Family Update 3
October 13, 2017
Hello October!
IMPORTANT DATES AND REMINDERS
Important Dates
- Thursday, October 19 | Stomping Ground Photo Picture Day
- Friday October 20| Park
- Friday, October 27 | NO SCHOOL
- Tuesday, October 31 | BPCS Halloween Parade 2-2:45pm
- Friday, November 17 | Curriculum Share
Reminders
- Please send us family recipes (refer to Inquiry section for more details)
- If you haven't already, please send in an extra change of clothes for your child in a Ziploc bag.
- We are a nut-free classroom due to allergies in our classroom. This includes tree nuts, peanuts or other foods containing nuts. Please let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for your support in making sure that all our students remain happy and healthy.
Academics
In literacy, we have reviewed the sounds and correct letter formation of all the lowercase letters. During Readers Workshop, we have been practicing our special reading routines, our 1B friends have been enjoying reading with a partner to not only support each other but share about their reading. Continue to read with your child every night! We will begin our unit on making predictions and connections next week.
Our 1B authors have continued to work on their heart map stories. As a part of our Writer's Workshop routine, we brainstormed what "when you think you're done, you've just begun" means. Student's learned "Instead ofs" and "We Says." For example, instead of saying "I'm done," "we say..what else can I add, how can I make this better?" Students also worked with a partner to ask questions that prompted them to go back to their writing and add details to their pictures and words by ensuring that they have the components such as "who is in the story," "where is the story taking place," and "what is happening in the story." During our last writing session, our friends worked with COPS! Not literally! We used the acronym COPS (capitalization, organization, punctuation, and spelling) to help us independently edit and revise our work. Students mentioned how Cops catch people, protect us, and make sure everyone is safe. We referred these actions to their writing by letting them know it is time to catch what is missing, to protect their writing through organization and making sure the words are safe by spelling sight words correctly. Next week, we are starting our first unit in writing: narratives or "small moments" in which students will write true stories from their lives. At home, please discuss this with your child and brainstorm some favorite family memories that they could write about for this unit. We will be "zooming in" on a small part of their life story and will tell the story across our 3 fingers (beginning, middle, end).
Math
Math
In Math, we wrapped our unit by relating counting to addition by using counting on as an addition strategy and represented a whole number by its parts using number bonds. We also began our brand new unit on geometry! We have identified 2D shapes (circle, triangle, square, rectangle, rhombus, trapezoid, hexagon) by their attributes: how many sides and corners they have. We even went on a school-wide scavenger hunt for 2D shapes all over the building (check out pictures below)! We learned that shapes are around us everywhere!, students will then study 3D shapes (spheres, cubes, cones, etc.) and their attributes. We will be sorting shapes, going on scavenger hunts, and creating them with geoboards and playdough. You can practice shapes with your child by looking for them in your home or neighborhood and discuss its attributes, such as, "How many sides and corners does this shape have?"
Partner Check
Leah is Listening Closely
1B Authors
2D Shape Scavenger Hunt
Detective Duff
Julian is Focused!
Upper Grades
Learner Profile of the Month: Caring
Learner Profile of the Month: Caring
As an IB World School, BPCS strives to foster the growth of students both academically as well as internationally minded citizens who are aware of the world outside of their local environment. To do this, the school incorporates the IB Learner Profiles into the classroom. The IB Learner Profiles describe a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities and, in turn, embody traits of a well-rounded individual. The Learner Profiles are: Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Open-Minded, Caring, Risk-Takers, Balanced, and Reflective. Throughout the year, we will be discussing the Learner Profiles in the classroom as a way to bring to life the traits.
For the month of September, our school focused on how a person demonstrates they are caring. Our Caring Friends for the month of September are Tristan, Sophia, and Henry.
Inquiry
Family Recipes
Through our family discussions, students have loved sharing what they do with you all on holidays and family get togethers. One of the common topics was food! Students mentioned cooking special dishes for specific holidays and just being in the kitchen with their loved ones. In order to facilitate our discussion in Inquiry regarding different family cultures and support our Curriculum Share project, we ask if there is a family recipe that represents you and your family. If so, please send it to us at dtes1b@brooklynprospect.org We encourage you to cook or bake this with your child and also send a photo to document the process! We really appreciate your unconditional support! Please have the recipe/pictures in by November 1st
I love Saturdays y Domingos
Lets Compare and Contrast!
Focused
Park Time
Join Us At the Park
Every Friday, 1st grade will be at Fort Greene park from 9:30-10:30. We take the bus from school at 9:30 (will arrive around 9:45), and parent volunteers meet us at the park to help chaperone the trips. Parent volunteers are essential to keep these visits fun and safe! And the kids LOVE seeing their family members there!
If you are available during this time to join us on a park trip, our class parents have created a sign up sheet. Please note that if the weather is bad (rain), we will not be going to the park. You can always call the school on the day of if you are unsure if we will be going. We will go every Friday until the weather turns unsafe (usually until snow is on the ground), so also make sure to dress your child appropriately for an hour of outdoor play on Fridays!
Halloween Parade
For Halloween, children are prohibited from bringing costumes with weapons, blood, or anything portraying death. As a school, we make it a point to discourage violence of any kind, particularly in this day and age, when children are becoming increasingly desensitized to violence. With the natural disasters occurring all over the world, we also want to avoid anything that may traumatize members of our community.
We look forward to having a wonderful day, together as a community!
Meditation Station!
Take a Break
As adults, we know when we need a break. We leave our desks to get coffee or take a walk around the block. As part of our responsive classroom behavior management curriculum, we are working to empower the students to recognize when their bodies or minds need a break, then go to a designated area in the room where they can sit and do activities for 2-3 minutes. After the break, students should be ready to rejoin the group and learn! Typically students would take a break during a lesson on the rug and still be listening to the lesson. At first, we will work with the students to ask them if they need to take a break. Then eventually the goal is for students to show self-regulation and recognize when they need a break themselves and ask a teacher. We have been practicing taking a break and have emphasized that this is NOT a time-out. It is a positive thing that can be used to help us learn and focus.
Meditation Station
Resources
Meet Our Teddy's
Town Hall Meeting
We had our first Town Hall Meeting of the new school year. All the grades gathered together as a community to celebrate the students selected from each classroom who embodied the the IB Caring Learner Profile in September. Students also sang songs, and enjoyed a performance from class 3B. In addition, students watched a short film about a teenage activist, and engaged in a conversation about actions they want to take to make a difference in the world. It was also announced that this year's Anytime Anywhere destination will be Jamaica. Anytime Anywhere is a school wide project in which the whole school researches and learns about a country. Anytime Anywhere concludes with an art show and performance that reflects students' learning and appreciation of the chosen country's culture and history.
¡Hola Familias de 1B
It has been a great few weeks for the Spanish class in 1B. They are always eager and happy to get immerse into the Spanish language and as the days go by they keep becoming better at understanding, speaking, reading and writing in Español. We have been learning to introduce ourselves in full sentences. Moreover, we have been using fun emoji’s to identify feelings and emotions in Español. Currently we are diving into discussions about familias and how they are all different. We are leaning new vocabulary words such as: mamá, papá, hermana, hermano, abuelos, tíos, amigos, primos etc., in order to identify who are the members of our family. 1B is learning a lot through the use of theatre conventions and fun activities that keep the learning process exciting and magical. We keep working hard towards mastering the Spanish language and are looking forward to all the adventures this semester have in store for us.
Gracias,
Maestra Nivia