Flu Vaccine Clinic Paperwork

Flu vaccine clinic  sign-up sheets were sent home with students last week. Please complete and return the form to school no later than October 9th.

 

 

Curriculum Updates

Pre-K and K author-illustrators are demonstrating their skills in their journals and practicing their book nomenclature. All scholars have been working to identify: Front Cover, Back Cover, Spine, and Title page. We are working to master the important skills for being a good student: Eyes Watching, Ears Listening, Voice Quiet and Body Still; as well as remembering to: give bubble space, wear a mask and stay with a teacher. We love the yellow nature trail, and playing Grumpy Mama Owl during our extended outside times. This week we are going to harvest carrots from the community garden to be used in the Brooklin Back Pack Program.

 

This week in first and second grade, we worked on polishing up our routines and procedures during the school day of lining up and walking in the halls. First graders worked on learning their letter sounds, and these four sight words: the, and, love, is. First graders also worked on number bonds in math, adding two numbers together and making number sentences. They also are working on writing their numbers! Second graders worked on fluency in their reading and dictation, manipulating words by changing one sound at a time, for example map changes to mop, then top, then pop, then pup, and so on. Second graders reviewed addition and subtraction and practiced writing number sentences with all four fact families, for example 4+2=6, 2+4=6, 6-4=2, 6-2=4.

 

3/4 It has been so good to get to know the students both personally and where they are mathematical.  What a special school Brooklin is!  I am so happy to be a part of it.  The first week we spent time learning about our brain and how we learn math.  We learned strategies to calm our brain when we are feeling overwhelmed so that we can focus on figuring out the math.  Additionally, we did different activities so I could assess where each student was mathematically.  This past week in the third grade we started with multiplication.  During part of the lessons, we made subitizing cards.  We are using these to help us develop a strong number sense and will use them often.  If you are interested in learning more about the cards here is a quick video I made for my students last year.

In the fourth grade we worked on understanding place value.

 

5/6   We learned strategies to calm our brain when we are feeling overwhelmed so that we can focus on figuring out the math.  Additionally, we did different activities so I could assess where each student was mathematically.  This past week we spent part of our time working on our number sense with various activities.  In addition to helping them, this helps me assess their skill level. In the 5th grade, we worked on broadening our understanding of place value.  I have two groups of 6th graders.  Group A is working with ratios and group B is working with proportions and rate.

 

7/8 The first week we spent time learning about our brain and how we learn math.  We learned strategies to calm our brain when we are feeling overwhelmed so that we can focus on figuring out the math.  Additionally, we did different activities so I could assess where each student was mathematically.  This past week we spent part of our time working on our number sense with various activities.  In addition to helping them, this helps me assess their skill level.  The eighth grade is working with exponents and understanding how they work.  They are a hard working group that is very driven to learn.  It is a joy to teach them!

 

3/4 Super Studies

This week, the students demonstrated what they’ve been learning about geography by labeling each of the continents and oceans on a map. They also enjoyed putting their map skills to work by mapping their bedrooms and houses. The students were so excited to receive their own atlases this week and go on a scavenger hunt within the pages! We’ve also begun discussing the difference between weather and climate and will be learning about the different climates in North America. This week we also had our first Forest Friday of the year, during which students gathered leaves, twigs, flowers, and other natural materials to create nature mandalas on the lawn.

 

5/6 Super Studies

This week, students practiced reading and understanding a scientific article about how masks may actually help our bodies boost their immunity to COVID-19. We also started a series of activities to practice planning and carrying out an experiment to answer their questions about our own hands, starting with an investigation of our fingerprints. This week we also had our first Forest Friday of the year, during which students gathered leaves, twigs, flowers, and other natural materials to create nature mandalas on the lawn.

 

7/8 Super Studies

This week, students practiced reading and understanding a scientific article about how masks may actually help our bodies boost their immunity to COVID-19. We then explored the process of inventing a new product to solve some sort of problem. The students were very interested in Elon Musk’s new neuralink technology, which will hopefully allow doctors to repair nervous system damage someday.

 

3/4 This week has been decorating their buckets.  In ELA, they are reading “My Librarian is a Camel”, so next week we begin a drawing of a camel.

 

5/6 This week  has been decorating their buckets.  In ELA, they are reading “8 Days in Haiti”, so we will be mapping Haiti next week.

 

7/8 has been decorating their buckets.  In ELA, they are now reading about Frederick Douglass, and we’ve started a gridded construction of a well-known photograph of Frederick Douglass. Next week we will finish the portrait in the grid and then bring in watercolor in an attempt to explore places of shadow on the human face.

 

ELA: 3/4 We continued our exploration of how children around the world get access to books and to schools.  We read Nasreen’s Secret School and discussed the power reading has in our lives, helping us to gain more knowledge, which is a form of power.

We also read the book That Book Woman, which is based on FDR’s programs to provide books, through librarians, to the most remote children in the U.S.  Both books are available as read-alouds through youtube.

 

 

ELA: 5/6 We continued exploring non-fiction material regarding earthquakes and hurricanes.  The primary literary text at this point of the unit is Eight Days: A Story of Haiti, but we are spending considerable time researching what causes earthquakes and hurricanes, and what constitutes a natural disaster.  Students are aware that hurricane Teddy may impact our weather system over the next few days.  We have talked about the difference between prediction and reality, but if they become concerned, please help them track the storm and have a healthy respect for whatever weather may be coming our way.

 

ELA: 7/8 We have continued our introduction into The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by looking at the slave trade – the trade triangle, the reality of slaves being shipped in cramped quarters, and the reality that many white people viewed blacks as less intelligent and less able than whites.  We have also discussed the importance of learning to read in gaining power, or the importance of withholding the opportunity to learn to read in maintaining power.

 

 

 

Calendar

September

9/25                 10:00 AM                               Boat Building 7/8 grades

12:00                                       Dismissal

9/29                 3:15 PM                                  PTF Meeting

October

10/2                 12:00                                       Dismissal

10/9                             Workshop Day—No School

10/12                           Holiday—No School

10/12-10/16                 Parent/Teacher Conference Week

10/14               12:00                                       Flu Immunization Clinic

10/16               12:00                                       Dismissal

10/23               12:00                                       Dismissal

10/30               12:00                                       Dismissal

 

 

November

11/1                             Daylight Savings Time Ends

11/6                 12:00                                       Dismissal

11/11                           Holiday—No School