February 2016
Heath Extended Day 5-7 Newsletter What has been happening in 5-7? During the month of January, the 5-7 students finished up the their last two weeks of Claytopia and Breakfast club. New Monday clubs began the last week of January and will continue through the end of February. Monday clubs now being offered are Cartooning Club and Board Game Club. In Cartooning Club, students will learn the art of cartoons and comics and create comic books and graphic novels. In Board Game Club, students will learn and play new board games, and challenge themselves in games they may have already played. The group will play a different game each week facilitated by a 5-7 teacher. During the first week of Game Board Club, students learned how to play the classic game of Scattergories. They worked in teams, brainstormed answers, and creatively used “outside of the box” thinking. On Tuesdays, the students have been baking! Tuesday Baking was added to the curriculum to help students achieve their goals of learning how to make different kinds of cake. Four students this year had this for a goal. On the last two Tuesdays of January, students made ice cream cake and homemade vanilla cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting (both a big hit!). In February, the group plans to make pineapple upside cake and homemade cake pops! During January’s Iron Chef competition, students made pasta with the option to use a variety of ingredients. Ingredients provided for each group included, ziti, chicken, broccoli, carrots, cheddar cheese, Velveeta cheese, sauce, chicken broth, milk, parmesan cheese, and a variety of seasonings. The groups worked independently from each other and worked with very little help from teachers. Students had to work together and were challenged by having to cook the pasta (with no stove). Each group successfully overcame this challenge as they used the skillets provided to do just that. One group created a macaroni and cheese dish while the other group make a cheese chicken and broccoli type dish. Students were able and encourage to use the internet to gather information on the types of recipes that can be made using these types of ingredients. Although groups got ideas online, they put their own spin on their creations! Family Dinner occurred on January 28th! Students made cheese and pepperoni pizza, pasta salad, lemonade, and s’mores! Wish Days During the Month of January we began celebrating Wish Days, and will continue celebrating these days through the month of March. Students have always enjoyed wish days and it has been a highly requested part of the curriculum. Each student has the opportunity to make a “wish” for a special activity of their choice. The students’ wish day will be scheduled for a day that they attend HEDP and the day will be dedicated to that particular activity. In January, we had wish days that included computer lab day, and a day of making crepes. We look forward to more wish days in February including, ice cream party, group tournaments and games, baking, pajama day, and movie day! Art and Music The students in 5-7 enjoy a “one hit wonder” art session on Thursdays at 5:00 and a music session on Fridays at 5:00. Art and Music sessions are taught by HEDP teacher, Zoe. Students have learned how to make origami cranes, crafty picture frames and hidden message art. Additionally, they have participated in an artsy spelling bee, musical art, songwriting, and a musical share game. Art and music sessions will take place on Thursdays and Fridays for the school year! Monthly Events Iron Chef will be held on Friday, February, 26th Family Dinner will be held on Thursday, February 11th No School Monday, February 15th- Friday, February 19th- February Vacation Week
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February Newsletter The new year has been off to a great start in 3/4. We’ve embraced the snowy weather by adding sledding to our outdoor time on the back playground. We learned how to make our own bouncy balls using borax, glue and water. We also experimented making our own “snow” out of baking powder and water, even though there was plenty of it outside! Some members of our class have been working with Zoe on a shaddow puppet play. They’ve been working hard every tuesday for the past two months to write scripts, create original shaddow puppets, and practice their lines. We can’t wait to see the final product at their upcoming performance! As we head into February, we are looking forward to completing more student goals, many of which combine science and cooking. After a successful homemade ice cream experiment, we are going to try a few more cooking projects, including rock candy and baking a layer cake. Reminders: *Please send a helmet to school if your child plans on sledding *School vacation is February 15-19 Thanks! Robin, Josh, Emily & Paul February 2016 During the month of January, the “Minions” started working on accomplishing their goal of learning the names of all 50 States through learning the “50 States That Rhyme” song. The children also spent time being internet researchers by using their computer skills to learn about Massachussetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. They enthusiastically shared these new found facts with their friends during our daily meetings. Throughout the month of Febuary, the children will continue to learn the remainder of the “States” song by learning a little bit more of the song every day. While working on the internet, the researchers have become more internet savvy and will continue to seek out facts about the remaining New England states. Zoe spent Friday afternoons in January with the Minions the children participate in “Musical Fridays” where the chidren played interactive games that enhanced their ability to create and listen to beats and rhythms, move their bodies freely to the beat, and finally create art work influenced by the sound of music. “One Hit Wonder Crafts” with Zoe on Monday afternoons has been a wonderful treat for the children in the Minion classroom. Additionally, Zoe will visit the Minion classroom every Wednesday from 3:45-4:45pm for children who would like to participate a 4 week session of art classes. Our guest readers will continue to visit the Minion room on Tuesdays from 4:00-4:30p.m. as the children appear to be enjoying their time with our special guests. A couple of reminders this month… * Your child’s safety is one of our main priorities. To help us with this, please remember to sign your child out everyday. The sign out book will be located outside the cafeteria along with a board showing the location of the 1/2 Yellow class at that time. Thursday, February 11th - Birthday Bash Monday, February 15th - Friday, February 19th - Februrary vacation Monday, February 29th - Leap Year party Wish List Clorox Wipes Reusable shopping bags (Ikea is ideal) Have a great month! Ellie, Ben, & Zoe PreK Extended Day News What has happened: We are ready to have a fantastic February! This past month in January we discovered new facts about dinosaurs, learned a little about the earth we live on, and different types of families. For letter G we worked with different shapes to study some geometry and talked about how to stay healthy for letter H. During the letter of the week unit everyone is expanding their vocabulary as we introduce new words every week that go along with our focus letter. They are also learning how these letters sound at the beginning of words and how to listen for their sound. What is to come: In February we are starting off with letters I & J. We will be drawing igloos, experiementing with ice, making jellyfish, and having some sensory fun with jello! For letters K & L we will be talking about kindness and love. We will make mailboxes at art to fill on friday with kind letters or pictures to each other. Letter M will be dedicated to musics. We will explore beats with musical instruments. Hope you have a fun filled February! Angelica, Katrin, & Christiane February 2016 Kindergarten News Letters I & J February 1st-5th Letters K & L February 8th-12th February Break February 15th-19th Letter M February 22nd-26th Letters I & J February 1st-5th Letters K & L February 8th-12th February Break February 15th-19th Letter M February 22nd-26th Weather Info: With the changes in the weather we have not been able to go outside every day. We started to incorporate the rock wall into our gym time activities. As the children become more comfortable and familiar with the rock will we will be able to incorporate more games and activities to do with the rock wall. Things to look forward to: We will be continuing with our letter of the week unit. During letters I & J we will be constructing igloos and doing jellyfish art. Letters K & L will be focused on kites, kindness, love, and lacing. We will be creating mailboxes in art and writing kind letters to each other all week for our friendship day on Friday the 12th. Letter M will focus on music. We are lucky enough to have Zoe in our classroom Monday-Thursday from 2:30-3:30; she will be guiding our class through our musical discovery at that time. Have a fabulous February! Angelica, Katrin, Christiane, & Zoe heath extended day will be closing today (1/5/16) at 4pm due to the snow. Keep warm and drive safely |
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