Partner Reading in Kindergarten

Kindergarten children are excited to read with a partner! Students listened to the book The Loopy Coop Hens Letting Go read aloud by Ann our language arts specialist. They first made predictions about who they thought the characters in the book might be and what might happen in the story based on the cover  Students noticed that punctuation marks gave clues as to how to read the text. They also saw repeated words and phrases in the story that helped them to read with expression. Students acted out different parts of the story in order to understand how the characters reacted. They shared their ideas about the story with a partner and then with the rest of the class. 

After reading the whole book, students had the opportunity to read the first chapter in this three chapter book with a partner. First, students role played with Ann how to read with a partner. Then each partnership chose a spot in the room to read their chapter together and talk about the start of the story. Rereading a book has several benefits. One is that students learn to read the words especially words that are repeated in the book. Second, students become more fluent in their reading. Third, students are able to increase their understanding of the book. At the end of the reading time, students asked if they could keep the book in their classroom so that they could read it again and again.

Creando Poesía en tercer grado (Creating poetry in third grade)

To complement their culminating Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, the third graders shared their learned vocabulary in the form of art by crafting a Diamante Poem.

A Diamante Poem is a seven-line poem that includes sustantivos (nouns), adjetivos (adjectives) and verbos (verbs). The beginning and ending lines are the shortest, while the lines in the middle are longer, giving the text of the poem a form of a diamond, diamante. Here’s a way to visualize this piece of art:

objeto

adjetivo, adjetivo

verbo, verbo, verbo

objeto, objeto, objeto, objeto

verbo, verbo, verbo

adjetivo, adjetivo

objeto

Using the word luna (moon) as the topic, we began by jotting down all the objetos (objects) that came to the students’ mind when asked what does the moon look like. Then, they came up with adjetivos (adjectives) that might describe the moon such as color or shape. To include “-ing” verbos (verbs), the question was posed “If you visit the moon, what would you do?” to which many students shared excellent and some even hilarious ideas. All the words gathered were then written on flashcards and categorized by each part of speech, with its Spanish translation. Then, both third grade classes took turns at crafted their own collective poem.

There are two types of Diamante Poem. One is a synonym where the nouns at the beginning and end are two words that mean basically the same thing. The other type is an antonym where the nouns are opposites of each other. Jeanne’s third grade class chose to make theirs an antonym while Felix’s choice was the synonym version. 

Jeanne’s class:

Luna

(Moon)

Platiada brillante, Blanca

(Sparkling silver, White)

Cosiendo, Bailando ballet, Corriendo

(Sewing, Ballet dancing, Running)

Malvavisco tostada, Pelota, Bola de nieve, Manzana

(Toasted marshmallow, Ball, Snowball, Apple)

Durmiendo, Recogiendo, Cavando

(Sleeping, Collecting, Digging)

Mágica, Excitante

(Magical, Exhilarating)

Helado de vainilla

(Vanilla ice cream)

Felix’s class:

Luna

(Moon)

Platiada y dorada, Gris

(Silver and gold, Grey)

Volando, Saltando, Flotando

(Flying, Skipping, Floating)

Pastel, La Tierra, Dedo del pie podrido, Papa

(Cake, earth, Rotten toe, Potato)

Poniendo, Pateando, Recolectando

(Putting, Kicking, Collecting)

Óvalo, Azul

(Oval, Blue)

Queso

(Cheese)

Once completed, each class practiced learning their group’s poem in Spanish, individually and with each other.

The result of their hard work will be witnessed during their amazing Mid-Autumn Moon Festival celebration next week where each class will recite their poem. The third graders had so much fun with this study that they have requested for each to create their very own Diamante Poem. Stay tuned!

Community Dinner

Lower School families gathered last weekend to have a beautiful meal together. Food shared represented families' history, culture and traditions. The cafeteria was transformed with abundant decorations and a stunning array of dishes. 

Children worked on coloring pages, created special cards for the Coquí Education Program, which is supporting those affected by Hurricane Dorian, and played games while also sampling the wide variety of foods. 

Many thanks to our wonderful Home and School Association for bringing us together in such a meaningful way.

Third Grade Composers!

Third graders created their own rhythmic compositions using rhythmic bricks (short rhythmic phrases) with words that connected to the traditional Chinese folksong, Silver Moon Boat, which they will be performing for the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.

Students created their own 8-beat rhythmic patterns and then combined them with a friend to create a longer rhythmic piece. Each student performed their individual composition and then performed with their partner using rhythm sticks. We used this idea to create a new rhythmic section for their performance of the Silver Moon Boat song, played by the singers of the group on rhythm sticks. 

Enjoy these photos of just a few of our composers!

This week in PE

This past week in Physical Education we have been working on our manipulating skills, hand-eye coordination and gross motor movements.  We have done this through a variety of activities:

• Scarf manipulation
• Clean the house
• Football
• Ring Manipulation
• Ship Pin knockdown

Health / Wellness

In health and Wellness this past week we have spent a lot of time on overall sportsmanship and how to deal with cooperative games.  The other area we have focused in on has been what makes us special.  

Kindergarten Clay & The Five Senses

The kindergarten artists have begun a clay exploration in the art room. In their first encounter with the material, they were given an opportunity to play with the clay. Using their hands and tools, they were able to stretch, pound, flatten, roll and pinch the clay to explore how it feels in their hands, how much force is required to change its shape and how its texture changes as they work with it.

 

When students have the opportunity to engage with a material without specific instructions, they are able to draw their own conclusions and be careful observers of the discoveries that they are making. The kindergarteners were able to form spheres, coils and pound out flatter pieces of clay, or slabs, which are the basic building blocks of hand-building with clay.

In their second class using clay, the kindergarten artists were invited to create self-portraits using the clay. First they shaped their clay into a sphere, then pounded it flat to transform into a round slab. We then had a class discussion about which features of the face correlate to the different five senses.

 

The students decided that the skin on their face gave them a sense of touch. They then agreed that we could add eyes to give a sense of sight, ears to give a sense of sound, nose to give a sense of smell and mouth to give a sense of taste. The students were delighted to see their self-portrait faces come to life and completed them by adding hair, eyebrows and even some eyelashes.

After their pieces dry, they will be loaded into the kiln and fired. In an upcoming class, the kindergarteners will painting their pieces with glaze to add their skin, hair and eye color, and they will be fired again.

Connecting Across Divisions

Some of the most rewarding and enriching experiences that happen at AFS are the connections that are made across divisions.  The first graders were a little bit nervous and a whole lot excited to have their first encounters with their senior partners. The week before Field Day, they met for the very first time to create signs that would be used to show spirit and support on Field Day.  The seniors crafted the first graders' names in unique and creative ways and together they colored and decorated them.  Through the process they laughed and got to know each other and then played together on the Headwaters Playground.  

It was so touching to hear and see the joy from all the students.  This activity made our connection on Field Day rich with anticipation and so much more meaningful.  The first graders could not wait to get together with their partners and they loved every minute of our Field Day time with the seniors!

Another connection that is still in progress is the creation of first grade portraits by Donna Russo's photography class.  The first graders thought about and practiced whole body poses that portrayed how they saw themselves. Each first grader got to model several poses for their photography partner inside the photography room and again outside on the playground.  The photography students chose the best pictures and delivered them last week to first grade and they are spectacular!  

We are getting ready to meet with Upper School art teacher, Amy Newman, who will guide the first graders to use pastels on their portraits, to add feeling and emotion to their pictures.  When they are finished they will grace our classroom for all to see.  

In addition to our portraits, the photography students also came out to our monarch release and took beautiful pictures of a deeply moving part of our study.  These pictures will be turned into a book that we can't wait to enjoy.  How fortunate for our young first graders to have all these rich experiences with students in the Upper School!!  We are so grateful to the teachers and students who are working with us!