Weekly Updates and Reminders April 28

Just a reminder that there is no school on Monday!  We will see the students back at school on Tuesday, May 2^nd. Also next Friday, May 5^th from 8 to 9:15 am is our Celebration of Learning! The students are excited to share their year with you! We will start with a slideshow of the year, the students will share their learning journey books with you, and you will be invited to do a couple of activities with your child and share a snack with them. We look forward to seeing you there!

Our explorations this week seemed to focus on cooperation, reflection and creating! Our students really began talking about what they love about Pre K and there was a lot of drawing and writing to represent their thoughts. The students continued to use recycled materials and loose parts to create different things, from another plane, to a house, to necklaces, to mirrors, to space ships! I took a new light box out from it’s Styrofoam container, and I was immediately surrounded by our inquisitive creators… “Do you need that anymore Ms. Lynsey? We could really use that…” The students haven’t decided what they are making, but the amazing critical thinking and problem solving that I witnessed as they worked could have rivaled a middle school class!

We ended the day today with Star Wars yoga! I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!

REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES/THINGS TO REMEMBER

*Return library books on Monday

*May 1^st: Labor Day-No School

*May 5^th: Celebration of Learning—8:00-9:15am in our classroom

*May 10^th: Vesak Day-No School

*June 1^st: Last Day for Students—normal 1:30 dismissal

*SUMMER BIRTHDAYS: if your child's birthday is in the summer and you'd like to celebrate it at school before the year is over, please send a note and we will celebrate!  J  We don’t want to miss anyone! Let me know what day works for you.

*IF you are leaving early, withdrawing from SAS or will be missing certain days over the next few weeks, send me a note. This will help me manage those last-minute details regarding report cards, work sent home, portfolios etc.

Week 33 April 24 to 28

48 new photos · Album by Lynsey Howitt

Loose Parts: A Project

Loose Parts-A Project

“In early childhood education (EC) settings, loose parts mean alluring, beautiful found objects and materials that children can move, manipulate, control and change while they play. Children can carry, combine, redesign, line up, take apart, and put loose parts back together in almost endless ways. The materials come with no specific set of directions, and they can be used alone or combined with other materials. Children can turn them into whatever they desire….these objects invited conversations and interactions, and they encourage collaboration and cooperation.” (Daly and Beloglovsky, 2015)

Loose parts offer infinite possibilities for exploration and learning in an open-ended way. Children are constantly discovering new ways to manipulate these materials, creates a way for students to develop essential skills. Our DSLO’s (Desired Student Learning Outcomes for SAS) of Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking,  Creativity, Cultural Competence, and Character are in full force during these explorations and learning experiences.

There are a variety of different themes evident in the exploring happening in the classroom, from using senses (in colors, patterns, textures and sounds,) to creativity (in designs and art,) to inquiry and action (connecting, investigating, movement…) It is amazing to watch and listen to the students interacting with each other, their environment and the materials.

Here are just SOME examples of loose parts in action in the learning hub…

Weekly Update April 17 to 21

April and May are months where a lot of transitions are happening, and our students really feel it! We have friends moving away, siblings stressed with exams, families who may have a lot on their plates, not to mention the excitement of kindergarten approaching! We are really sensitive to all of these changes, and try to have a calm, safe and lovable environment for all of our students, but do know that at this time of year your child may need some extra special hugs and kisses. J  Many parents have said that at home they are seeing more cranky behavior, and we really do believe that these transitional months are hard—please let me know if we can help in any way.

One of the ways we do try and help is to give our children plenty of opportunities to visit the Elementary School and interact with the students and faculty there. Today we visited Ms. Gray’s kindergarten class! We spent some time in the classroom with the students and they showed us their “reading toolkit” and special “whisper phones.” We looked around, sang some songs together and played a game called “One, two, three, POP!” Our kiddos left happy and OBSESSED with this game—I see a lot of it in weeks to come! In the following weeks we will also visit the library, art, music and PE classes, have a snack in the Elementary School cafeteria and head to the rooftop playground again. By June the children will be kindergarten experts!  Be sure to ask your child about today!

Some of our learning explorations this week included:

*continuing with our “Loose Parts” project (manipulating and changing materials.) Several students made amazing art projects out of bottle caps, boxes, beans and feathers (I think they could be in an art studio!) Some students interacted with stickers, buttons, beads, different types of paper, and colored glue.

*making rockets with Ein’s mom!  A big thank you to her for coming in!

*creating beads out of clay that we can actually use in the classroom!

*being a part of the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival.

*using fun rollers to create colorful paintings.

*building a road out of unifix cubes (a very long one!) where animals could talk and watch for other animals to come. This road was many other things throughout the week but it was interesting to watch the patterns, the symmetry and conversations that emerged from this one idea that came from a group of students.

*And much, much, more…

REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES/THINGS TO REMEMBER

*Return library books and blue bags on Monday

*April 26^th: Alternate Dress Day

*May 1^st: Labor Day-No School

*May 5^th: Celebration of Learning—8:00-9:15am in our classroom-please see previous notes for details

*May 10^th: Vesak Day-No School

*June 1^st: Last Day for Students—normal 1:30 dismissal

*SUMMER BIRTHDAYS: if your child's birthday is in the summer and you'd like to celebrate it at school before the year is over, please send a note and we will celebrate!  J  We don’t want to miss anyone! Let me know what day works for you.

*IF you are leaving early, withdrawing from SAS or will be missing certain days over the next few weeks, send me a note. This will help me manage those last-minute details regarding report cards, work sent home, portfolios etc.

Week 32 April 17 to 21

130 new photos · Album by Lynsey Howitt

Weekly Update April 10 to 13

Just a reminder that there is no school tomorrow! We will see the students back at school on Monday.

We are at a point in the year where I watch and listen to the students and am just so incredibly proud of their learning journey and where they are right now! Ms. Sarah was in our classroom for a counselling lesson on kindness, and one of our kiddos piped up, “We already know about kindness Ms. Sarah! It is the most important thing in our classroom! We try and show it to each other every day!” Now if that doesn’t make your heart sing…

Some of our learning explorations this week included:

*continuing with our “Loose Parts” project (manipulating and changing materials) From beads, to rice, to shaving foam, to moon sand…

*continuing their passion for animals, they were studying a book on animals and how their bones are structured to support them. We found some animal x-rays, and there was some interesting discussions! This led into dramatic play of a vet’s office and doctor’s office.

*discussion about Easter and Spring. Many of the students came in talking about Easter and some of their traditions. I showed them some of my grandma’s Ukrainian Easter eggs, that are made in a very special way with wax and a utensil called a kistka. We read Rechanka’s Eggs, a story by Patricia Palacco which highlights these beautiful eggs, and then we decided to make our own special eggs with pastels and colored dye. They turned out beautiful! There was also an investigation and some predicting with an BIG egg on display. The students eventually found out that it was an ostrich egg. They treated it very gently! Before they found out there was some interesting questioning and discussion about what kind of egg it was! “I think it is a dinosaur egg!” “No a cheetah egg!” “It’s an alligator egg!” “No a giraffe egg!” It started a fun discussion on mammals and reptiles and birds…

*we visited Pre School because we heard that they had some huge snails and some snail EGGS!

*today we had the opportunity to go up to the high school and be read to by 9^th graders! Marcus’ mom invited us up, and I think it could have kept going for hours!  It is always nice to meet some new high school buddies!

And much, much, more…

REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES/THINGS TO REMEMBER

*Return library books and blue bags on Monday

*We are very low on fruit and granola bars etc—if you have time, feel free to send in some of these things for our very hungry students in the morning!

*April 14^th: Good Friday-No School

*May 1^st: Labor Day-No School

*May 5^th: Celebration of Learning—8:00-9:15am in our classroom-please see previous notes for details

*May 10^th: Vesak Day-No School

*June 1^st: Last Day for Students—normal 1:30 dismissal

*SUMMER BIRTHDAYS: if your child's birthday is in the summer and you'd like to celebrate it at school before the year is over, please send a note and we will celebrate!  J  We don’t want to miss anyone! Let me know what day works for you.

*IF you are leaving early, withdrawing from SAS or will be missing certain days over the next few weeks, send me a note. This will help me manage those last-minute details regarding report cards, work sent home, portfolios etc.

Week 31 April 10 to 13

108 new photos · Album by Lynsey Howitt

Weekly Update April 3 to 7

A reminder that next week is a four day week! There is no school on Friday.

Some of our learning explorations this week included:

*continuing with our “Loose Parts” project—students have been manipulating and changing a variety of materials, and spending time in our maker space with recycled materials yielded an airplane!

*making “treasure boxes”

*the start of an animal hospital and wildlife center! This group’s love for animals is overwhelming and beautiful!

*meeting with students from Ms. Katie and Ms. Hannah’s hub who explained that we are going to use metal forks and spoons in the cafeteria to help save the environment!

And much, much, more…

REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES/THINGS TO REMEMBER

*Return library books and blue bags on Monday

*We are very low on fruit and granola bars etc—if you have time, feel free to send in some of these things for our very hungry students in the morning!

*April 14^th: Good Friday-No School

*May 1^st: Labor Day-No School

*May 5^th: Celebration of Learning—8:00-9:15am in our classroom-please see previous notes for details

*May 10^th: Vesak Day-No School

*June 1^st: Last Day for Students—normal 1:30 dismissal

*SUMMER BIRTHDAYS: if your child's birthday is in the summer and you'd like to celebrate it at school before the year is over, please send a note and we will celebrate!  J  We don’t want to miss anyone! Let me know what day works for you.

*IF you are leaving early, withdrawing from SAS or will be missing certain days over the next few weeks, send me a note. This will help me manage those last-minute details regarding report cards, work sent home, portfolios etc.

Week 30 April 3 to 7

59 new photos · Album by Lynsey Howitt