The Maples
2.5 - 2.9
Important Dates
- TOMORROW, February 10th, 2-4pm - the Compass Talent Show!
- Thursday, February 15th - Monday, February 26th - Midwinter Recess
- Wednesday, February 14th - Community Gathering. Everybody welcome!
Announcements
Keeping Our School Space Clean
As Todd and the Operations Team announced in an email earlier this week, the custodial staff is taking measures to treat the 4th floor for a rodent and insect issue. We are trying to do as much as we possibly can to help keep our school space clean, but there are a few ways that families could help as well:
- Check your child's cubby. We often find leftover snack or food left in the cubbies. Please make sure there are no food products - open or closed - in your child's cubby.
- Do not eat in the hallway. Eating in the hallway is not allowed. If your child is still eating their snack when they are picked up, kindly collect it and hold it until they get outside.
- Reduce cubby clutter. The top part of the cubby is intended as a mailbox of sorts. It is the place for take home folders, as well as any work or projects that should come home. Please take these items home as soon as possible.
Toys/Special Objects
As mentioned in our first newsletter of the year, toys and special objects are not allowed in school. This includes trading cards, miniatures, pouches, gem stones, etc. If your child needs a transitional object or benefits from a fidget of some sort, please talk to the classroom teachers before sending it to school. We are more than happy to accommodate for the needs of your child.
Often, these objects and toys come to school in backpacks without the knowledge of families (and sometimes, the student doesn't even know!) If the teachers see anything in the classroom, we immediately confiscate it and return it to the families at our earliest convenience. Please talk to your child about this rule and make sure everyone is doing everything they can to follow it. Thank you!
Valentine's Day
As a reminder, Compass does not celebrate holidays as a school - Valentine's Day included. As such, please do not bring valentines to school - even if you have one for everyone in class. You are more than welcome to distribute them outside of the school, but they cannot be distributed in class or into cubbies. Thank you for understanding.
This Week, We...
- Learned different ways to add details to our nonfiction chapter books in Writing Workshop, including making comparisons, giving who, what, where, when and how details, and drawing pictures with labels, arrows, and zoom-ins.
- Explored different genres of books in Reading Workshop, and used post its to mark pages where we learned interesting facts. The Maples also worked in their new guided reading groups.
- Measured and sorted fish (made of paper) and practiced accurate techniques for measuring with square-inch tiles in Math Workshop. The teachers also worked one on one with the Maples on Thursday and Friday to complete mid-year math assessments.
- Did observational drawing of Snowy and his environment, explored the solar system, and began classifying living and non-living systems for our Integrated Unit.
When We Return from Midwinter Recess, We Will...
- Finish our nonfiction chapter books in Writing Workshop and move on to our second drafts, taking a closer look at checklists, and work in partnerships to revise and edit.
- Read and learn about topics through language in Reading Workshop.
- Solve and create story problems using a range of manipulatives in our new unit in Math Workshop.
- Look closely at living systems for our Integrated Unit and choose one to study together as a class.
Ask Me About...
- The new teacher in our classroom, Kaitlin, who is a student teacher from Brooklyn College! She will be here Monday - Thursday until the middle of May. Please introduce yourself in the morning!
- What we added to Snowy's tank to make it look more like a system for a fish.
- How I added details in my nonfiction chapter book.
- What kind of fish I went fishing for in Math Workshop.
Integrated Unit
Reading Workshop
Math Workshop
Ephraim, Malcolm, Nes, and Jackson made a car wash in Work Time, discovering it's a system. Please excuse the fact that it's sideways!
A car wash is a system!