Welcome Winter

It was so exciting to see a little flurry of snowflakes at dismissal on Tuesday afternoon!! We were hoping for more but feel certain that day will come!

First Grade and their Third Grade Meeting partners met for an in the classroom Meeting for Worship last Wednesday.  After our shared silence we welcomed the winter season by reading all kinds of winter books: stories, both real and make believe, non-fiction books about animals in winter, even books about snowflakes!

Then the magic began!  The students folded and cut and unfolded to discover beautiful, lacy designs as they created a multitude of paper snowflakes to decorate our room.  One student was thrilled to discover that he had cut a snowflake within the snowflake!  We may not have snowflakes outside yet, but our room is beginning to feel a bit like winter!

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Multiplying Madness

Last week, the 3^rd grade mathematicians learned about and practiced multiplication through a variety of games and activities. First, we reviewed the meaning of multiplication through small group discussions. Students came to the discussion with a great deal of background knowledge and insight.  Students recalled that multiplication is the same as repeated addition; that it totals the number of objects in a certain number of equal groups; that multiplication and division are opposite operations and that the multiplication sign itself means “groups of.” We then explored through various examples why it is true that the answer of a multiplication problem remains the same when the order of factors is switched.

Following this exploration, students were eager to put their understanding of multiplication to practice by playing math games. In pairs, students first played Circles and Stars, which required students to model multiplication problems using groups of objects.  Next, Hit the Target added an extra challenge, as students applied strategies to think about which multiplication sentence would come closest to hitting increasing target totals.

Fourth Grade Experiences Colonial Crafts First Hand

This past week the fourth grade spent a day experiencing what life was like for a child and their family in colonial America. The class traveled to the meetinghouse on campus to participate in a Colonial Craft Workshop Day. Many parent volunteers and teachers were on hand to lead the workshops in the crafts of the 18th century. The morning started with corn husk doll making and segued into creating clothes and cutting patterns to dress them. The students particularly enjoyed choosing from the myriad of fabrics and patterns at their disposal with some inventing their own period embellishments.

The students then traveled in groups of four or five to experience a variety of crafts. At the workshops, they learned of the historical context and then got to dive right in and experience first hand by making and doing.
The weather was perfect for candle making and the discovery of how long it takes to make a hand dipped candle gave the students a greater appreciation for them and electricity.

  

The students made their own designs as they attempted to perfect their stitches while embroidering.
Paper quilling, a decorative art for the wealthier class during the 1700's was intriguing and took great concentration.

Quill pen calligraphy was most challenging for the students as they discovered how difficult it actually was. A persistent question... "How did they do this?"

Silhouette tracing enabled students to understand how important a steady hand was to get a true likeness as drawing, painting and silhouettes were the only way at that time to record a person's image at the time.

Colonial games allowed the students an opportunity to run and play and discover that many of the games from the 18th century are just as much fun today. They also realized how many chores children had to do on a daily basis before they would be able to play!

First Graders go Hunting for Plane (2-D) and Solid (3-D) Shapes

To conclude our study of plane (2-D) and solid (3-D) shapes, the first graders went on a shape "hunt" throughout the lower school.  In groups of three, first graders set out to find a range of plane and solid shapes.  Their task was to find each of the shapes on their list somewhere in the Lower School and to snap a picture of each shape using an iPad.

The students did a great job finding a variety of shapes, including some that were harder to find such as pyramids.  As part of our study of shapes, we also learned about organic shapes, which unlike geometric shapes, are unpredictable and have flowing edges.  A couple of groups took a picture of a pillow for their rectangular prism section, and there was some disagreement about whether it was a rectangular prism or an organic shape.  This led to a great discussion about how we define shapes, and we looked carefully at the definition of a rectangular prism.  Since a rectangular prism has rectangles and squares as all of its six sides and a pillow does not, we decided that a pillow is an organic shape.

If you are looking for a fun home to school connection, why not go for a shape hunt in or around your home?  The shapes you can look for are the plane shapes (2-D) square, triangle, circle and rectangle, and the solid (3-D) shapes: cube, cylinder, rectangular prism, pyramid, sphere and cone.  If you do go on a shape hunt at home, feel free to send in some pictures!

Does Air have Pressure? - 1st Grade Explores Properties of Air

Does air have pressure? Here are some photos from one of our air experiments. The students were challenged to flip a cup full of water with a card over it so it was upside-down. Students guessed that the water would come pouring out. It was so surprising that the water stayed in the cup! The students discussed their thoughts as to why this happens. "It's because the air is stronger than the water!" "The air is pressing against the card." "There's air all around the cup, and it's keeping the water inside." Students then did observational drawings of this experiment.

What Makes a Good Story?

“One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.” – The Little Prince

This month, the kindergarten students are beginning to develop, write and design their own classroom play. In preparation for this project, we noted that the kindergarten has been thinking deeply about what makes a story "good." It was easier to determine what we did not like about some stories- the story was not too interesting, there were not a lot of describing words, or "the story was all over the place." When asked why some stories were "good," the reply was often "because I like it!" Wanting to move this thought into a critical thinking process, we have begun to examine several favorite stories to see why they appeal to us and what makes us want more of a good thing!

As the children have perused classroom books, visited the library, and shared books from home during classroom book sharing, questions have arose: 

Why do you like it?

Why did you pick that?

Why did that character do that?
How did they fix it?
What is going to happen next?
Can we read it again?

Through our investigation of "good" stories, our kindergarten class has learned some new vocabulary as well as determined the components that create a good story in a visual web:

• A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end
• It should be interesting and sometimes have a surprise
• A story has a problem and often a lesson
• A story has characters and a setting 
• The characters will grow and/or change during the story
• If it is a "good" story, you will often want to read or hear it more than one time
• If a story is "good," our class often likes to "act" it out
• A "good" story can also be a "heart" story 

 The beauty of an emergent curriculum is that the ideas from the children truly lead the study. Since our few days back from break, it is obvious that the classroom and school-wide talks about "inner light" and the theme of the winter program has taken a hold of the hearts and souls of our children for they have begun to call our favorite collection of "good" stories, "inner light" stories, "bucket-filling stories," and "heart" stories! The framework for our play has begun to take shape in the midst of these very important discussions about "good" stories. The students have clearly indicated they want to look at the nature of "good" stories as we continue our quest to write a "good" play! If you or any of your family members would like to share one of your favorite "heart" stories with the class, please let us know. We would love to expand our awareness of other "heart" stories!

Please note that we will perform our kindergarten-written "heart" story on Friday, January 29th at our 8:30 am Lower School assembly in the Muller Auditorium.

Join us for the MLK Day of Service on Monday January18!

“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve... You only need a heart full of grace." 

           -MLK, Feb. 4, 1968.

DAY OF SERVICE
More than 450 people are expected to participate in Dr. Martin Luther King Day of Service projects on Monday, Jan. 18, as Abington Friends School once again celebrates the life and work of Dr. King through service.

We are hosting 17 different projects — ranging from making hot meals for the homebound to cleaning up an environmental buffer along the campus creek. Although most of the projects will be conducted on the AFS campus, others will be held off-site or can be completed at home. The public is invited to join in all activities. The Day of Service is scheduled for 9 a.m. till noon on Jan. 18.

Learn more and register by clicking here: MLK Day at AFS Registration

CLOTHING SALE
Also, come to our incredible clothing sale! The annual “New-To-You” Clothing Sale at Abington Friends School will be held in the Lower School building from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Jan. 16. Everything is $3.00 or less!  All proceeds benefit domestic violence prevention programs through the Women's Center Montgomery County.

Bargain hunters will find hundreds of pieces of gently used men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, as well as shoes, purses and accessories. Last year, the donated clothing filled six classrooms and a hallway in the Lower School!