Second Graders Create Teddy Bears!

The second grade tradition of creating hand-sewn teddy bears began more than 20 years ago! The inspiration comes from our first chapter book read aloud, The Teddy Bear Tree by Barbara Dillon. This project is a wonderful way to begin the year as we get to know our students and their families.

Just last week, the second grade created their bears!  First, students chose the color felt they wanted to use to make their new friend.  Then came the job of tracing and cutting the bear shape and choosing buttons for eyes and a nose. 


On Monday and Wednesday mornings, family members and resource teachers joined us to help with the sewing and stuffing of the bears.  Throughout the process, there have been animated conversations between children and adults about potential names and possible activities with their new stuffed friends, including “I’m going to give my bear to my baby when I grow up!”  

Later this week, the bears will go home for a weekend visit! Their owners will record the adventures they have together in words and pictures, which will lead to a more extensive writing project in the coming days.  Be on the lookout for the bears to make an appearance soon outside the library! 

Stop!, Look!, Listen!-Third Grade Explores Ensemble Work

Stop, Look, Listen!

Our third grade musicians are learning about playing different musical parts in an ensemble. We began by learning a simple chant that teaches about street safety:

Stop!, Look!, Listen!

Before you cross the street

use your eyes, use your ears

and then use your feet!

Students repeated this chant several times while walking to the beat around the room as I played the steady beat on the temple blocks. 

Next, they learned about ostinato. An ostinato is a repetitive musical figure that accompanies the main melody or rhythm. In this case, we learned about rhythmic ostinati (plural:) that accompanied our original chant (which is also a rhymic pattern)

The first ostinato they learned is below:

Ostinato 1:

Crosswalk

I'm in a crosswalk

Crosswalk

I'm in a crosswalk

Students were then broken into two groups-one that chanted the main chant and the other, the first ostinato. We continued layering ostinati until we had five different parts all going at once!

Here are the others:

Ostinato 2:

Wait, don't walk

Wait, don't walk

Ostinato 3:

Here comes the train

Look out!

Here comes the train

Look out!

Ostinato 4:

Woo-hoo!

Woo-hoo!

Students then transferred these parts onto untuned percussion instruments, including drums, guiros (scraping instrument), woodblocks, shekere's (gourd instrument from West Africa) and various other percussion instruments. 

Finally, they were put into groups to work out their own arrangement of the piece. They could start and end any way they liked, They could incorporate movement. Here are two groups preparing their arrangements and performing for the class. 

Enjoy!

Group #1-Work-In-Progress

Group #1-FINAL

Group #2-Work-in-Progress

Group #2-FINAL

Take A Closer Look, Think More Deeply

Our third grade has started the year contemplating the difference between looking and seeing. We often look out into our world, but how often do we take the time to really see and think about what surrounds us, be it natural or digital? One of the fun ways we explored this idea was to look at images that could be interpreted more than one way. Students really enjoyed peering into the pictures to see what they could find and what others might have missed.

 

We spent quite a bit of time discussing the images and how important it is to take the time to think about what we are seeing.

We then moved onto thinking harder about what we read. Using various quotations, students worked in groups to decipher meaning and then attempted to rephrase the quotations in their own words.  Below is an example of a quote we pondered.

Found September 21, 2017: https://www.askideas.com/a-bad-attitude-is-like-a-flat-tire-you-cant-go-anywhere-until-you-change-it/

Students were able to relate the quote back to themselves, find examples to help explain it and share this with their friends. We discovered trying to put the quote in our words really tested how well we understood the quotation. The students checked their own words against the ideas of their friends. It was a lively, fun exploration.

Next up for third grade is researching a topic of their choice on PebbleGo. Students will work on how to take notes, which means writing the essence of the topic in their own words. They have started this process and are tackling the challenge with gusto.

Reading Aloud Inspires and Engages Students

Books are being read aloud in all classrooms throughout Lower School. Teachers select read-aloud books for a variety of reasons. Some books are targeted to delight, surprise, engage or inspire. Students might interact while listening to a book read aloud by repeating phrases, acting out emotions, turning and talking to a partner about a query, sharing their thinking with the larger group, or by envisioning (imagining) a section of the story.  At a later point, they may write about their thinking.

At the beginning of reading workshop in first through fourth grade, the book read aloud is targeted for the reading strategy that we are focusing on during that reading session. In the fall, first grade students are learning how to talk and write about a part of the book they want to remember. They also focus on making connections between the story and their own lives or to other books they have read and think deeply about the characters in the text.
Second through fourth graders are immediately making connections and thinking about the character traits that are reflected in the actions and thoughts of the characters in the book and are sharing their ideas with other students and their teachers. Students are able to apply these strategies to their own reading. This is all in the first weeks of school!

The power of reading aloud can be felt at home also as your children listen to books that are your favorite ones to read and reread. This shared reading deepens thinking skills, increases vocabulary and shows the importance and connection of reading at home and at school.

Below are a few of the books that are being read aloud this month in Lower School.

First Meeting of Lower School Book Club for Adults

Lili De Jong by Janet Benton is the first book to be read and discussed by our Lower School Book Club for adults. Join us Friday morning October 13 from 8-9am to not only discuss this wonderful book but to meet the author. Janet Benton will be joining us for this book group discussion. A light breakfast will be served.

RSVP: Ann Botel-Barnard abotel-barnard@abingtonfriends.net You are welcome to bring adult friends and relatives that are interested in discussing this book. We also welcome adults from the other divisions in the school that would like to join us. 

The schedule for this year 2017-18 is:
Lilli De Jong by Janet Benton Friday October 13, 2017

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman Friday November 17, 2017

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins Friday January 19, 2018

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue Friday February 23, 2018

To be determined: Friday April 20, 2018

To be determined: Friday May 25, 2018

Our second full week!

School is well underway!  We welcomed many families for Back to School Night on Tuesday.  It was truly a joy to share about the ways in which we help students learn and grow academically, socially and emotionally. If you were unable to attend, please reach out to your child's teacher for any information that may have been handed out.

This week, students have begun engaging deeply in their work. A visit to fourth grade showed students conducting research about the Lenape people in the 1500's and digging into multi-digit math problems.  Third grade students have been diligently working on mini books about what they love and learning how to structure a piece of writing. Second grade book groups have begun in earnest and listening into their conversations about the text has been a treat.  First graders have been working on intensely detailed observational drawings and recording what they see happening as their monarch caterpillars grow. Kindergarten has begun to learn about the various ways the five senses help us to take in the world.  Our friends in early childhood have been working on journaling and joyful number exploration with lots of opportunities for making comparisons between what they know and what is new to them.

Today we gathered as a Lower School for an assembly in honor of the Autumnal Equinox.  Fourth grade guided us in the welcome song for the first time this year. We shared a song in Español about trees and then listened to a lovely tale about a small fox experiencing his first autumn. We concluded with music from Keisha and Raji.

Next week various teachers will begin blogging about classroom and community experiences.  We look forward to sharing our continued learning adventures!

Such a wonderful start to the year!

We've come to the end of our first full week of school and what a wonderful week it has been! We've had the opportunity to get to know new friends, explore new spaces and settle into our work with earnest diligence.  


It has truly been amazing to walk through Lower School and witness the range of activity occurring. The Lower School blog is published one or two times a week. We hope you'll sign up to get blog updates and see more of what is happening in Lower School. We look forward to seeing you at Back to School Night, Tuesday, September 19 at 6:30pm!