APPLES CONTINUED
We enjoyed a wonderful trip to Radke's Apple Orchard. The trees were full of big juicy apples! The children toured the orchard in a wagon pulled by Mr. Radke and his tractor, used apple pickers, and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the orchard grounds! Thank you to the parent chaperones for all of your help! If you have any photographs to share, please upload them (large size) to this google folder so we can add them to our website. Be sure to see the Gallery for all the highlights.
Last week we reviewed the importance of the apple blossom in the tree's life cycle. With our lily observations in mind, we learned about the different parts of an apple blossom and their jobs. Going back to the lilies, the children were able to identify the main flower parts. The stamen is the male part and produces the pollen. We also looked for the pistils (the female parts) with the sticky tops. Bees are important pollinators for apple trees. When they fly from flower to flower, tiny pollen grains stick to their legs and fall off onto the sticky pistils of other flowers. When the pollen travels down to the ovary, the seeds become fertilized and an apple begins to grow. Ask your favorite second grader some facts he/she remembers about the apple blossom or see their blossom diagram and facts on SeeSaw now or coming soon!
SEESAW
The children post new work to SeeSaw several times each week. They love reading your comments. At times, children may not finish each post before it goes live. If you see an incomplete post, please wait a day or two before commenting. Sometimes you will notice that your child's work contains mistakes. We are using this an authentic learning portfolio and at times, we do not correct their errors. These are great opportunities for discussion. Please be encouraging in your comments and ask your child questions to further the discussion. Perhaps your child simply rushed through a task and made a careless mistake or maybe it is an example that he/she does not yet understand a certain concept. We hope that at the end of the year, you and your child will be able to look back and reflect on how much has progress has been made. As we tell the children often, "If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning anything new!" We are also working on rotating images and taking photos of work from the best angle and with the least blur. It's a challenging task! Feel free to share feedback about SeeSaw. We would appreciate it.
PREPARED FOR THE WEATHER
Now that the cooler fall weather has arrived, please make sure your child comes to school prepared to enjoy recess outside. We go outside everyday. We recommend that children wear layers at this time of year and it's not bad to send light-weight mittens and hats. The lake breeze can be quite cold! Thanks for your cooperation.
WHOOPING CRANE UPDATE
Due to windy conditions, the "sensational six" whooping cranes have only flown 5 miles. Tomorrow looks promising if you have a chance to tune in around sunrise.
VIDEO PEN PAL PROJECT
We are happy to announce that we will be participating in a video pen-pal project with a third grade class in New Dehli, India. One of my former first graders who just graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio reached out to me last year to see if I'd be interested in taking part. He has been working to develop an education platform that connects K-12 classrooms in the US with schools in developing countries. We participated in a pilot program last year and now the entire second grade has been paired with a pen pal class for this academic year. We look forward to learning about our pen-pals and will make our first introductory video this week. To find out more about this project, please visit http://www.lumened.org/penpal
GLOBAL READ ALOUD
This year, our class will also be participating in a project called the Global Read Aloud. This project will start tomorrow,October 5th and will run for approximately 6 weeks. The idea behind it is very simple; teachers around the world read the same book aloud to their students and then use technology to share the reading experience with these other classrooms.
During the project, our class will be reading The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes and connecting with students around the world who are reading the same book. We will use technology tools such as Twitter and Skype to facilitate these connections and conversations.
We are very excited to connect with others, especially since more than 525,000 students are already signed up to participate. This project will allow for our students to use technology tools in a meaningful way, as well as learn about other cultures, all while listening to a fantastic read aloud.
Many children get very excited about our read aloud books and want to read along with their own copy. We are on a strict timeline for this book and want an opportunity to experience the suspense, humor and excitement together as the story is unveiled. If your child asks to read this book or wants to check it out from the library, please ask him/her to wait until we have finished the book together. Thanks for your cooperation.
TUMBLE BOOKS/STORYLINE
The children have learned to use the iPad to "Listen to Reading." Tumblebooks are a collection of online, animated books and your child can follow the text as a narrator reads each story. Listening to these ebooks (or other audio books) helps to develop fluency and vocabulary. Lab School has a subscription to Tumblebooks and you can access it from home (go to the Lim Family Library page with your LabNet ID) on your desktop computer or mobile device. The login and password is included on the FOR PARENTS section on this site. The Lab School Libraries also have subscriptions to TrueFlix and BookFlix which offer non-fiction ebooks. We also introduced Storyline, a site created by the Screen Actor's Guild where your child can listen to picture books read by well-known actors. Happy reading!
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES REMINDERS
We look forward to meeting with many of you on next week. Please wait outside of the classroom until we come to the door and please be on time. Our time is limited and we have a full schedule on Monday. Thank you.
MONDAY OCTOBER 12th
7:30 Maggie 12:45 Marya
8:10 Hunter 1:25 Delaney
8:50 Louis 2:05 Ellie
10:00 Catherine 2:45 Niall
10:40 Deniz 3:20 Dallan
11:20 Sebastian
10/14 7:30 Malia
10/15 2:45 Zachary
FLASHLIGHTS NEEDED
We are planning a special classroom activity that we will introduce on Halloween. Each child needs his/her own flashlight to keep at school for the remainder of the year. The flashlights need to be easy to operate and small enough for your child to be able to hold while reading and keep in his/her book box. Clip on book lights are also ok. We would also appreciate some spare batteries to keep on hand. Please send in flashlights (labeled with name) by Monday, October 26th. Thank you!
PREPARING FOR HALLOWEEN
The ESH Halloween Parade will begin at 9:30 on Friday, October 30th. All 1st and 2nd Grade classes will participate along with some N/K classes. Parents are welcome to come by the classroom at 9:00 a.m. to help children get into their costumes. Once the parade begins, parents are invited to watch the parade at designated spots. Please let us know if your child will not be participating in the Halloween activities or marching in the parade. More details will be available in upcoming newsletters.
We are planning a low-key Halloween party after the parade. You should have received an email from Shelley Quiles about how you can help with the surprise Halloween party.
As your are planning your child's costume, please remember that children need to manage their costumes with relative independence. They will only wear their costumes during the parade and party and will need to change back into school clothes before we go continue with the rest of our day. Elaborate face make-up is discouraged, as are weapons. If a sword, light-saber, etc. is a vital part of your child’s costume, he/she may carry it but may not use it as a weapon. Please be mindful of the younger children in our school who may be frightened by scary costumes.
Enjoy the week!
We enjoyed a wonderful trip to Radke's Apple Orchard. The trees were full of big juicy apples! The children toured the orchard in a wagon pulled by Mr. Radke and his tractor, used apple pickers, and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the orchard grounds! Thank you to the parent chaperones for all of your help! If you have any photographs to share, please upload them (large size) to this google folder so we can add them to our website. Be sure to see the Gallery for all the highlights.
Last week we reviewed the importance of the apple blossom in the tree's life cycle. With our lily observations in mind, we learned about the different parts of an apple blossom and their jobs. Going back to the lilies, the children were able to identify the main flower parts. The stamen is the male part and produces the pollen. We also looked for the pistils (the female parts) with the sticky tops. Bees are important pollinators for apple trees. When they fly from flower to flower, tiny pollen grains stick to their legs and fall off onto the sticky pistils of other flowers. When the pollen travels down to the ovary, the seeds become fertilized and an apple begins to grow. Ask your favorite second grader some facts he/she remembers about the apple blossom or see their blossom diagram and facts on SeeSaw now or coming soon!
SEESAW
The children post new work to SeeSaw several times each week. They love reading your comments. At times, children may not finish each post before it goes live. If you see an incomplete post, please wait a day or two before commenting. Sometimes you will notice that your child's work contains mistakes. We are using this an authentic learning portfolio and at times, we do not correct their errors. These are great opportunities for discussion. Please be encouraging in your comments and ask your child questions to further the discussion. Perhaps your child simply rushed through a task and made a careless mistake or maybe it is an example that he/she does not yet understand a certain concept. We hope that at the end of the year, you and your child will be able to look back and reflect on how much has progress has been made. As we tell the children often, "If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning anything new!" We are also working on rotating images and taking photos of work from the best angle and with the least blur. It's a challenging task! Feel free to share feedback about SeeSaw. We would appreciate it.
PREPARED FOR THE WEATHER
Now that the cooler fall weather has arrived, please make sure your child comes to school prepared to enjoy recess outside. We go outside everyday. We recommend that children wear layers at this time of year and it's not bad to send light-weight mittens and hats. The lake breeze can be quite cold! Thanks for your cooperation.
WHOOPING CRANE UPDATE
Due to windy conditions, the "sensational six" whooping cranes have only flown 5 miles. Tomorrow looks promising if you have a chance to tune in around sunrise.
VIDEO PEN PAL PROJECT
We are happy to announce that we will be participating in a video pen-pal project with a third grade class in New Dehli, India. One of my former first graders who just graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio reached out to me last year to see if I'd be interested in taking part. He has been working to develop an education platform that connects K-12 classrooms in the US with schools in developing countries. We participated in a pilot program last year and now the entire second grade has been paired with a pen pal class for this academic year. We look forward to learning about our pen-pals and will make our first introductory video this week. To find out more about this project, please visit http://www.lumened.org/penpal
GLOBAL READ ALOUD
This year, our class will also be participating in a project called the Global Read Aloud. This project will start tomorrow,October 5th and will run for approximately 6 weeks. The idea behind it is very simple; teachers around the world read the same book aloud to their students and then use technology to share the reading experience with these other classrooms.
During the project, our class will be reading The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes and connecting with students around the world who are reading the same book. We will use technology tools such as Twitter and Skype to facilitate these connections and conversations.
We are very excited to connect with others, especially since more than 525,000 students are already signed up to participate. This project will allow for our students to use technology tools in a meaningful way, as well as learn about other cultures, all while listening to a fantastic read aloud.
Many children get very excited about our read aloud books and want to read along with their own copy. We are on a strict timeline for this book and want an opportunity to experience the suspense, humor and excitement together as the story is unveiled. If your child asks to read this book or wants to check it out from the library, please ask him/her to wait until we have finished the book together. Thanks for your cooperation.
TUMBLE BOOKS/STORYLINE
The children have learned to use the iPad to "Listen to Reading." Tumblebooks are a collection of online, animated books and your child can follow the text as a narrator reads each story. Listening to these ebooks (or other audio books) helps to develop fluency and vocabulary. Lab School has a subscription to Tumblebooks and you can access it from home (go to the Lim Family Library page with your LabNet ID) on your desktop computer or mobile device. The login and password is included on the FOR PARENTS section on this site. The Lab School Libraries also have subscriptions to TrueFlix and BookFlix which offer non-fiction ebooks. We also introduced Storyline, a site created by the Screen Actor's Guild where your child can listen to picture books read by well-known actors. Happy reading!
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES REMINDERS
We look forward to meeting with many of you on next week. Please wait outside of the classroom until we come to the door and please be on time. Our time is limited and we have a full schedule on Monday. Thank you.
MONDAY OCTOBER 12th
7:30 Maggie 12:45 Marya
8:10 Hunter 1:25 Delaney
8:50 Louis 2:05 Ellie
10:00 Catherine 2:45 Niall
10:40 Deniz 3:20 Dallan
11:20 Sebastian
10/14 7:30 Malia
10/15 2:45 Zachary
FLASHLIGHTS NEEDED
We are planning a special classroom activity that we will introduce on Halloween. Each child needs his/her own flashlight to keep at school for the remainder of the year. The flashlights need to be easy to operate and small enough for your child to be able to hold while reading and keep in his/her book box. Clip on book lights are also ok. We would also appreciate some spare batteries to keep on hand. Please send in flashlights (labeled with name) by Monday, October 26th. Thank you!
PREPARING FOR HALLOWEEN
The ESH Halloween Parade will begin at 9:30 on Friday, October 30th. All 1st and 2nd Grade classes will participate along with some N/K classes. Parents are welcome to come by the classroom at 9:00 a.m. to help children get into their costumes. Once the parade begins, parents are invited to watch the parade at designated spots. Please let us know if your child will not be participating in the Halloween activities or marching in the parade. More details will be available in upcoming newsletters.
We are planning a low-key Halloween party after the parade. You should have received an email from Shelley Quiles about how you can help with the surprise Halloween party.
As your are planning your child's costume, please remember that children need to manage their costumes with relative independence. They will only wear their costumes during the parade and party and will need to change back into school clothes before we go continue with the rest of our day. Elaborate face make-up is discouraged, as are weapons. If a sword, light-saber, etc. is a vital part of your child’s costume, he/she may carry it but may not use it as a weapon. Please be mindful of the younger children in our school who may be frightened by scary costumes.
Enjoy the week!