Community School

from Gretchen

November 30, 2007

Math Workshop
We continued our temperature and calendar routines, with Sophia leading these activities as our “beautiful assistant.” We have started on subtraction strategies, with counting back and one less. Practice counting backwards from 10 will help them. The students started practicing a math skit about zero and place value, and we had enough speaking parts for everybody! We continue to practice reading time to the nearest 5 minutes. Keep practicing for a few minutes each day; it helps!

Book Clubs
This is what our groups worked on this week:
Stars: Gus the Duck, Fun with Gum; short u
Stripes: Little Bear's Friend; short u/long u
Washingtons: Owl Moon; short u/long u
Lincolns: Henry and Mudge; short u/long u
Eagles: Monster Blood III; long a/i/o/u

Science/Theme
With Gretchen, we made earthquakes with graham crackers (the earth's crust). With Autumn, the students worked to produce a book about the Incas.

Stories
The Secret of the Andes was brought in by Sophie Gettings. Thanks for sharing this lyrical tale. It has sparked discussion of giving up the familiar to explore the unknown, visiting relatives, and for those with more than one home, changing households. Transitions are often a major difficulty for children this age, so the opportunity to discuss it in class helped all the students gain insight into what makes this difficult.

We also enjoyed James Marshall's Space Case and The Night Before Christmas. Sophie, Tory, Virginia, and Cameron read Henry and Mudge for the team classes on Friday morning.

Special and Noteworthy

Of course, the winter holidays are what is special and noteworthy! But with all the promise of special events and gifts, comes the peril of good stress. The students are just as likely to become “holi-dazed” as the adults. In the classroom, I emphasize staying in the moment rather than living in the future of winter break. I lower my expectations for the academic during this time, and try to give them more crafts and hands-on activities than ever. But overall, we try to keep the general structure going until just before winter break starts.

Likewise, keeping a consistent bedtime and healthy meals helps at home. Many students complain of a mid-morning slump, and a more protein- and fiber-rich breakfast could help. And while it is good for students to have some idea of what to expect in the weeks to come, it is better to emphasize the ordinary than the extraordinary events.