Eco Fest 2016 - JOIN US!

Dear LS Families -

What's happening this Saturday?   

Eco Fest 2016 from 9am to 12 on Saturday, April 30th!!!

In addition to our Nature Playdate (10 - 12 on Saturday), we have our Nature Build and need your help collecting weaving materials for our outdoor loom. Please bring grasses, leaves, acorns, flowers, fabric scraps to the LS Art Room. 

We will also have on site paper shredding, e-waste recycling, adult and children's clothing donation drop off, pet care donation drop off, and you might not even have to get out of your car! 

See you April 30th from 9 to 12.

To volunteer - please click: 
E-cycling, Shredding and Donation Drive, 9 a.m. to noon

If you are wondering what you can bring to drop off? 

Donation Drive: Bring your items for Cradles To Crayons, the PA SPCA, and Greendrop. Click each link for a list of eligible donations for each organization.

Crayola ColorCycle will accept all brands of plastic markers, not just Crayola markers. That includes dry erase markers and highlighters.

Paper Shredding: Shred One mobile shredding trucks will be on-site to securely shred documents for recycling. All paper is shredded and recycled. There is no need to remove staples, paper clips, binder clips, folders, rubber bands or even CDs.

Electronics Recycling: Gigabiter trucks will collect and destroy electronics on-site for future recycling. $20 charge per television, all other acceptable items free. GigaBiter accepts all computer components and any electronic equipment with a cord or a battery.

All events free and open to the public.

“Unidad Restaurante en el cuarto grado / Restaurant Unit in fourth grade.

A major interest in comida (food) brewed a study in the fourth grade Spanish class a few months back. Activities were provided in a variety of formats that helped introduce and reinforce some of the students’ favorite foods that included frutas (fruits), vegetales (vegetables), postres (desserts) and bebidas (drinks). Here! Give it a try and see how many you know:

papitas fritas

perro caliente

hamburguesa

pollo frito

queso

fresas

uvas

judías verde

zanahorias

pastelito

galletas dulce

helado

leche de chocolate

jugo de mango

After an extensive study on food related vocabulary, the fourth graders decided it was time to present our new knowledge by delving into a Restaurant Unit. This curiosity is taking us through a new journey that will include additional fun activities, which will lead to the practice of communicative skills, in Spanish, in a restaurant setting. In addition to practicing restaurant related words, this long-term project will provide ample opportunities for the students to practice their writing skills as well.

The culminating activity will be a restaurante simulation. Each individual, pair, or team of “restaurant owners” will design their restaurant by giving it a name, create the menú including cost of items, and will serve as cooks, greeters, and wait staff for their clientes (customers). Who knows? Some may even include an entertainment piece and add ambience by having dancers or Spanish music playing in the background.

The planning and designing has begun! Stay tuned as we eagerly await the debut of these fine dining eateries.

Fourth Grade Trip to PA Historical Society

The fourth grade traveled to Center City Philadelphia this week and visited the PA Historical Society. They were able to see primary documents dating from 1800's regarding enslavement, Abolition and the Underground Railroad. The students started their morning with a discussion about key events that happened in the city during the 18th and 19th century. They were asked to decide if the events were positive or negative for the city and its inhabitants. The students then organized themselves into a human time line in the chronological order that the events occurred.

After this session the 4th grade went downstairs to the reading room and got to look at some primary sources relating to slavery and abolition. The students rotated through four different stations. They were able to examine cartoons leading up to the civil war and worked at unraveling what the images meant and who was being satirized.

They also had the opportunity to learn more about William Still and see to actual transcribed passages from his records from book C housed in the archives. The passages described fugitive slaves appearance, size, old name, new name, where they came from and any family they left behind. There was also an accounting of monies spent to clothe, house and transport the person to their next destination. There was so much the students were able to deduce about the individuals from these passages.

They got to see Henry "Box" Brown's book which related the story of his life and treatment as an enslaved person and his inventive escape.



Students were shown how abolitionists worked to educate children in the 1800's with the use of an alphabet primer filled with poetry on how they could contribute to the abolition of slavery by boycotting things grown with slave labor, things such as sweets and clothing. At another station they were given identities of different fugitive slaves and rolled dice to make their way to freedom discovering real hardships along the way.


Not only did the students learn quite a bit but the experience allowed them to share their knowledge with the staff about the different topics and individuals they are presently researching. We made one more stop while we were downtown to the PA National Park where a ranger shared his knowledge about the URR and the area with everyone.

Next Lower School Book Club for Adults

Join us for our next Lower School Book Club for adults led by Ann Botel-Barnard, our Language Arts Specialist. We are excited to come together to share a love for a great story! 

Book: Language Arts by Stephanie Kallos

                                                            

Location: Lower School Library

Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 from 8:00-9:00am.

Enjoy a light breakfast and great conversation as we discuss what we loved about the book, what we had questions about and what we could connect to. 

Feel free to join us even if you have not read the entire book. You will still have a lot to contribute and the discussion will enhance your reading of the book. You are welcome to bring adult friends and relatives that are also interested in 

RSVP: Ann Botel-Barnard abotelbarnard@abingtonfriends.net 

Stephanie Kallos employs vivid descriptions to create memorable characters, challenging 

issues and intriguing plot twists in her novel Language Arts.

First Grade Researchers at Work

Our nonfiction reading project this spring in first grade is "Animals Featured in Fairy Tales." In preparation for this project the students have been reading different versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. The animals featured in these tales are the bear, wolf and the pig.

The American Black Bear is the specific bear that students are researching. This is the most common bear in North America and is the kind of bear featured in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first step is for students to share facts that they think they know about this kind of bear and their information is recorded on a chart.

Students then gain knowledge through listening to a teacher read a book aloud about this kind of bear, watching videos about the bear and reading and highlighting information in articles. Information learned through one of these methods is checked to see if it correlates or changes what the students thought they knew at the beginning of the project and new information is added to the chart.

Students have many opportunities to share their knowledge and questions with a partner and then with the whole group. Some facts lend themselves to demonstrating in a kinesthetic manner such as first graders demonstrating the length and weight of a bear.

As students write facts that interest them about the bear, they practice writing the knowledge by changing and using some of their own words. After recording their information, students will number their facts in an order that makes sense and ultimately publish a book about these animals with illustrations that match the facts. These books will be shared at our "Author's Celebration" at the end of the school year with first grade families.

The following are links to two of the videos about the American Black Bear shown to our first grade researchers.
Black Bear Learns the Ropes North America Discovery
Black Bear Mother and Two Cubs Prepare for Hibernation

The View From our Window - Second Grade Observations of Playground Progress

When we came back from Spring Break, we were surprised to see how much work had been done on the playground!  A lot more of the structure for the climbing towers had been built and more dirt had been moved.

During the week, we saw that they were using the cement mixer to mix cement for the stones that will be the pathway from the backdoor of Lower School.  It made a lot of noise and smoke.  We had to keep our windows closed because it smelled!  They were also doing some welding on the towers for the climbing structure.

Last week, we saw a machine that carried rocks with a strap and they made a wall just outside our window.  Sometimes they had to use a saw like a chainsaw to cut the rocks so they could fit together.  Then they put dirt around the rocks.  We also saw a dump truck bring sand and dump it by the hill.

This week, they started building platforms on the tower structures and putting netting up around it.  They are also putting dirt under it and moving other dirt around.  There are new wooden sticks to mark something, but we are not sure what! We will keep watching!!

ECO FEST!!!! Saturday, April 30

RAKU!

Ceramic artist Brett Thomas will be visiting AFS and facilitating an outdoor raku firing April 12,13 and 14. He will be working with all 3 divisions, and the Lower School will be participating all day April 13 and the morning of April 14. 

As the art department has been planning for the day, we thought it would be wonderful to have some Home & School and parent volunteers involved, if possible. Volunteers would be helping to move/organize the clay pieces and running some simple activities for the students to do while they are waiting outside (like drawing, playing with clay, mixing clay, etc.) They will get to see the process happening first-hand which is quite a sight to be seen! (to get an idea of what it looks like, this is Brett's website http://www.mobileraku.com/ )

We have created a Volunteer Spot to help assist in signing up volunteers for the two days. You will find the link below. Please send an email to your grade level parents requesting assistance. Of course, if you are able to help please sign up as well. Sounds like it will be a great experience for all. 

Volunteer Spot Sign Up

Thank you for your timely attention to this! 

Our best, 

Melissa & Fiona

STEAM Night is Next Week!

El Zodiaco Chino en 3º Grado – Chinese Zodiac in 3rd Grade

In connection with third grade’s Ancient China Study, the students have been learning the vocabulary in Spanish class for the animals and their presumed attributes that are represented in the Chinese Zodiac. The Chinese Horoscope consists of twelve signs and is determined by the Chinese Lunar Year. There are twelve animals, one for each year of the lunar cycle.

1. la rata: the rat

            ambicioso, trabajador y creativo

            ambitious, hard working and creative

2. el buey: the ox

            responsable, paciente y leal

            responsible, patient and loyal

3. el tigre: the tiger

            valiente, simpático y sospechoso

            brave, nice and suspicious

4. el conejo: the rabbit

            compasivo, creativo y amigable

            compassionate, creative and friendly

5. el dragón: the dragon

            brillante, honesto y entusiasmado

            brilliant, honest and enthusiastic

6. la serpiente: the snake

            sabio, callado y respetado

            wise, quiet and respected

7. el caballo: the horse

            alegre, hablador e independiente

            cheerful, talkative and independent

8. la cabra: the sheep

            amable, creativo y apasionado

            loving, creative and passionate

9. el mono: the monkey

            inteligente, chistoso y genial

            intelligent, humorous and genius

10. el gallo: the rooster

            agresivo, ambicioso y orgulloso

            aggressive, ambitious and proud

11. el perro: the dog

            honesto, leal y sincero

            honest, loyal and sincere

12. el cerdo: the pig

            cariñoso, simpático y trabajador

            affectionate, kind and hard working

The third graders have been having fun putting their new knowledge to practice. Many fun games and activities were provided for them to practice their listening and reading comprehension. For example, El juego de los matamoscas (Swatter Game) was first played using the photo of the animals and then using the flashcards with the written personality traits that the students needed to read in order to swat the correct one called out. In addition, the students played a couple of rounds of their latest favorite, Pulgar Arriba (Thumbs-Up).

EC's Magical Musical Garden!

In music class, EC students have been learning about the three C's: Composition, Composer and Conductor. We learned that a composition is a piece of music. The composer writes the music and the conductor tells the musicians when it is time to play.

Friends created their own musical compositions using flowers, roses and daisies. The conductor points to the flower and the "band" claps and says the name of the flowers in the composition. This serves as a pathway to rhythmic reading and can be translated into the rhythmic notations "Ta" (1/4 note) and Titi (to 1/8th notes).

Students came up to the board and arranged the flowers to create their own compositions and the class performed them. In our next class, we transferred our claps to rhythm sticks and played the compositions-it was great fun!