Multiplication and Division

Students in the middle grades have been working on division and multiplication using our TERC series of Investigations books.  We've explored the number chart with skip counting, played games like Tricky Triangles, written riddles for our classmates to solve and completed worksheets on arrays.  We even read and solved riddles from the book Each Orange Has Eight Slices to inspire our own riddles.

Glimpses of After School at The New School

APRIL

We studied branches cut from a great variety of shrubs and trees, making drawings and labeling them as we thought about how they were different and how they were the same.

In the following days we created nests, weaving the beautiful curly willow, red osier dogwood and other slim strands, wondering how the birds manage the challenge without hands!

Of course, we next were inspired to put eggs in our nests, and spent many days using hard boiled eggs and empty shells, decorating them with dyes (which sometimes colored our hands more brightly than our eggs), acrylics and tissue paper collage.  Using push pins and a turkey baster bulb we blew raw egg from its shell, with riotous horking sounds.  Caroline took the slimy mess home to cook for her dogs.  They loved their omelet.

We made many fairy houses, inside and outside, and played fantasy games and ran around.  More kids joined After School the day of the Science Celebration, so we had an extra exciting afternoon.

MAY

We spent time finishing up work and projects from the day program, and continued to create our end-of-year secret gifts for classmates.  We liked making props for the Variety Show, and talking about what we’d be doing in the show.

Mary came to do yoga with us outdoors one beautiful afternoon, which was fun and challenging and relaxing.

We took a garden walk, talking about ideas for putting in our own garden, making a list of plants we’d like.  We played with hula hoops, batted whiffle balls, kicked up a soccer game, played basketball and catch.  The good weather is truly here.

We continue to play fantasy and wizarding games outdoors, and come inside ready for read aloud.  We have been exploring stories about respecting difference, and about cooperation, taking our time with the books, thinking and talking about what we hear. 

Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages,

Inspired by Lucy Calkins’ Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages, the youngest children explored writing poetry. The unit starts with a poetry museum, which asks children to write about objects that have been collected. As each object is observed children are encouraged to see with poet’s eyes, to see the unusual in ordinary objects. As the unit progressed over the course of 8 weeks,  students learn about the many ingredients that make up powerful poetry. They explored learning about line breaks, showing and not telling, searching for honest and precise words, patterning on a page and using comparisons. We encouraged children to stretch out their sounds and not to worry about spelling. It was important however, that they could read what they wrote. The highlight of each class came at the end when they each shared one treasured poem.

Six eggs in

a basket.

then a little girl

was picking up

some baskets.

Then she said,

“This is the best day ever.”

by Aurelia, aged 5

The park

is a place for everyone.

It’s a place

for

everyone.

The park

is a

place for

everyone

to

play.

by Eisen, aged 6

The vacuum is

A monster

And it eats dust and dirt

It gets mad

When you don’t

Drop

Anything.

by Frannie, aged 7

Boy camping

with my dad and

syris sleeping

There is a lot of

bugs.  I have soda

I sleep in a

sleeping bag

and I got

to toast marshmallows.

by Rowyn, aged 6