Oak Room Newsletter
Week of January 4, 2016
Welcome back everyone!
This week, as told by the Oaks:
Sadie brought in a book. We switched up the schedule. We had Exploration later. We had a new center--a writing center. We changed line partners. We came back from winter break!
It was very cold outside. We had snack on the rug with Quiet Reflection. Our music teacher Sara came back! We had Quiet Time later today.
Today is the first day Sara came to Community Gathering. We did a collage. Today we read a new Nicola Davies book called Just Ducks.
We had extra recess. We didn't have our recess after snack. We made a store in Exploration. For Art Center, some of us had to clean it up and we did not have Math. Pascale was assessing all day. We had to finish Math with Pascale.
We went to the Natural History Museum and we looked at the organisms inside of us. There were lights hanging down in the entrance hall. At writing today, we had to write about something in the museum.
The Secret World Inside You
Upcoming Field Trips: MOMA, American Museum of Natural History, Transit Museum
CHAPERONES NEEDED!!!
We still need 2 chaperones for our visit to MOMA on Friday, 1/22. We will be visiting the Picasso Sculpture exhibition. We will leave by school bus at 10:30AM and return around 2PM. We will have lunch during the field trip in a nearby atrium.
We need 4 chaperones for the Museum of Natural History trip on Friday, 1/29. We will be leaving at 9AM by school bus and returning no later than 1PM.
We need 1 chaperone for our trip to the Transit Museum on Friday, 2/5. We will leave by school bus at 9:30AM and return no later than 1PM.
We need 4 chaperones for our trip to the Lowline Lab on Friday, 2/12. We will leave by school bus at 9:30AM and return no later than 1PM.
Please email Pascale at pascale@brooklyncompass.org if you are interested!
Exploration
Literacy
This week in writing we focused on a new craft move of Nicola Davies's--labeling! She uses labels to help the reader know what things are and to clarify what's in the illustrations. The Oaks practiced using labels to add to their non-fiction writing. So many people wanted to share their writing with the class, so we split up into small groups, giving everyone a chance to share. After our field trip on Friday, we spent some time writing about our trip and any facts we learned from the Museum of Natural History.
At home: Continue to encourage your Oak to notice craft moves in their books at home and try them in their own writing.
In reading workshop we thought about HOW we read, making sure our voices show the feelings behind the words. When we first read a book, we might mostly focus on figuring out all the words. When we read a book again, we can ask ourselves, "What is this party saying? What kind of voice should I use to show the feeling in that part?"
At home: Continue to read non-fiction books with your child, and focus on using expression while you read.
Math
In math we continued our unit on The Double-Decker Bus. The Oaks played games that supported them in recognizing number combinations using five- and ten-structures quickly, recognizing amounts that are equivalent but in different configurations. We thoguth about what happens when people on the bus switch from the top deck to the bottom deck, but no one gets off.