Newsletter: April 29th

Dear Families,

Thanks so much to everyone who was able to make it out to the Sparkleberry Fair on Saturday. I love seeing how excited (and, in some cases, nervous) the kids get to be on stage and sing for a crowd. They sang so strong. Lots of smiles to go around, that's for sure!

The weather has been beautiful the past few weeks. On Thursday we took advantage of this and enjoyed lunch outside the classroom in our garden. Mrs. Palmatier's class had the same idea and when we came out to eat we saw the first graders were already eating on our picnic tables. Our kids, without batting an eye, found spots in the grass, pulled out their lunch, and had a great time. I appreciated their flexibility and kindness toward the smaller kids. This is a great bunch.

In reading this past week we launched book clubs. This is our third round of book clubs this year. In the past I've asked the kids to browse about ten to twelve books and select three they'd be interested in reading before making their final choices for them. This time they were given the opportunity to make their own choices - provided there were at least two other people in the classroom who were interested in reading the same book. We used this process to revisit the strategies we use to select books that are both interesting and developmentally appropriate. Some of these strategies included reading the back cover, identifying the author, reading the first page or two, and checking to see how many pages there were. I'm proud to say all the kids made choices that really set them up for success. One of the nice things about book clubs is that they provide the kids an opportunity to discuss the book on an almost-daily basis. This supports them into slower and more careful reading as well as going a bit deeper when creating meaning from the text. Be sure to ask your child what they're reading.

As you know, the kids are currently in the planning stages to conduct a science experiment at home. These experiments will address questions they have regarding motion/friction/gravity. So far I have helped them to select a question they're interested in exploring, identify which conditions will stay the same throughout all trials, and list materials they will need. These are the sheets you've looked over with them at home and signed. Next week they will write out the procedures for their experiments then we'll do one or two more in the classroom. This will provide yet another model for the work they'll be doing at home. On Thursday they will be ready to begin their experiments at home. They'll have a week to complete them before making a formal presentation to the class in mid-May. I'll send out more information about these experiments later in the week.

Table showing how far a paper ball traveled after a rubber band
was pulled back between 1/2 inch and 2 1/2 inches then snapped
to strike the ball.

Table showing how far a ball rolled on various flooring surfaces. These are the types
of graphs the kids will create at home to show the results of their experiments.

I'm sure you all heard about our emotional send off for Mrs. Goerlich. There were many, many sniffles and tears around the circle as each of the kids told her something they appreciated about her as well as offered a piece of advice for what makes a great teacher. They also wrote her really sweet letters that touched her heart. We wish her the very best in her job search!

Finally, many of the kids have been working on creating arcade style games out of cardboard during our Explorations time. I told them I was happy to have them work on such projects so long as they developed a plan for what they wanted to make and stuck with it even when it became tough. In the end we had so many cool and creative games. We used a portion of our morning on Thursday to set up all the games and circulate through the room playing them. There was lots of excitement. Two of my favorite parts of seeing them work on these projects were the times when they had to creatively solve a problem and the amount of determination demonstrated in getting these completed. I told them they are welcome to come up with new ideas for creations if they'd like - again, so long as they develop a plan and make it purposeful. I can't wait to see what they come up with the second time around.