2018 Day of Service in Honor of Dr. King

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, white sweat socks, individual packs of tissues, granola bars

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

The Day of Service will be on Monday, January 15^h from 9:00 – 12:00. Registration will be available January 4^th.

We hope you can join us for this wonderful day!

Questions?  Contact Andrea at aemmons@abingtonfriends.net

Español en primera infancia / Spanish in Early Childhood

Our early childhood Spanish program engages students in a fun, natural, and age-appropriate way. Students acquire Spanish with a combination of music/chants, games and literature. All pre-kindergarten classes follow an emergent curriculum approach, which means that themes, projects and studies most often come from the ideas and interests of the students. This approach provides the opportunity for each class to learn additional Spanish vocabulary that connects with their homeroom theme of study, making the learning more meaningful.

To complement the Cardinals’ study of “Building,” the students have been learning the Spanish vocabulary for geometric shapes. We first began by reading Scholastic’s book, Figuras Geométricas / Geometric Shapes. This book helped present the words for geometric plane shapes such as círculo, triángulo, rectángulo, cuadrado, rombo and óvalo. To help reinforce newly introduced vocabulary, the students played many games such as matamoscas (fly swatter) and ¿Qué falta? (What’s missing?). Additionally, the students were invited to get into groups of four and work together to make a shape, dictated in Spanish, using their bodies. Great fun!! After learning the vocabulary for 2D geometric shapes, the students were introduced to the words that describe some basic 3D shapes such as cubo (cube), esfera (sphere), and pirámide (pyramid).

The Catbirds have been learning what it means to be a friend in their their thematic of study of “Friendship.” Therefore, to connect with their interest the students have been listening to stories related to amigos y amigas. One fun tale was that of Claire Masurel titled, Un gato y un perro / A Cat and A Dog. This story revealed that although at first they did not get along, cat and dog soon learn that in order to solve problems they need to learn to work together. After the story, the students were introduced to the chant that is sung to the tune of “Ten Little Critters”:

Uno (1), dos (2), tres (3) amigos

cuatro (4), cinco (5), seis (6), amigos

siete (7), ocho (8), nueve (9) amigos,

dies (10) amigos son...

And, to connect with the Sparrow’s theme of study on “Weather,” the students have been learning vocabulary that describes the four seasons (e.g., otoño (fall), invierno (winter), primavera (spring), verano (summer) as well as some basic weather words such as frío (cold), calor (hot), viento (wind), lluvia (rain), nieva (snow) and a few others. To reinforce the vocabulary, chants have been sung and many games of matamoscas (fly swatter) have been played with both the small and big swatters (their favorite!).

Second Grade Reflections

Throughout the year our second graders often take part in a self-reflection process. Since September we have taken part in many fun learning experiences and adventures.  In our most recent reflection the students shared what they have enjoyed most about second grade. Here are their favorite memories! We are very excited to see what new year brings!

Rydal Park

Ben C- A highlight for me was Rydal Park. When we went to Rydal I met a lady and I got to teach her stuff and when I put my hand on hers she would look at me and smile.

Addison- I like being partnered up with my Mom-mom because every time I go over she starts laughing and I don’t get to see her laugh that often.

Ryan- Every time we go there the people are always really kind. And I just like that.

Joah- I always just like to hang out with old people. It just something like, I like to have  conversations with them and they are so cute. I love Shirley she is really nice.

Reading Biographies

Hadley: Reading biographies because we get to learn about people who were famous and we get to find out about them and what they did.

Bill Peet Study

Anna- I like the Bill Peet study. I liked it because it was fun drawing the characters and the setting. I liked what the characters were doing in the stories. I liked when we read Chester the Worldly Pig and him practicing him standing on his nose.

Lucy- I liked that he worked for Walt Disney

Miranda- I like the study because we got to read a lot of his books and when we read his auto biography I liked that we go tot read about why he wrote some of his stories

Physical Education

Ben R- I like gym because we get to play some fun games.

Anthony- I like Physical Education because I like playing sports with all my friends because it is really fun.

Rushton Woods

Isabella- I liked going to Ruston Woods Preserve because we got to see and touch the birds.

Grace- I like to watch them band the birds and take them out of the bags and learn what type of birds they were

Treasure

Nalani- I liked doing treasure in 2^nd grade because you get to share things that you love with your classmates and it makes you feel special.

Martin- I like treasure because you get to learn about other peoples lives from their treasures.

Xavier- People in other schools may not get a chance to share their treasures and here there is a time to share it.

Library and Assmebly

Andrew- You get to do interesting things on the computer like photo booth and we read some really awesome books.

Ernest- I like assembly because we always get to gather around and sing songs. I like when the 4^th grade does Donde Vamos Hoy and we try to figure out the Spanish speaking country.

Teddy Bear

Rowan- I like the Teddy Bear Study because we got to make them by ourselves and the sewing part was fun.

Amaya- I liked reading the Legend of the Teddy because I like the part where they send the teddy bear to the president

Matthew- I like making the teddy bear furniture because it was fun and we got to make it all by ourselves out of wood and you got to stain it with stain we made in science.

Family Letter Writing

Jona- I like writing letters to our family members because I like the information about their memories.