Kindness week and Magnet Fair

Last week Graded focused on kindness. We discovered new ways to show kindness and investigated which forms of kindness are most meaningful to each of us. One very important idea we discussed was stomping out bullying! We were proud to wear blue to show that we do not believe in bullying!

Magnet Fair

We would like to start by thanking all of the moms who were able to come out and support our learning during the magnet fair! I huge thank you to Martha, Ana, Tammy, Luzmaria, and Gaby for running a center during the fair. We loved your support, encouragement and engaging questions.

It was very interesting getting to see magnets in action through these centers. Some of us were surprised by the size and strength of the magnetic fields around certain magnets. Also, it was very interesting getting to discover additional ways that we rely on magnets on a day to day basis. 

                 

Curriculum Update: What's Going On in First Grade

Literacy: Students will be making published versions of their small moment books. They are continuing to work on reading fluency and comprehension with their just right books.

Math: Students are exploring odd even number patterns, shapes, and number grid patterns. They are using a number line to add and subtract and will be introduced to telling time to the half hour.

Science: Students participated in the magnet fair, in which they were able to observe and experiment like scientists.

Social Studies: Students have worked on kindness and way to show kindness when cooperating.

Portuguese: Os alunos trabalharam em estações (leitura, escrita, jogos), fazendo diferentes atividades para refletir sobre os diferentes sons das vogais e atentando para como elas funcionam quando se juntam às consoantes.

Lower School Update - October 9, 2017

Student-Led Conferences

Student-Led Conferences will take place during the afternoons of October 24, 25, and 26. Students will be dismissed at 11:30 am each of those days and conferences will take place in the afternoons (parents of our youngest children in K3 and K4 will have parent-teacher interviews). Sign up for the conferences is open now on Veracross and will close on Friday, October 20 at 10:00 am. Below are the answers to some frequently asked questions.

What is a Student-Led Conference?

Students lead a conference to demonstrate their learning by showcasing their skills and knowledge. They take ownership of their learning experience through interactive activities, student portfolios, and work samples.

What Happens at a Student-Led Conference?

Parents come into the classroom with their children. Together, families visit learning stations set up around the classroom. Families move from station to station as they complete each task. In K5 to fifth grade, conferences will be scheduled every 20 minutes and as a result there may be multiple families in the room at the same time.     

Each station is designed to take about five to ten minutes. Stations could include reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, science, Portuguese, and/or a student portfolio. In addition, parents, child, and teacher will meet to discuss student growth and goals. Please expect to spend at least 1 hour on campus for each child (you will spend time in your child’s homeroom and visit specialist classes).

What are the Benefits of a Student-Led Conference?

Student-Led Conferences ensure that children are responsible for their learning and are actively involved in the learning process. Students have the opportunity to discuss what has taken place within the classroom setting. The conferences also help the students build their organization and communication skills. This direct student involvement helps the children become more reflective about their own work, and set realistic goals for the future.

What is Everyone’s Role?

The students, parents, and teachers have very distinct roles during the conference. Below is a simple breakdown of what each person is responsible for.

Student’s Role	Parent’s Role	Teacher’s Role
to lead to learn to share to do to feel successful	to listen to question to learn to help to feel proud	to help prepare to welcome to assist to be available to all families to facilitate the conversation

Is it Important for Everyone to Attend?

Yes! Attending Student-Led Conferences is extremely important. The students put a great deal of thought and effort into preparing for these conferences. We request that all parents attend, not only to be informed what is going on in the classroom, but to support the children.  

The Eagle Way

Last Monday was our first “Eagle’s Nest” assembly, a weekly gathering of the Lower School Community where we celebrate accomplishments, share our work, and join together as a division. The Eagle’s Nest will follow a fairly predictable schedule each week, including mindfulness activities. Mindfulness activities are designed to help all of us be conscious and aware of our physical and mental state. You may have participated in a mindfulness activity yourself during one of our recent community assemblies. A frequent source of mindfulness activities used in our classrooms is gonoodle.com. Go Noodle has a wealth of videos that you and your child can use to promote movement and mindfulness. You will have to register, but it is free, fun, and something your child is probably familiar with.  

Upcoming Important Dates

October 9-11	PTA Teacher Appreciation Week
October 10	Second Grade Field Trip: Cidade das abelhas
October 12 & 13	Nossa Senhora Aparecida Holiday (no school for all students)
October 15	Daylight Savings Time Starts
October 17	Parent Coffee: Child Protection at Graded 8:15 am (Auditorium)
October 19	Half Day for Students 11:30 am Dismissal Innovate Conference Begins
October 20	No School for Students Innovate Conference
October 21	Innovate Conference
October 24	Parent Coffee: Reviewing MAP Test Results 8:30 am (Auditorium)
October 24-26	Student-Led Conferences (11:30 am dismissal for students, conferences in the afternoons)
November 1	Halloween Parade 2:00 pm
November 2	Dia de Finados Holiday (no school for students)
November 3	No School for Students

Around the Lower School

Dorina Nowill Celebration

On Friday we celebrated the success of our first grade walk-a-thon. First grade raised R$27.237,00! Congratulations. The money will be spent on remodeling the playroom at the institute. The representatives were very appreciative and said it was a special experience having our first graders visit and raise so much money for the institute. Thank you to all those who helped and cheered on the first graded we could not have done it without you!

Ms. Keane's Events of the Week

This week was full of fun events. We practiced how to be kind and spent time with our Kindergarten buddies. We watched some 6 graders perform a reader's theater, performed in our community assembly, and finally enjoyed our magnet fair. Check out some pictures below. 

Kindness Week:
During kindness week we had multiple challenges throughout the week. We had to work with new friends, spread kindness notes, and much more. The one we all enjoyed was writing thank you letters, to maintenance, cafeteria staff, and security.

Reader's Theater Performance:
We were invited to watch sixth graders do multiple performances of reader's theater. We watched little red riding hood, the three little pigs, the tortoise and the hare, and the ugly duckling. The students did a great job and we all enjoyed watching them.

Buddy Bingo Boxes:
As it was kindness week we spent some time with our buddies. We played Bingo boxes in which each student had to complete the activities on their Bingo boards. They had to sing songs to each other, give high fives, meet a new buddy, play thumb wars and more. The students brought the boards home so ask them more about what they did.

Community Assembly:
The students did an excellent job at the community assembly. They sang how do we get along song. Check out our class story on class dojo to see the performance.

Magnet Fair:
Our magnet fair was a great success. Students had a great time doing all the activities and showed their learning about magnets. Thank you to all the parents that came and volunteered.

Ms. Heineberg's Class: Magnet Fair!

This morning our students participated in a Magnet Fair! I'd like to thank our parent volunteers that helped by running one of the stations, while students rotated from one station to the next one. Thanks Carol Freitas, Victoria Olsa, Makiko Kaneko, and Anamaria Saenz! Please scroll down for photos:

Racing Cars Station: Students had to make cars move by repelling the car's magnet away from the magnet on the end of their wand!

Buzzing Bee: The  magnet on the Bee and the magnet on the flower were attracting each other. Therefor, students could tilt the box and the bee would not move.




Float Your Boat:  Students had to try to move the boat by attracting th paper clip on the boat to the magnet at the end of their wand.

Flying Kites: Students were puzzled by this at first. Was it magic? The kites were flying up high... The paper clip on the kite was being attracted to the magnet behind the cloud!

Jumping Frogs Station: What makes these frogs jump so high? They are repelling!