Family Learning Activities, 4/14-4/18
- Create an April
family art project to display in the classroom all month. The theme can be
a special day or holiday in April (e.g., someone’s birthday, spring).
- Play math games
that allow you to practice counting. You may request instructions and game
boards, and borrow playing materials from the classroom.
- Have Game Night
and play board games as a family.
- Fly a kite! (We
will celebrate Kite Day on April 30.)
- Interview a
family member or friend who may know what Manoa was like 100 years ago.
- Visit the
library and check out a fiction or non-fiction book about living 100 years
ago.
- Write a story
about Spring with someone in your family. Bring it in to display in our
classroom library.
- Create a puppet
show to perform for your friends. (We will be seeing an 8th
grade puppet show next Thursday.)
Posted at 9:19 AM| Permalink
April is a busy month!
There are a lot of events happening this month! Next week
Monday, 4/14, we will be attending Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” performed
by HOT Opera Express. The students will be able to see a “live” opera and gain
a better understanding of what goes into an opera production. On Thursday,
4/17, we will enjoy an 8th grade puppet show in our Dining Hall.
Then on Wednesday, 4/30, the entire school will celebrate Kite Day! We will be
putting our kites together the week before and will need some assistance. More
information will come to you as we receive it.
This week in math, we continued to practice counting and
learned new games to introduce the concepts of putting groups together
(addition) and taking a group away (subtraction). In Double Compare each partner turns over two number cards (0-6) and compares
the totals to see who has more. At first we practiced with just one set of
number cards. Then we extended the activity where each partner has a set of
number cards, so everyone can practice adding numbers to 11 (up to 12 if they
combine their sets). In Build It/Change It, one partner turns over a number card
(0-10) and builds it with counters on a ten frame. The other partner turns over
another card and has to change the counters on the ten frame to match. While
discussing whether or not counters are added or taken away, the partners also
practice saying a number sentence to describe what happened.
All of our math games are available in the Math Center
daily. Also, if you are interested in learning how to play any of these games,
let us know, and we’ll be happy to send a game board home. You may either make
your own game materials, or you may borrow our classroom materials. Your child
will be able to explain the rules and objectives of the games.
During morning meeting, students have an opportunity to lead
the class as flag leader, morning message helper, and calendar helper. It is
great to see each child gain confidence as they practice speaking in front of
an audience and perform certain tasks and ask their classmates to do the same.
We notice that the students are more attentive and participate more when their
friends are the leaders!
We’ve started writing the morning message together as a
class. It’s great practice in remembering and knowing daily routines and
activities. It’s also a great way for us to practice our writing skills, which
we then practice further in our journals. We’re focusing on putting capital
letters at the beginning of sentences, periods (or question marks and exclamation
points) at the end of sentences, and spaces between words. We’re also beginning
to address having a beginning, middle, and end in our writing, whether it’s a
letter or story, encouraging each writer to share more than one sentence. And
as always, our morning messages provide excellent reading practice.
All of the students’ ideas for our Manoa – 100 years Inquiry
have been categorized into nine topics – animals, transportation, shelter,
natural surroundings, man-made surroundings, clothes, games/sports, food, and
plants. Each student chose a topic according to the ideas they initially wrote
in their journals. The students are either working with a partner or by
themselves. They are coming up with questions that they will first answer and
then research.
REMINDER! Newsletters and family learning activities will
now be posted on Fridays. If you subscribed to the blog, you will receive an
email notification when the blog is updated.
If you have any recyclable items we can use in our art
center, please send them with your child. Items need to be stored on a shelf in
our classroom, so please, no bulky items. Suggested items include paper
towel/toilet paper rolls, styrofoam pieces, and fabric/wallpaper squares. Thank
you!
Everyone
looks forward to the Guest Reader on
Friday afternoons. If you are interested in coming into the classroom to read
to the children, please contact Sabrina Ako.
Parent
volunteers are such a help and blessing
to us, especially when projects arise. If you are able to volunteer your time
(no skill or experience needed, training provided), please contact Sabrina Ako.
The
new set of Family Learning Activities
has also been posted. Some items have been removed, but that doesn’t mean you
can’t go back to them and complete the activity. Remember, these activities are
optional; please enjoy them, as your family’s schedule and available time will
allow.
Our Students-of-the-Week are RJ and
GK. Please bring in things you would like to share about yourselves. Everything
needs to be able to hang on a bulletin board. Parent volunteers or teachers
will assemble the board as the items come in to school. Every child will be
“showcased” for at least one week.
The
following dates show when the new bulletin boards will be assembled for
display. The initials of the Students-of-the-Week are listed after each date.
4/16
– RJ, GK (Items may be brought in from 4/9)
4/23
– JM, TS (Items may be brought in from 4/16)
4/30
– LY, WC (Items may be brought in from 4/23)
*
If your child missed his/her week, please still send in some items for display.
We would like to give every child an opportunity to share about him/herself!
Our friends love to hear about each other!
Posted at 9:18 AM| Permalink