Good Afternoon,
I hope this finds all of you happy, healthy, and feeling rested up as you get ready to take on one of the biggest challenges in parenting. HALLOWEEN MONDAY! I want to wish you all the best with the week to come. My advice would be to hydrate this weekend. As a reminder, we will be talking about the traditions and the celebration of Halloween on Monday. I apologize for those who had difficulties uploading a picture of your child in their costume. I had the wrong setting but that has been fixed. If you can take a look and see if your child's photo is in there. If so great, if not please add it in before Sunday morning. I will be making a video of their pictures on Sunday and won't be able to add any other pictures in (once I publish it). The link to the Drive Folder is here.
This past Wednesday, Mrs. Smith's class and our class joined up to carve pumpkins together. I started the day reading a book about pumpkins and all of the things we can do with them. That afternoon we headed outside to carve the pumpkins. This was part of the school wide reward for earning so many tickets over the past few weeks. This also started our conversation regarding the traditions of Halloween. We will continue the discussion on Monday afternoon. The kids will again write about their learning and understanding of the traditions and celebrations of Halloween.
The Fire Department also visited our school this week. Each year they come to talk to the kids about fire safety. The students got to see a fireman (a former 1st grade student of mine) all geared up and also got to hear what their voice sounds like with their mask on. The goal was to let them know what it would sound and look like in the case of a real fire. One of the key ideas is that every family tests their smoke detectors once a month and that every family has an escape plan and a meeting spot for their own homes. As a father who had one of his own daughter's have to crawl out of a house fire, I am very grateful that this is done with the kids. You never know when it will be needed. The students
This week the 1st graders have been focusing on math facts and complements of 10 and/or 20. We are working ob fluency with each of these skills.The students played a variety of games, worked with Ms. Figdor, and also parent volunteers, as they honed their skills with these concepts. The 2nd graders worked on adding two digit numbers as well as adding numbers beyond 125. Their primary focus was numbers within the 200-299.
In science, the students completed a third experiment. This one involved putting milk on paper plate and then puddles of food coloring on top of that. Then the kids used a Q-tip and dipped it into dish soap. They then touched the food coloring with the soap and watched the colors dance. The students continued working on making a prediction, recording their findings (through diagrams and words), noting two "I notice" statements, and then reporting out, on their predictions.
NOTES:
*Please no costumes at school on Monday. I have a variety of plans for Monday afternoon (to celebrate the tradition). We also have cider being sent in and I will be making Halloween Cookies.
*Please make sure your child has at least a sweatshirt and/or a coat for recess time.
*I will not be sending homework bags home on Monday. Something tells me that you will be busy enough and it will not be top priority for the kids that evening.
That is all for now. I hope you all have a great weekend.
Peace,
Mr. Young
