Saturday, January 31, 2015

In the sprit of our Asia study...

Vaishalee, a mother of one of our first years, came to give lessons on India! We witnessed, the beautiful, traditional, Indian dance called Bharata Natyam. We practiced Himalayan Yoga and we learned about what life is like in India.

We are so grateful for the experience you've shared with us, Vaishalee!  

Bharata Natyam

Himalayan Yoga


She put us in a trance!


GRS parents meet up for dinner before Soiree on February 21st.

Click on the link below to sign up:


Saturday, January 24, 2015



LEW Families,

With so many events coming up, I'm going to try and keep this as concise as possible.

News on Como Residency - February 2-6

Lunches
We will be eating lunch at Como each day, so please make sure to send a water bottle and a nice, hearty lunch to keep your child energized for the day.  If you're signed up for GRS lunch and would like your child to have GRS lunch each day, please let us know and we'll make sure to bring them with us. 

Volunteering
Thanks to those that have already volunteered to join us for our Como adventure! If there are more of you that are interested in joining us, we're looking for extra help on Monday, February 2nd from 11:00-2:30 and all day on Friday, February 6th from 8:30-2:30.  

Donations
Part of our experience at Como will be to create enrichment activities for the animals.  Como is always looking for empty gallon water jugs, wicker baskets, plastic coffee cans, kitty litter jugs/pails, basket balls to help make practical life activities for the animals. If you're interested in donating enrichment materials, you can send items with your child or you can take items straight to the Como conservatory.  

Preparing students for Como
I've been doing mini-lessons with students on how to observe, so some students haven't heard about Como quite yet. We'll be talking about it more as a group this week, but I encourage you to have discussions with your child about what they might see and experience. So excited!


2015 GRS Soiree - February 21, 2015 

A letter from the lovely Lydia McAnerny ... 

Greetings,

The 2015 GRS Soiree (Great River’s biggest fund raising event) is only a month away on February 21, 2015.  I hope you are planning to come.  Today, the Lower Elementary classrooms explored an innovative plan for a donation to the silent auction.  Instead of collecting items that would go into a basket someone would take home, the Lower Elementary students have decided on a combination community service project that goes hand in hand with raising money for GRS.

The LE classrooms understand community service as a value of GRS.  Their project will be to collect items for a homeless shelter that will go into a basket (or several).  The basket (s) will be part of the silent auction.    The highest bidder will see their monetary donation go to GRS and the contents of the basket go to a homeless shelter run by People Serving People.  

When someone arrives at a homeless shelter, they often carry nothing with them.  In the classroom we talked about what kids need before getting ready for bed at night and what they need when they get up in the morning to go to school. Items like socks, underwear, toothpaste, shampoo etc.  are all items that are possible donations.  Please see the list below for ideas.  Then, have a thoughtful discussion about what you and your child think is a good donation. Please make sure your items are in the classroom by February 11th so students can make up the basket or baskets by t2/13 so they are ready by 2/21. 

Toiletries Wish List developed by People Serving People

Have a discussion with your child about the best item from the  list below or come up with your own ideas. 

NEW UNOPENED ITEMS ONLY

- Full or Travel sizes welcome
- African American hair gel
- Baby oil
-Baby wash
-Body wash
-Dental floss
-Deodorant for women and men
-Hair conditioner
-Shampoo
-Moisturizing body lotion
-Razors & shaving ream
-Soap
-Toothbrushes & toothpaste
-Hair ties
-Hair brush and/or combs

Other ideas you have are also welcome!

Please have your donations to the classroom by 2/11/15.

Thanks for your involvement and support,

Lydia McAnerney
Project Manager


That's all for now. If you have any questions about how to prepare for Como or what items to donate for the Soiree, please let me know.

Have a fantastic weekend!

All the best,
Jessy

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Greetings & Happy MLK Jr. Day!

What we're up to...

First years have finished up their study of amphibians and all of the differences and similarities they have with fish. They are also practicing addition facts and using the snake game (ask your child about this game - it's a fun material). They are also studying basic land forms and water forms, defining them and identifying different forms on a map.  Florida is a popular peninsula! They've finished up creating their own Asia maps and now they're working on labeling all of the countries. Quite the task.

Spelling words: ship, hip, lip, dip, trip, flip, drip, skip, chip

Second years have been working hard on finishing their Clock of Eras. Some are learning to use the checkerboard to learn long multiplication for the first time and all of them are using their geometry skills to categorize triangles by sides (equilateral, isosceles, scalene) and angles (acute, obtuse, right). Ask your child how many angles have to be acute for a triangle to be called an acute-angled triangle or if it's possible to build an obtuse-angled, equilateral triangle. See if they can rebuild all seven triangles that we built at the lesson! They are also using grid drawing to recreate a huge map of asia. They're learning to take a map and draw it square by square to recreate a map 3 times larger. Very fun.

Spelling words: Pond, end, land, lend, send, bend, wind, sand, band, mend

Third years have gone head first into studying the history behind the Great Wall of China. They had some amazing questions and made some fascinating discoveries.  See if they can share some facts about the Great Wall's complicated and scary history.  They have been practicing the commutative property and the multiplication facts and they're joining the second graders in creating the large Asia map.  

Spelling words: /s/ spelling - ce & cy

cereal, fence, bounce, concert, peace, bicycle, mercy, bouncy, fancy, spicy

Breaking News! Como Residency Program February 2-6 - 9:00-2:30

All of the students are also practicing how to observe using all 5 of their senses. They are observing classrooms, other students playing at recess and lessons.  They're honing in on their scientific observation skills so that they can get the most of of this amazing opportunity that LEW gets to experience at Como Conservatory for a whole week! Check the brochure below for more information. I'll be sending these brochures home next Thursday.



Volunteer opportunity

 It would be wonderful to have a couple of parent volunteers each day of the week to help the students during activities and to break out into smaller groups. Let know if you'd like to join us on this adventure!

Big Thanks

To Heather Thomas, Susan Sochacki, Michael Winikoff, Jessica Coburn and Jennifer Taylor for their continued support and help during the day to day in our classroom. The work you're doing is truly meaningful to our community.  

To Rebeccah Berry for practicing math facts with the students!

To the Shay family for doing our laundry.

To the Martinez family for our delicious snacks and rolling so many yarn balls. 

To all of you for your help and if you donated any supplies to the class.

We are eternally grateful for all of the support and care that all of you give LEW. 


That's all for now.

All the best,

Jessy

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Dearest Lower Elementary West,

What an interesting first week back! Thanks for your flexibility around Wednesday's cancellation. It definitely threw me off my rhythm --- hope it didn't throw you all off too much.

Down below is some news about what we've been up to, a picture of all of the books you helped donate and some fantastic events coming up this week at GRS. 

What we're doing

Our next continent of study is going to be..... ASIA! A place where the first animal was sent to outer space, a place where Great Walls were built to protect themselves from fierce leaders like Genghis Khan, and where two thirds of the world's population now lives. We're all very excited about this upcoming study. Please contact me if you'd like to share any knowledge you have about this continent. 

First years are creating their own Asia maps using the Montessori puzzle maps. They are also doing some beginning money practice and learning about the external characteristics of Amphibians. For spelling practice, students have been putting words in alphabetical order, writing the words in sentences or rewriting the words 2 times.  Playing games with the spelling words at home is also great practice.  Spelling list: Duck, luck, tuck, buck, yuck, truck, stuck, cluck, snuck, pluck


Second years are beginning their Asia study by answering questions about the geography of the continent as well as learning how to count in Japanese, write haikus and use Kanji characters to write words and numbers in Japanese.  They are also continuing their word study of singular and plural nouns (when to add /ies').   Second years are also beginning their study of the Clock of Eras and the Timeline of Life. These are both very impressionistic and classic Montessori materials that present the history of life on Earth in an engaging and approachable way. I'm very excited for the work we have coming up.  For spelling practice, students have been putting words in alphabetical order, writing the words in sentences or rewriting the words 2 times.  Playing games with the spelling words at home is also great practice.  Spelling list: Ball, call, fall, hall, bell, wall, bill, hill, spell, small - second graders had to discover what the rule for when words end in /ll/.

Third years are also beginning their Asia study by answering questions about the geography of the continent and they are going to learn how to draw an Asia map three times bigger through using grid drawing.  It will hang up in our room during our study of Asia.  We also practiced the Japanese art of origami and created paper cranes on Friday.  Third years are also practicing multiplication through the commutative property and discovered that even if you swap the multiplicand and the multiplier, you still always end up with the same product. They're creating fun flap books so they can practice their multiplication facts and play a fun game with a friend.  Along with their academic work, third years are doing lessons called "How to get justice" and we're discussing and role playing different ways to solve problems. For instance, we will practice how to get someone's attention, what to do if you lost something, what to do if someone steps or ruins your rug work, etc. The third years have a goal of working together as a whole group so that they can discuss topics such as a possible pet for the class. The more they demonstrate how they can work together as a team the more prepared they are to problem solve together.  They're hoping to have the conversation about a class pet soon, so if any of you have any leads or ideas for potential class pets, pass that information onto your child so that they can share with the class.  For spelling practice, students have been putting words in alphabetical order, writing the words in sentences or rewriting the words 2 times.  Playing games with the spelling words at home is also great practice.  Spelling list: /s/ spelling using "s" and "ci" sand, also, person, scrap, string, city, cinnamon, pencil, circle, circus



Check out all of the books we donated to the MN Literacy Council. Big thanks to all!


Upcoming Events

Monday, January 12th @ 6:30

Parents Are Sexuality Educators 

FREE Workshop for Parents!
PASE Workshop (Parents Are Sexuality Educators)

Provided By: Family Tree Clinic

When: Monday, January 12th from 6:30-7:30 pm

Where: Great River School @ West Campus Multi-Purpose Space

What:
We have arranged for an education night for you! Come to a presentation and discussion with a Family Tree Clinic educator about talking to your kids about sex and sexuality. We will discuss typical stages of sexual development for children and adolescents of all ages (including the oh-so-wonderful puberty!) We will also learn effective communication skills to aid in talking with your children about various sexuality topics.

At the end of January, Family Tree will be coming to speak with Great River School upper elementary students about age-appropriate sexual education topics. We want to invite all parents, and especially elementary parents, to this evening in connection with our curriculum in late January. 

Audience:
This presentation is an Adult Only event and geared towards parents of students in grades 1-6.  FREE childcare for children ages 3-12 will be available through Big Canoe Kid's Club beginning at 6:15 pm that evening. 

Thursday, January 14th @ 6:00

Parent Education night: The Great Lessons

Come meet other families and hear the Montessori Great Lessons. The Great Lessons are impressionistic stories about the beginning of the universe, when life came to earth, when humans came to earth and the beginnings of numbers and writing.  Should be a great opportunity to discuss the rationale behind the Great Lessons and get to know other GRS families.  Hope to see you there!


That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

All the best,

Jessy