Special Forces
PE, Music, Library, and Innovation Lab News
Library News
Wow! What a busy quarter in the library! During the months of November and December, the whole school participated in the One School, One Book program by reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. In library we previewed the vocabulary, did comprehension kahoot quizzes, had a bookmark contest, and completed a breakout box! We finished the whole experience by enjoying Turkish Delight made by Tonya Campbell and watching the movie! Thanks to everyone who participated at home! In addition to this program, grade levels continued their own read aloud books and projects. Preschool and kindergarten classes brought their teddy bears to the library for story time and a sleepover. Mrs. Podlena and Mrs. Klucas spied on the teddy bears during their sleepovers and took pictures of their adventures to share with students. In first grade we have been reading a Junie B. Jones Christmas chapter book called Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. Second grade read a Thanksgiving chapter book called The Candy Corn Contest and had one of their own, guessing how many candy corns were in the jar. Reading books at home with their parents earned them more guesses. Third, fourth, and fifth grades continued reading The Wild Robot, Because of Mr. Terupt, and The Watsons Go to Birmingham respectively. Finally, sixth grade is wrapping up their biography project, where they have been reading a biography about a famous person, taking notes, and making a poster.
Innovation Lab Happenings
Wow! The second quarter in Innovation Lab was busy. Sixth grade participated in “So You Think Your Robot Can Dance,” with the LEGO EV3 and the VEX IQ robots. They worked in groups and designed a robot, picked out music, did some choreography, and finally participated in the dance competition. The sixth grade was so creative with their dance moves! Fifth grade was busy working on 3D projects. They designed their project in Tinkercad and then they printed them. They 3D printed a piggy bank, a cup holder, name tags, and many other designs. Fifth grade did awesome on their projects! Fourth grade developed games and animated stories with Scratch. Scratch is a visual programing language for children to code with blocks. They presented their projects and did an amazing job! Third grade practiced their keyboarding skills and learned about Google Docs. They explored changing fonts and adding pictures from Google into their document. Second and first grade designed a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon in an online drawing program. They also watched videos about how the balloons are made and the history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They made some very cute balloons to put in the hall. Kindergarten is busy learning how to draw online with a mouse. They are doing great with that fine motor skill. They have printed and taken home some very special artwork. On December 3-7 all grades in Innovation Lab participated in the “Hour of Code”. This is such a fun activity to promote Computer Science. The students got to make animals dance, code in Minecraft, and so much more. After coding the animals to dance, students enjoyed dancing along with the animals. So much fun!!!
PE News
Upstack and Downstack!! Those are the words that have resonated around the gymnasium during Mr. Roberts' Physical Education classes during the month of December. Mr. Roberts and the students in PE have been speed stacking machines. They have worked on the 3 stack, the 6 stack and the 10 stack. All of this has led to a healthy competition during class. They are finishing up the unit with tournaments in grades 3rd-6th in the 3-3-3, 3-6-3 and The Cycle (which puts together the 3-6-3, 6-6 and 1-10-1 combination).
Music News!
‘Tis the season to sing and celebrate the holiday season with music! The fifth and sixth grade choir had a performance-packed December, singing at the PTO Santa Breakfast and the City of Silver Lake’s Tree Lighting Ceremony. They wrapped up the week spreading holiday cheer by caroling door-to-door around Silver Lake. The first and second graders also did a fantastic job performing at their holiday-themed programs. Great job, everyone! Next up: The school-wide Holiday Sing-a-long on December 20th! The entire school is busy learning music for this special day. The Sing-a-long will also include a presentation of the items being donated to the Topeka Rescue Mission and special performances by the 5th and 6th grade band and choir. Have a wonderful winter break, everyone!