PE Update: Youngest Learners Advance Their Kicking Skills
Did you know that kicking objects other than a round ball is a great way to practice kicking skills? This past week in physical education, our pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students kicked over plastic cones in a game called “Builders and Bulldozers.” The “bulldozers” would kick down a cone and the “builders” would then use their feet to build them back up. Students exhausted their bodies while practicing these footwork skills.
– Abbey Nyland, physical education teacher
First Grade Takes Away Fun Lessons on Subtraction
First graders have been learning all about subtraction! We began exploring the concept by using pan balances. First graders put the known part on one side, and the whole (or total) on the other side. They quickly discovered that in order to balance the two sides, they needed to take away from the whole so it balanced with the known part. The amount they removed from the whole was the missing part! First graders have also practiced telling subtraction stories and have played games to practice this concept. Armed with this conceptual understanding, we are now working on making the connection between addition and subtraction. First graders are using familiar number bonds to help them translate parts and wholes into addition and subtraction equations.
– Katie Alexander, grade 1 teacher
Sixth Grade Spanish Students Explore Traits, Characteristics
Spanish students in sixth grade recently learned to describe people using adjectives for physical characteristics and personality traits with the verb ser. They also learned the question word for ‘’who’’: ¿Quién?. They continue to work on the México unit, and Frida Kahlo’s artwork inspired them to create self-portraits that we have displayed in the hallway near our classroom in the Palandjian Arts Center.
– Ana Maria Restrepo, Spanish teacher
Second Grade Creates Banner in Honor of MLK
Last Thursday, the second grade class read Doreen Rappaport and Brian Collier’s bold and vibrant pictorial biography, Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King Jr. We discussed how powerful words can bring about change. After reading the book, the students are now creating a second grade banner to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and remember what a gift it is that “his big words are alive for us today.” Each student will design a flag that features a prominent word from one of Dr. King’s speeches. We will continue to highlight the importance of equality, love, and understanding in our community as we honor Dr. King’s service to all.
– Marta Trippe, grade 2 teaching assistant
Eighth Graders Graph Ideas on Legacy
In eighth grade math, students have just finished a unit on linear functions. To wrap up this unit students used one of the types of functions we learned about, piecewise functions, to design an image on a graph. Each line on the graph corresponds to a piecewise function. While we worked on this assignment in math, students were also learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy. After talking about Dr. King’s legacy students spent time thinking about what they would like their legacy to be one day. They then created graphs to represent their ideas.
– Elinor Hannum, middle school math teacher
