Singing a Song for Diwali with First Grades

This week in music class, first graders started learning a song to sing for the celebration of Diwali. Diwali is an Indian celebration also known as "The Festival of Lights". The holiday commemorates Prince Rama's return to his father's castle after being exiled by his stepmother for 14 years. It also celebrates his defeating the evil King Ravana, who kidnpped his wife, Sita, while Rama and Sita were in exile.

We started music class by hearing two stories about Diwali. One, about the story of Prince Rama, and one about how the holiday is celebrated all over India.

Reading the story of Prince Rama

Learning about celebrating Diwali in India

We learned a very popular song in Hindi called "Om Jay Jagadeesha" taught to Keisha by first grade parent Janani Rangaswami and her son, first grader, Rudy.  Rudy helped Keisha teach the class. It is a very challenging song but our first graders sounded great!

Rudy helping to teach first grade the song Om Jaya Jagadeesha

First graders learning the first part of Om Jaya Jagaseesha

First graders will continue learning the song over the next few lessons. Ask your first grader what they learned about Diwali in music class and see if they can share the song with you!

Lower School Adult Book Club

Parents and grandparents of Lower School children had their first meeting of the year on October 20. We shared our insights, connections and feelings about Anne Tyler's book A Spool of Blue Thread. It makes for an interesting discussion when we all have our own varying perspectives about the book. Discussion along with coffee, scones and yogurt parfaits was rich and fulfilling. Come join us for our next book club for adults as we discuss Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel on Tuesday December 1from 8:00-9:00 am in the Lower School library.

Station Eleven is a powerful novel that explores what it means to survive an apocalypse- in this case a virus that eliminates the majority of the world population. What would you keep during a world disastrous event? The author reveals that art survives as she focuses on a traveling theater and symphonic troupe that travels the Midwest sharing their art and forming friendships and a family bond in the process. This novel was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pen/Faulkner Award and the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

RSVP: Ann Botel-Barnard abotel-barnard@abingtonfriends.net

Text Connections: An Effective Reading Strategy

A powerful and effective reading strategy is making text connections. Good readers are able to think about the characters and issues that occur in a book and relate them to their own lives. Our first graders are practicing this strategy in reading workshop.

The Hating Book by Charlotte Zolotow was a favorite recently read by first grade students. Two girls misinterpret a conversation and become very angry at each other. When they finally realize their mistake, they laugh and their friendship is strengthened. We all worried when the girls were angry and experienced hurt feelings and felt so relieved at the end when they were friends again. Students shared their text connections with a partner and then wrote about the event from the text and then their own personal connection.

First graders continue to practice this skill while reading books with a partner, engaging in conversation about their connections and then writing about their own experience. Second, third and fourth graders continue to make connections to their own lives, to other books they have read and to the world. Recent book group selections Frog and Toad Are Friends and Mouse and Mole, Fine Feathered Friends in second grade explored issues of friendship and problem solving, topics that lend themselves to forging connections with the text to their personal lives. Third graders reading Stink and the Great Guinea Pig Express and Ivy and Bean Book 1 and fourth graders reading Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World, Mayfield Crossing and Riding Freedom are exploring book group selections that effectively contain topics and characters that students can connect to their own lives. During discussions in all of these book groups, one can often hear a student making a connection to their own lives, another book they have read or an important issue in the world.

Pennies for the Playground

Dear Families and Friends,

Our Lower School students are so excited to see the Headwaters Discovery Playground come to life that they wanted to have their own fundraising drive.  Between now and October 30th they have a Pennies for the Playground campaign on display in the Lower School lobby. 

Next to our friend the scarecrow are three different jars. Students who wish to make a contribution to the playground will be bringing in their own pennies, nickels, dimes and more so that they can feel like part of the fundraising process, too. 

We hope this gives families an opportunity to talk about your own traditions around giving and share your favorite causes... and practice math & counting skills!  We are very proud of our students' desire to pitch in and glad to see them feeling a sense of ownership for the playground.

We can’t wait till the building work begins!

Kindergarten Chemistry

In science class, we have embarked on a new unit: Kindergarten Chemistry!  Chemistry experiments are perfected suited to young children, as you can carry out an experiment quickly, with very clear results.  The experiments can be very exciting and graphically illustrate an idea or concept. We've been working on chemistry for the past few weeks and will continue with this unit for the next month.  So far we've discovered what chemicals combine to shine pennies, how liquids mix (and don't mix) and explored the chemistry of color.  After the experiments, the students are challenged to draw the experiment and illustrate what happened.  This helps reinforce concepts and gives them practice in recording their work.

Is there any way to clean a penny once it gets dull over time?  That's the question that the Kindergarten students set out to answer last week.  We tried four different solutions to see if we could bring a shine back to our pennies.  Three of our solutions didn't work, but it was exciting when our last combination of vinegar, water and salt worked and made our pennies look new again!  Take a look on the experiment page of my blog if you'd like the recipe.  

Do oil and water mix?   The students were so surprised when the oil stayed on top of the water no matter how much they tried to mix it!  What came next was even more startling.  We added drops of food coloring.  The food coloring did not mix with the oil and in fact, became dozens of tiny, colorful drops suspended in the oil.  When a drop fell through the oil to the water, it definitely mixed with the water!

Fourth Grade Immerses Themselves in Lenape Research

The fourth grade students have been reading and researching about various aspects of the Lenape culture dating from the 1500's. Each student selected a topic that interested them and set about reading text and synthesizing information related to their subject. They have recorded their facts and are in the process of deciding how to tell their stories. They are creating topic sentences and arranging their facts into subcategories. One of the many things they are working on is seeing and understanding the big idea within their subject, while also including interesting details in their subcategories.

The students are also still working on building their wigwam. The structural pieces are in place. They are weaving cordage through thin reads to create a covering for the sides. Another group is working on a small bed like structure so they can sit on something inside the wigwam other than the ground during the colder months.

Art All Around

Our lower school artists have been busy engaging in a variety of art activities around campus this fall. Last Friday, during our Green Apple Day of Service, students volunteered their efforts to complete our fabulous recycled plastic bottle greenhouse that was made in collaboration with the art department at Penn State Abington. Friends were delighted to add their finishing touches and the greenhouse has been a hive of activity during recess. Thank you to Penn State Abington and all of those who donated plastic bottles to make our greenhouse come to life!

 

The first grade artists have been creating stunning Monarch butterfly wing costumes which they will be wearing at the upcoming Halloween parade. The first graders learned about color mixing and brush selection in painting, as well as reinforcing concepts of symmetry explored in science class and their knowledge of Monarch butterflies from their classroom study.

                      
The second grade artists made wonderful connections to their classroom bird study and their learning about feathers in science class, while completing careful observational drawings of feathers. In art class, they learned about the concept of contrast in artwork and enjoyed using metallic color pencils to create contrast on both black and white paper.
                                
Exposing young artists to a variety of experiences, from STEAM based building projects that promote re-use and stewardship, to the theatrical tradition of costume-making to traditional observational drawing, gives both breadth and depth to their understanding and appreciation of art.