Biography Book Club

Students in this book club read a biography of their choosing over the summer. 

When they returned to school this fall, they had to answer questions about their biography and create a poster advertising a speaking engagement by the subject of their biography. 

Students then had to write a paragraph summarizing the book and create a poster.

Habitats

                Students in Kindergarten through second grade have been learning about habitats and the different species that live in them.  So far we’ve read “A House for Hermit Crab,” written by Eric Carle as an introduction to what a habitat is.  We’ve compared our own habitat to Hermit Crab’s habitat. We have discussed how different species need different things in order to survive in their habitat.  Students did a Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) activity with a partner to learn about ocean life.  Each pair was given a picture from the story “Flotsam,” by David Wiesner and they were asked to write three sentences describing the ocean life they observed and to draw their own picture.  On our Highland Forest field trip children listened to “Chipmunk on Hollow Tree Lane,” a story about a chipmunk preparing for hibernation.  On a hike, students in pairs worked together on a scavenger hunt to find various elements of a forest habitat.  Although we were unsure the students would find chipmunks we came across a family, along with wild mushrooms, burrows and nests.  It was a great time!  The goal of this class is to have a broad understanding of habitats and how they relate to the species that live in them.  The students have been engaged and interested in the lessons and activities.  

                  

Hope in my Heart

               Four children have been reading “Hope in my Heart,” a diary written by Kathryn Lasky from the My America series.  They have been developing new vocabulary using context clues to help understand words we aren’t sure of.  Each class we have a discussion to ensure comprehension.  The novels they’ve been reading are diaries of young immigrants which supports our social studies unit on Immigration.  The students have been working really hard in and outside of class.  They worked on a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the novels they read over the summer.  From the readings the students have developed a better understanding of the experiences that immigrants have endured.  Students also watched an interview of a recent immigrant and compared their experiences to Sofia, the main character in "Hope in my Heart."  They are now discussing metaphors and symbols.  Their last assignment compared the past and present view of the Statue of Liberty and they will be using some of the words that represent the Statue of Liberty to write a metaphorical sentence.

Writing Workshop using Wordless Picture Books

             Third grade students have been discussing the stages of writing and practicing prewriting and drafting.  For the first prewriting class we created a story map as a class using a picture book without words.  This gave the students an opportunity to see how to begin writing a well organized story.  After we did the story map as a class, each student has been assigned a picture book without words to create a story from.  Using the story book provides some structure and content to start from, but allows them to add their own ideas.  Most importantly it shows them how the beginning, middle and end of a story are organized.  We’ve begun the drafting stage by organizing our story map into a beginning, middle and end.  Each student has begun writing out their story and they will work on revising them on the computer using spell check.  

Human Body

Students in all grades have started exploring the human body. We begun by studying our skeletory system. All of the classes started with a jump rope activity where they explored what moved when they jumped. This led to a discussion on the "hard" things inside our body that we can't see, but know are there. We tried to count our bones by feeling our own legs, arms, head and torso. Then we looked at posters to get a more accurate count. More recently we tried to assemble skeletons made of paper - it was harder than we thought. Many people were confused as to why it looked like we had "two" left hands! This led to a great discussion on how our wrist works!

Lyle the Crocodile

Students in Kindergarten and First Grade are exploring the fun of Bernard Waber's loveable crocodile, Lyle. Each week we read a Lyle book and then draw and write about one part of the book. Students love predicting what will happen in the story from the pictures, discussing vocabulary and drawing their own pictures for each story.

Mystery Guest

Asomgyee Pamoja was our first mystery guest of the year. He recently came to school to share his experiences as a recent immigrant (from Jamaica to England and then to the United States.) He also shared pictures and stories about his visit to Ellis Island with his son Muta. We are a nation of immigrants.

Highland Forest in October

Twice a year the students at The New School camp out overnight at Highland Forest. It is a magical two days at Pines Camp. On Thursday night parents join us for a potluck dinner and songs around the campfire. On our Thursday hike, after reading a book about birds nests, we challenged children to create a nest out of found twigs and branches. Later we added tie die designs to our New School t-shirts – each one as unique as our children. We also scheduled our traditional Teddy Bear Picnic in Highland Forest for the first time. All the teddy bears and animals agreed it was a much better place to play Hide and Seek. On Friday after feasting on a breakfast of buttermilk pancakes we set out to hike once again. The younger children learned more about forests to support their habitat unit and the older children learned about the food chain found in the forest and searched for evidence of 39 critters and plants.

Play at The New School

At The New School we value “play.” Twice a week children enjoy a half hour of free time during gym. Three times a week we play cooperative games. During free time children enjoy many different activities. Children need this time to independently develop creative games and projects. The “building craze” started about two years ago. First children built “forts” in the woods using logs lying around the property. Then when we started learning about Native Americans teepees sprung up out in the field – just like on the plains! This year the same logs have been recycled to create yet another shelter. Each time the building techniques get more and more sophisticated. It is so much fun to watch the creativity of our children.