Friday, January 25, 2019

Starfish Gazette- January 25, 2019

Hello Starfish Families,

We had a wonderful week in the Starfish classroom.  We are especially excited to find out that our Wax Museum choices were finalized.  We can't wait to dive into our research using books and technology next week! 

The Starfish Wax Museum Presents:
Hailey as Florence Nightingale
Meadow as Jane Goodall
Cooper as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Elora as Betsy Ross
Penelope as Abraham Lincoln
Vivien as Sally Ride
Lily as Sacajewea
Lucas as Neil Armstrong
Sawyer as Johnny Appleseed
Gavin as Squanto
Alexander as Alexander Graham Bell
Caitlyn as Rosie the Riviter
Parthvi as Harriet Tubman
Charlie Lord as Jackie Robinson
Cole as Henry Ford
Charle Smith as Babe Ruth
Addy as Ruby Bridges
Abby as Albert Einstein 

We are looking for volunteers to help with different stages of preparation for the Wax Museum:

1. Tracing Help: Looking for 2-3 parents who can help next Tuesday by tracing each child's body outline on our Wax Museum posters. The tracing can happen either in the morning or afternoon.  I will most likely have you work with a student one-on-one in the hallway.   Please email if you are interested!

2. Painting Help: Looking for 4-5 parents who can help next Friday with painting our Wax Museum posters. Painting will begin at 12:45-2:00. Please let me know if you are interested in helping!


Here is some learning activities that we accomplished this week:
  • Launched our character reading unit this week.  The kids began analyzing characters in their stories and jotting notes about their characters in their reader's notebooks. We read a lot of great stories to introduce or reintroduce characters in series books to the Starfish.  When reading at home, be sure to pay careful attention to the characters. They do a great job describing their characters, identifying feelings,and why the character is having those feelings
  • We had a special visitor from Shawn Middleton, a local storyteller! The kids enjoyed his humor, sound effects, actions, and character voices as he told his stories.  The Starfish wrote about his visit in their Circle Notebook this week! 
  • Next week we are partnering with a kindergarten class to try out some of Shawn Middleton's storytelling techniques.  The Starfish will read a story using actions and character voices for the Kindergarten students to enjoy! We can't wait to choose our stories and practice all week! 
  • We finished our unit on an introduction to multiplication and division.  The kids did such a great job with this new math concept.  Their teachers will be excited that they have a solid foundation and understanding of repeated addition, equal groupings and arrays to support their work with multiplication and division next year! Way to go, Starfish.  We are excited to start data collection, graphing, and measurement in the month of February! 
  • Continued to enjoy our chapter read aloud, The Wild Robot.
  • Working hard on our fiction stories.  Some kids are choosing to write realistic fiction stories while others are choosing to write fractured fairy tales.  It's exciting to see their characters develop and how they incorporate conflict resolution into their writing pieces
  • Learned some calming strategies with Mrs. Dukeman during OT. Ask your child about 5 finger breathing, 3-4-5 Finger Rub, and Shake it out.  

Important Upcoming Dates:
-Friday, Feb. 15th:, 9:00-9:45 AM: 2nd Grade Wax Museum

** I will send home Valentine Information and a name list next week :)

Questions to support Home-School Connection:
1. Who is the main character in The Wild Robot?  Can you tell me a little bit about her?  What's happening in the story right now?

2. Can you draw an array for 6x4?

3. What is your fiction book your are writing about?  Can you tell me about your main characters in your story?

4.  What story did Shawn Middleton tell to your class on Wednesday?  What did you enjoy most about his storytelling?

5. What game did you play in P.E. this week?

6. What do you typically like to do during free choice? Who do you like to play with?

7. Can you tell me about the book that Mrs. Belanger came to read to your class? Did she bring Miss Peri with her?

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