Here's what's going on
in the Beacons' world:
Upcoming Events:
January 18- No school!
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Feb 1- Field Trip to
Pacific Science Center
Feb. 3- Field Trip to
Asian Art Museum
February 25th- Yoga starts after school
March 4- Science Fair
March 6- Seabury Auction
This Week's
Learning Adventures:
Reading: Students have been working more on building skill development this week. We are in the process of reassessing reading levels and redefining reading levels that are both independent yet challenging for each student. We've also been enjoying learning about Greek and Roman myths by reading independently and also reading aloud as a class.
Writing: We've made it through to the last of the writing traits, and the most difficult to teach, that of "Voice". This trait involves the author's style and personality. We did an experiment where we all started with the same plot formula. All the students had to have the same 7 elements common in many stories and movies: A good guy/girl, an ally, a bad girl/guy, the bad guy's ally, high stakes, the good guy always wins, and, of course, living happily ever after! The students noticed that most Disney movies followed this formula! (don't they- ad nauseam!?) When they had finished, I read them aloud and it was easy to guess who wrote which story. From 11 different authors, we had 11 distinct stories.
We are now starting to go begin the full writing process; brainstorm, rough draft, revise, edit, publish. The students will be asked to incorporate all the traits of good writing into their stories. Brainstorming began today and we already have flying iguanas, talking dogs, aliens invading space stations and much more!
Math: We have dividing machines in here! We've finished chapter 6 and are beginning chapter 7 which will tackle dividing by 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12.
Other students are working on developing problem solving skills and working on chapter 8 from the textbook.
Science: Students have divided into teams and will be responsible for the design and building of their lunar colony area. We have teams for Transportation, Living Quarters and Food, Scientific Equipment, Power and Water and Health Care. We watched a quick video on how astronauts eat food in space and we've studied ideas for other lunar colonies. Yesterday, we organized all the amazing supplies the students have contributed and we are ready to start building next week! (We're all set with supplies -Thanks!!! )
Social Studies: Wow! What a week! Students are continuing on their virtual field trip to Greece and Italy. As we "traveled" to Greece, we saw an educational video of what the water and shore look like if you had just landed by boat and were actually standing on a Grecian shore! They saw Mt. Olympus as well as notable Greek temples to the gods/goddesses. They were amazed at what the temples looked like during Greece's ancient era, and how those same temples appear today. Students were fascinated by the segment on Socrates and Plato. We had a great discussion about, "Do you really find answers to questions if all you do is ask questions?" I love teaching here! We also learned about Alexander the Great. We worked on-line with our "quiz" about what we had learned from these segments. The entire class did exceedingly well! We are working away on our gods and goddesses flash cards with a boat load of information on the back! It's a great educational way to learn about these cast of characters.
In addition, we have spent time today, and will continue to do so for the remainder of this week and next week, learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his contributions to the history of this great nation and to that of the world. Be looking for your child's "I Have a Dream" mobile (so your Beacon can hang it in his/her room) on Tuesday. I hope to have completed their "I Have A Dream" essays so we can post them on next week's blog. Enjoy Monday with your Beacon as we all celebrate the federal birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr.'s birthday.
"I like to think that the moon is there
even if I am not looking at it."~
Albert Einstein
Looking forward to another exciting week at Seabury!
-Tamara and Betsy
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