SPRING NEWSLETTER
2022
Dear Families,
It’s amazing how quickly the past several weeks have flown by and we find ourselves at the beginning of a new season. . Your children continue to amaze us each and every day with their kindness, perseverance and understanding of the world around them.
March was filled with wonderful events! We cannot thank the PTA and PARP Committee enough for a fantastic calendar of events. Each day was filled with wonderful activities that kept all students energized and reading!
Don't forget to put your clocks ahead on Sunday, March 13th! Excited for the longer and warmer days that are right around the corner!
Warm Regards,
Schwarting Staff
Check out all the great things happening:
Kindergarten
Kindergartners are very busy authors. They are currently writing How To books. Some of their topics include how to make a bed, make pizza, build a castle, read a book, blow a bubble and build a snowman. Their stories include many snap words and transition words. They are using a variety of reading strategies, also known as "super powers." They are having fun selecting and reading new picture books. They are looking forward to attending the book fair.
In math we are focusing on writing and counting teen numbers and continue to review addition and subtraction. In science we are learning about gravity and motion. The children have enjoyed learning about gravity and how it keeps us on the ground.
We are very excited to begin our next cycle of STEAM next week and to celebrate St. Patrick's day in our classes.
First Grade
First graders just finished working on their All About books in Writer’s Workshop. They became experts on a topic with the help of their nonfiction books in Reader’s Workshop. We are beginning an opinion unit in writing with reviews of our favorite things. In Reader’s Workshop we are switching back to fiction with a focus on characters.
In math, we are working with tens and ones to count between 100 and 120, and will soon begin comparing numbers.
In STEAM, students had so much fun learning about the human body and it’s different systems.
Second Grade
In math, the children are working on 3 digit addition and subtraction with regrouping. They are adding and subtracting within 1,000, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. They are also understanding that sometimes it is necessary to compose or decompose tens and hundreds.
In phonics, the children are becoming word builders. The children are learning to break words up into syllables when spelling longer words, making sure that each syllable has at least one vowel. By checking for a vowel in each syllable, students will be more likely to catch spelling errors, especially in tricky words.
In reading, the children are working on reading fluency and what it looks like and sounds like to read books with a smooth, expressive voice. The children will also work together in book clubs to practice certain reading skills and to learn to support each other. They will also get a chance to practice reading like the character and discussing the problems and solutions in the books they are reading.
In writing, the children are writing poetry. The children are learning that poets are sparked by objects and feelings that are translated to music on a page. The children are experimenting with line breaks, as they come to understand that a poem is different from a story.
In the Diversity of Earth science unit, the children are learning about different land and water forms. They are performing experiments on water, wind, gravity and glacier erosion, checking to see if sediments are sorted or not sorted in each different type of erosion.
Third Grade
Third graders finished up the Changing the World unit and continue to use the persuasive writing skills they learned in the current unit, Baby Literary Essay. They are creating thesis statements about the characters they encounter in texts and supporting their thesis statements with textual evidence. They are incorporating transitional words and phrases, direct quotations, lessons the character may have learned, and explaining why the evidence they chose matters.
In reading, students finished the Mystery unit and are enjoying the Character Studies unit. They are focusing on character traits and growing big ideas about the characters they encounter in their texts based on patterns of behavior.
Third graders loved the Cycles in Nature science unit and many even got to adopt the frogs they had previously watched transform from eggs to adults in their classrooms. They are now in the middle of the Forces in Physics unit where they will be conducting several hands-on, collaborative experiments using various types of forces.
Students finished their Map Skills unit in social studies and in math, they are learning all about fractions. Third graders also continue to work on multi-step, multi-operation word problems.
Fourth Grade
Students in fourth grade are working hard We recently completed a book club unit where students had the opportunity to meet with group members to discuss their books. Through the use of book talk language, they were able to add on to their classmates' thoughts, while enhancing their own comprehension of the books. We enjoyed listening to the book buzz in all groups. In writing, students wrote personal, persuasive, and literary essays. They learned how to use the power of words and essay structure to help get their point across.
In Social Studies we are on the “Road to Revolution”, acting as historians while analyzing and learning from DBQ’s, picture books, videos, and many more resources.
In math we are learning various strategies for Fraction Fun!
We have lots more ahead and are looking forward to the warmer months.
Fifth Grade
In fifth grade we’ve been beginning to explore Chemistry in Our World in science. We are discovering the atoms and molecules around us and what they are made up of. We will be involved in many hands on experiments and demonstrations in this unit!
In STEAM we have been learning all about drones! We prepared for flying them by first researching how they operate, then we tested out the flying commands through iPads, and finally we programmed their flights!
In Reader’s and Writer’s workshops we have begun to look at issues we have opinions about that are around us in today’s society. Questions are from, “Should animals be in zoos?” to “ Is technology more harmful or helpful?” We are also going to weigh in on whether chocolate milk should be a part of a nutritious meal, or is plain milk best? Or a different milk to substitute for it? We will research and then debate these issues!
We are continuing our fraction work and are becoming experts in the operations that are included in all types of fraction equations.
We will be very busy with these activities, and look forward to the fun and interesting things we will discover.
Art Class with Mrs. Loso
The following 5th grade students have been nominated for the Art Supervisors Association All County Virtual Art Show:
Christian Caldera
Sophia Sydor
Jacqueline Broschmann-Morales
Each student made an independent piece for this art show. The students have been working very hard on their artwork and the art show will be live on line, May 2, 2022. Congratulations to all!
The month of March is Youth Art Month. To celebrate, students and families are invited to vote for their favorite masterpieces in the Art Madness Bracket. Each week the field will narrow down until we have decided Schwarting’s art masterpiece champion! To vote, look for the google form located in your child’s art google classroom. Thanks and happy voting!
Library with Mrs. Koppas
In the Schwarting Library, the K-2 students are participating in fun read-alouds of their seasonal favorites, and learning about the different parts of a book. The first and second graders will also begin an animal research project using the database Pebble.go.
The Third grade will also be conducting research and collecting information about the United States using Culturegrams, websites and other fiction and non-fiction materials.
The Fourth Grade is discovering the causes and effects of the Revolutionary War using the web site Ducksters.com as well as historical fiction and non-fiction resources. The students are learning how to create a work cited to document all resources during the research process.
Music with Ms. Gonzalez
Mrs. Greene’s class has been learning about the String, Woodwind and Brass families. They have also been working on their dance skills with “Follow the Leader,” and “Bubble It."
Third graders have been learning “We Will Rock You” on recorder as well as some other songs available to them on Google Classroom.
Fourth graders have been learning about Rap music and have been working on composing their own rap lyrics and creating a beat for them.
Physical Education
In Physical Education we are proud to announce that our annual Kids Heart Challenge was a huge success this February! Students had a blast participating in our heart challenges during PE class, and we raised $7,781.06 for the American Heart Association! A big thank you to all our families and friends who supported our awesome event.
We have a lot to look forward to in the gym as spring rolls in! The O-Town Circus Academy is coming to Schwarting courtesy of the PTA, and we are excited to bring the Islanders Floorball program to all our PE classes. Please make sure to ask your kids about all the fun in the gym this month!
STEAM
In our STEAM Studio we engage in collaborative learning experiences which focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics. Our evolving STEAM program, led by our STEAM Specialists, with support from our districtwide STEAM Teaching Assistant and classroom teachers, nurtures a collaborative environment where teachers and students learn together. Our STEAM program fosters a STEAM mindset where we guide students to develop the 4Cs of creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication while also promoting students’ leadership abilities and growth mindset.
Our fabulous fourth graders harnessed the power of their growth mindset, when they were introduced to Bloxels. This is an app that allows students to build their own video game. In utilizing this app, students were able to create, modify, and constantly improve their game while never giving up. Continuing on with the ‘never giving up’ mindset, students were challenged to complete a series of brain teasers followed up by Q-Bitz brain builder activities. Students also learned the propagation process on regrowing succulent plants. Each student removed their own petal from a parent plant and began the process of regrowth of these plant cells in other soil. While learning about plant cells, these fourth grade students created life size models using pasta. They had an amazing time as they developed understanding how something so microscopic happens on such a large scale. Then they were visited by Professor Planet and Sir Saturn where they were taught an enrichment lesson on gravity, which complimented their classroom experiences with OHM science kits. Through hands-on experiments, the students learned about Newton’s Laws of Motion and understood what inertia was all about.
Our first grade biologists learned all about the human body. They learned that the central nervous system has both voluntary and involuntary movements. They were totally grossed out by the hand-on simulation of the digestive system, but understood why we need to break down the food so we nourish our bodies with nutrients and vitamins. An interesting fact that they learned about the skeletal system is that not only do bones support you and protect your organs, they learned that bones produce blood. The respiratory system was a fan favorite. Here we built models of the lungs and were able to understand the symbiotic relationship that we have with trees. After completing their lung model, they became experts and explained the breathing process to their peers using the words oxygen, carbon dioxide and diaphragm. These first graders are a breath of fresh air.
Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s drones! Fifth graders earned their pilots license by first working on a simulator to make certain that they were able to be safe and land their drones. They then learned that you can use a joystick to manipulate the drone. What they discovered was that through block coding, they were able to be more precise with their drones and avoided crash landings. We were so excited for this new adventure that made us soar to great heights. Then we switched gears and learned all about companion plantings and used our greenhouse to plant tomatoes and marigolds. They will be visiting the greenhouse in order to clip and transplant the seedlings. Things are blooming in STEAM!
We cannot wait to see our kindergarteners for our next cycle!