We wish you a winter break that is filled with love and light!

Martin Luther King Day of Service Information

In preparation for the annual Martin Luther King Day of Service at Abington Friends School, we will be collecting the following items the first two weeks of January:

• Clean clothing in good condition for a clothing sale

• Used books of all types, especially children’s books

• Items for Winter Care Kits: chapstick, pocket-sized tissue packs, wash cloths, soap, toothbrushes, small lotion containers, disposable razors, deodorant, comb

Collections boxes will be located in the Lower School Lobby and the Stewart Lobby.

The Day of Service will be on Monday, January 18th from 9:00 – 12:00. Registration will be available January 5th.

We hope you can join us for this wonderful day!

Questions? Contact Andrea at aemmons@abingtonfriends.net

Holiday Service Project

First grade and their Meeting partners, fourth grade and third grade, spent time this week decorating and filling holiday gift bags for homeless men at the Whosoever Gospel Mission in Germantown. The Whosoever Gospel Mission is a Christian nonprofit organization, which serves all people, whose purpose is to provide shelter, food, clothing, education, counseling, rehabilitation and other assistance to homeless and/or needy men, women and children in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. The gift bags will provide snacks and a variety of personal items, that are not readily accessible, to individuals helped by the mission. 

The first graders enjoyed the time working with their partner classes creatively and thoughtfully designing the gift bags and were pleased to know that their work would brighten the lives of others in our community.

Los números y patrones en primera infancia / Numbers and Patterns in Early Childhood

Learning about los números is very important. It serves as a foundation for young learners’ first steps toward becoming budding mathematicians. In our Early Childhood program, math learning is includes counting, number recognition, and one-to-one correspondence. In an attempt to foster their academic development, these skills have also been integrated with their Spanish language experience.

To reinforce their number skills, the students were provided with many fun activities during their Spanish class. We first read many books that helped introduce numerals 1 through 10. After the reading aloud, entertaining games of los matamoscas (the fly swatters) were played using flashcards for numbers 1 through 5 and eventually adding 6 through 10. This is certainly one of our youngest learners’ favorite games.  

Another activity that was enjoyed by all was playing with unifix cubes. Each student was provided with five cubes at first and later another five were added. A number was called out in Spanish and then they would show the amount of cubes that represented the number. Everyone did an amazing job connecting the verbal to the numerical representation.

To help reinforce the previous learning and introduce numerals 6 thru 10, we used the SmartBoard and played an online interactive activity. Here’s the link. Go ahead and give it a try!

OnlineFreeSpanish:

http://www.onlinefreespanish.com/aplica/lessons/numbers110/num110_2.htm#.Vm_SIWQrLoA

After working on Spanish numeracy skills, the students were introduced to patterns, a basic component of mathematical and organizational thinking. We first read Susan Ring's book, Veo patrones / I See Patterns. This was a great introductory book for this mathematical concept. A discussion followed the read aloud and using colored unifix cubes, samples of simple AB patterns were created for the young learners to see. Afterward, each student was provided with a handful of cubes and invited to create their own AB pattern. Remarkable work! We also connected the new learning to our previous lessons on colors and the students were encouraged to name their pattern by color. Remarkable work indeed!!

Some friends became very confident in their ability and produced complex patterns such as AAB and ABC.

Stay tuned as I continue to provide challenging activities to enhance learning the basics of mathematical thinking in a second language in our young learners.

Fun & Games

In this season of family gatherings and gift giving, here are a few recommendations of fun games that help develop and practice a variety of skills. By encouraging children to think strategically and plan ahead, and to attach abstract thoughts to concrete objects, many games aid in the development of more-sophisticated thinking skills. Playing games also helps children with social interactions, learning to take turns, to follow rules and to win and lose gracefully. Playing games with kids shows we love spending time with them; we are demonstrating our values and making memories.

Jeanne has been teaching some math games that can be played with minimal equipment, usually dice or a deck of cards. Ask your child to teach you how to play Pyramid Tens, Addition Swirl or Pig.

Some old favorite card games can be adapted to practice math facts; just remove the face cards from the deck and play fish or memory match with pairs that equal 10 or any other target number. In class, we play war with each player flipping over 2 cards and the player with the largest sum wins the battle.

We have several commercial games in the classroom that the students have been enjoying.

One favorite is Set, a game of visual perception that is entertaining for the whole family. (My kids got it for Chanuka more than 20 years ago, and we still play it.)Another is Racko, a classic card game that focuses on number sequencing. (Sandy remembers playing this in 4th grade during indoor recess.)A game we'll be introducing soon is Blockus, a challenging spatial and strategy game that can be enjoyed by the whole family.Some games are perfect for those long car rides; 24 can be played by 1 or several players and only requires the deck of cards.

Second graders will also enjoy traditional games like Pictionary, Scrabble, Yahtzee, checkers, chess, Mastermind. And the time spent together is probably the best gift of all!

PHS Meadowbrook Farm Visit

The 4th grade went to PHS Meadowbrook Farm on a lovely December afternoon to learn about food that regrows itself.  Julie and Glenn set up planting stations for the students in the courtyard of the beautiful Pennock home.  First Julie explained about the different foods and plants that you can grow from food scraps.  Next she demonstrated how to cut and plant celery, fennel, garlic, ginger, potatoes, carrots and avocado seeds.  The students got to pick something to plant and take home to grow.  They also planted fennel, celery and avocado seeds for the science room greenhouse.

 A terrific step-by-step chart for doing this at home!

 Julie shows the students some guidelines for growing the plants.

 Julie demonstrated how to cut the various vegetables.

 Students scoop soil for their plants.

 Glenn gives advice about how to plant correctly.

 Some of the plants destined for the science room greenhouse.

 Glenn and Julie give out labels as the students journal about the process.

 Julie and Glenn took us on a trip through the big greenhouses where Meadowbrook grows the plants for the Philadelphia Flower Show.

Our Meadowbrook Farm experiences are a wonderful way to connect with this great community resource just a few miles from school.  The lesson today taught the students about the environment, making use of local foods and avoiding waste.  The students were able to have their questions answered by professionals while taking in the beautiful setting that is Meadowbrook Farm.

After a woodlands walk and a romp in some leaf piles, we were on our way back to AFS.  We'll be back for another magical visit in January!

Jacqueline Davies Visits Lower School

Jacqueline Davies, the author of many published books including The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon and The Lemonade Wars series, visited Lower School on Friday, December 4th. Jackie presented a program called Sounds All Around to our kindergarten students and then again to our first grade students.  The children were transfixed as she shared techniques to listen to the sounds of words and to then include that descriptive language in their writing. As they listened to her read her own writing and poetry from her favorite poets, they used movement and signs to show whether words were soft or hard and identified exciting sounds. As they exited the library at the end of the program, each child beat a sound on the drum.

Our second and current third grade students had all read her book The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon during their bird study in second grade. Jackie shared the process she used in writing the book, fascinating facts she learned during her research about the life of John James Audubon and about birds. Our students loved the opportunity to measure using their own bodies the largest nest ever discovered. They all guessed the bird correctly- the bald eagle.

Fourth grade students experienced Jackie's program A Writer's Life.  She shared how she wrote books starting in elementary school and always knew she wanted to be a writer. She then lost confidence in college when faced with so many talented writers in her program. After traveling and working in various jobs for a couple of years after college, she realized that she did want to be a writer and spent the next several years writing books and submitting them for publishing. Even though it took a number of years for her first book to be published she never again lost confidence about being a writer. This was such a great message for our fourth grade students.

Jackie was impressed with the writing and art work she saw on the walls of our school. She even took a picture of second grade paintings of birds to keep for inspiration.

Second Grade Reads Biography

Second grade is spending the month of December walking in the shoes of people who made a difference in the lives of others. Reading biographies allows students to explore in depth the lives and character traits of people who overcame challenges to create, support, lead and innovate. The life of Helen Keller has been a shared reading experience that has allowed students to discuss in small groups the qualities that helped this amazing person to lead a life that included learning how to communicate through sign language, to ultimately speak, graduate from Radcliffe College with honors, write numerous books and to travel the world becoming an advocate for people with disabilities, campaigning for women's right to vote, and  inspiring others to live their life with meaning.

Helen Keller became blind, deaf and unable to speak after an illness when she was nineteen months. Her family sought advice from Dr. Bell, the inventor of the telephone, who advised them to hire a teacher for Helen. Annie Sullivan became Helen's trusted teacher and companion for more than fifty years. Our second graders have experienced the thrill and sense of relief when Helen Keller connected water running over her hand from the outside pump with the sign that Miss Sullivan was showing her and finally realized that she could communicate with other people.  As they chart Helen's personality traits second graders learn how events and accomplishment's from Helen's life coincide with a trait such as kindness, adventurousness and being smart. Learning about Helen and her life serves as a guide post that one can always find a way to meet any challenge with persistence, creativity and faith.

At home reading is connected to this biography study as student's choose a biography from school to bring home and read, talk and write about with their family. Our second graders are certainly walking in the shoes of another and experiencing empathy and inspiration.

The link below is one of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller demonstrating how Helen learned to speak.  It is fascinating and illuminating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLqyKeMQfmY

Happy Hanukkah!

Today was a very special library day. The Cardinals, Owls and Catbirds gathered together to celebrate Hanukkah. Paula shared her very special family celebration. She told the story of Hanukkah, taught us about the menorah, and even lit the candles and sang the prayer. Then we shared Hanukkah cookies, also provided by Paula, as we listened to some Hanukkah stories. Here is a video of Paula lighting the candles and singing the prayers. If you listen closely, you can hear some of our students joining in.

Kindergarten Gingerbread Houses

December 11th, 2015

***Set-up will begin at 12:30p, instructions and decorating to follow. The event usually wraps up around 2:30p with Clean-up to follow with the goal to have the children ready for dismissal at 2:55pm.***

This is a really fun event that the kids love and also a wonderful event for families. Understanding that families aren't always able to participate in the events due to other commitments, we hope that you can send along a family representative to help your child create their masterpiece, whether that is a parent, a grandparent, an aunt or an uncle, or a friend.

Thank you to everyone who has already signed up and volunteers are still needed for donating specific items, prep, and clean up as well so please sign up through SignUp Genius:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f094babac29a3fc1-kindergarten 

(copy and paste the web address)

The more variety of decorations we have, the more creativity the kids seem to show through their individual expression.

We can't wait to see you there!

Rebecca & Karen (your Kindergarten clerks)

Tree Poetry

                       For The Love of Trees  

First graders and the Lower School have been spending time observing and appreciating trees around our campus. One activity was to brainstorm descriptive and creative words using their senses. The first graders had a chance to touch, notice and sit around their tree, and a teacher helped them by recording their ideas. Later, they turned their words and phrases into creative lines. They cut their lines apart and sorted them according to what sounded best and creating lovely poetry.

"woosh wind"

"leaves crumbling, bark breaking"

"as tall as a Dubai skyscraper"

"fairy wings and the tail of a pony"

Here are some of their poems:   

          An Old Tree

Smooth and bumpy like crumpled newspaper

Cone shaped mountain

Wrinkles like an old  man's hand

Crumbling sound like soft music

Smells like spider silk

Feeling relaxed

          The Colorful Leaves

The branches are like icicles

Like sweet homey from bees

As noisy as a scarlet macaw

Easy to climb and get down from

    The Windy Life

Sappy like pine cones

Spiky like a porcupine

Scratches and screeches from the wind

pushing through the bark

Dust bunnies like flying dirt

Please look for these and many other inspiring poems by your first grade poets above their cubbies soon!  And remember to see the beautiful and wonderful in the ordinary!

Kindergarten goes to the Franklin Institute

We enjoyed a fascinating and fun field trip to the Franklin Institute recently!  As part of our study of the human body, we visited the new brain exhibit and spent some time learning more about the heart and blood.  We discovered that science has figured out many things about the brain. We also found out that there is so much more to learn, and the workings of the brain still remain a mystery

Checking out relative heart sizes of different animals...

Entering the giant heart…

At the entrance of the brain exhibit…

Learning about the anatomy of the brain...

Learning about how the brain interprets different sensory data…

Pretending to be signals moving through neurons...