Science Out & About to the Backyard Garden
This week during our O&A time, we continued to explore sound and sound waves! Students spent their time making grains of rice "dance" and move with sound waves they created with various materials like a speaker and tuning forks. We explored what factors can make a sound wave look different, like volume or pitch. Students also got to play a game exploring echolocation called "sound not sight". They were challenged to identify and find objects around the classroom that were dropped on the floor- all while blindfolded! We learned that some animals like bats and whales rely on echolocation and their sense of hearing to find prey and communicate with one another from far away.
Mystery Science:
This week we’re continuing our study of how sound works. Your child observed how sound only travels when there’s some material it can travel through, and we reasoned about why this is true. Check out this video your child saw, showing what happens when air is sucked out of a container while a sound is playing:
Bell in a Bell Jar Video
A Reminder about Level 2 Homework:
In Level 2, our homework is on the honor system. We ask families to develop and sustain this important practice at home in a way that works best for you. Having a regular routine (time/place/materials) will ensure that your child will be prepared to tackle their required homework in Level 3 more easily.
Math: at least 30 minutes (or more) of math practice each week.
All level 2 kiddos brought home a math workbook for homework practice in November. Let us know if they are ready for a new book!
Practicing multiplication math facts at home is a GREAT way to support your kiddo!
- 3rd graders are working on: 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's and 6's
- 4th graders are working on all multiplication facts for 2-12's.
We also recommend that students engage in 10-15 minutes of a math activity (math website or game) and then complete one page in their math workbook at least 2 days per week.
For computer practice, take a moment to set up a free account for your child:
- Khan Academy: instructional videos and problem solving practice
- Prodigy: answer math questions, complete quests, earn rewards
- SumDog: solve math problems while playing video games
- Math Game Time: no account set-up required, select grade level & play!
- The public library is a great resource. Make sure your kiddo has access to lots of “good fit” books that they are excited to read. Check out our Level 2 Book Recommendations HERE.
- Read-alouds and audio books work too! Also, listen to your child read out loud, and ask them questions about their reading & thinking.