Read about what's happening in our grade-level and exploratory classes at MSES!
Preschool: In the afternoon class, we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and then acted out the story with yoga poses to support our discussion of life cycles. As part of the Classic Tales domain, we read The Shoemaker and the Elves and talked about the characters, table of contents and made predictions about the story uses clues from the pictures. Students then took home a version of the story so that they can retell the story with their family.
Kindergarten: We are busy learning about ways to take care of the Earth! Ask your expert:
What are the three R’s we learned that can help us take care of the Earth? (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.) What kinds of materials can we recycle? (Paper, plastic, metal, glass.) Where does all of our trash end up if we do not recycle it? (In a landfill.) Who is responsible for making all of the trash that goes into a landfill? (We are.) What is a natural resource? (Something that the Earth gives us. It is not made by humans.) What are some examples of natural resources? (Water, trees, air, fish, oil, soil, coal.) Why are trees important? (They help keep our air clean.) Why is it important for us to help take care of the Earth? (Answers will vary.)
1st Grade: This week, first graders started a new domain called A New Nation. This domain is all about the development of the original thirteen colonies and American independence! So far, our first graders have learned about how people started to inhabit the “New World”, we’ve learned about the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere and “the shot heard round the world”, and how the colonists worked to declare their independence. Ask your expert: Who were the very first people known to live in North America? (Native Americans.) Who governed and ruled the thirteen British colonies? (The king of Great Britain and the British government.) What was the Boston Tea Party? (The colonists dumped tea into the Boston Harbor.) What does the well-known phrase “one, if by land, and two, if by sea” mean? (It refers to the signal for Paul Revere. One lantern meant the Redcoats were coming by land and two meant they were coming by sea.) Who was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence? (Thomas Jefferson.)
2nd Grade: Ask Your Expert: What do you know about Abraham Lincoln as an adult? (He was a lawyer, ran for senate, became president, fought to keep the states united.) What is the Emancipation Proclamation? (A document written by Abraham Lincoln that abolished, or ended slavery.) How were the Confederate and Union Armies different? (The Union Army had more soldiers, provisions, and artillery.) Who was General Robert E. Lee? (Commander of the Confederate Army.) Why was Lee reluctant to command the Confederate Army? (He loyally served in the U.S. Army, but lived in Arlington, Virginia, a slave state.) Who was Clara Barton? (“The Angel of the Battlefield” because she helped wounded soldiers with bandages and medicine.) What is the American Red Cross? (An organization started by Clara Barton to help people in disasters.) What were people from the North called? (Yankees.) South? (Rebels.) Who was Ulysses S. Grant? (Commander of the Union Army.) Where did the Civil War finally end? (Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.) What happened there? (Lee surrendered to Grant.) What were the effects of the war ending? (Slavery was abolished, people started heading west, inventions were being created, and the states were united as one country.) What was your favorite part of the Civil War? Who was your favorite person we learned about and why? How to you think you might have helped if you had lived during this time? (Answers will vary)
3rd Grade: There are a few more explorers your third grader expert may want to tell you about! Ponce de Leon explored the Florida peninsula. What was he looking for? (The fountain of Youth.) Hernando de Soto was a conquistador that explored areas today known as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama. Who did he take prisoner? (Chief Vitachuco and Lady of Cofitachequi, and he killed more than 2,000 Mississippians.) Francisco Vasquez de Coronado traveled through the southwest and was the first known European to see what? (The Grand Canyon.) Coronado was known for treating the Native Americans terribly, did he find what he was looking for? (He was looking for the Seven cities of Cibola, he found no gold, and he lost a lot of his own investments in an expedition that was unsuccessful.) John Cabot decided to travel north through the Atlantic because it should be a shorter route, what was it called? (Northwest Passage.) Who did he sail for? (England, King Henry VII.) Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain are next, tell your expert what you know about them, and ask them what they learn about these explorers next week!
4th Grade: Fourth graders have begun an exciting new unit, the American Revolution! This unit began by setting the stage with the end of the French and Indian War, which marked a turn in relationships between France and England. This created some major changes within the colonies.
Ask Your Expert: Why was the Stamp Act created? (British Parliament created this tax on printed materials to make money to pay off their war debt.) In your opinion, do you think the Stamp Act was fair to the colonists? Why or why not? (ex. I think it was fair, because the British fought the French for more land for the colonies.) Tension was rising between the colonists and the British soldiers, and it resulted in a tussle in Boston. What was this event known as, and what happened? (The Boston Massacre; colonists threw snowballs at redcoats, and eventually 5 colonists were killed.) After the Stamp Act was repealed, more taxes called the Townshend Acts were imposed upon the colonists, including a tax on tea. What are two ways that the colonists rebelled against this? (They boycotted buying imported British tea; they threw chests of British tea overboard in Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party.)
5th Grade: 5th grade has started our new CKLA unit, Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Yes, we’re reading Shakespeare! We already have learned about William Shakespeare and this time in history from our Renaissance unit. So far we are getting used to the language of the play by practicing lines with different tones, and creating our own Shakespearean insults. Ask your Expert: What was their insult? (varies by student). What is the problem during the first act? (Egeus wants his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius, but Hermia wants to marry Lysander). Our Science Fair projects are in full swing (Science Fair is Thursday 5/13). Ask your expert: are you keeping up with the due dates? (Dates are listed in their packets or on their ipads). Is your experiment ready to be run at home (experiment should be done at home by next Wed. 4/21).
Art: First grade artists are color mixing using the primary colors. Using red, yellow and blue oil pastels, artists are creating color wheels that reveal the secondary colors when the primary colors are mixed in different combinations. We will analyze artwork from 20th century Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian and his use of the primary colors in his artwork. We will notice the types of shapes that are made in his work through his use of vertical and horizontal lines. Inspired by the work of Piet Mondrian, 1st grade artists will create their own artwork consisting of straight horizontal and vertical lines balanced carefully with shapes of primary color.
Spanish: Hola, hola… CocaCola.
Among other topics, kindergartners learned in Spanish about “Mi cara,” “My face”. Vocabulary: Cara/face, ojos/eyes, naríz/nose, boca/mouth, orejas/ears.
The children had a lot of fun dancing "El Chipichipi".
They also counted, danced and had a lot of fun learning the numbers from 1 to 20.
Music: This week, second grade musicians are exploring the Colorado Ballet’s Every Body Move warm-ups and mindfulness exercises, African American music, and drumming. We are working on basic technique, iconic notation, hand independence, improvisation, and composition, enjoying songs like Can’t Stop the Feeling, I Gotta Feeling, Low Rider, We will Rock You, and What a Wonderful World. Ask your expert, “What did you find most challenging in Music class this week?”
PE: Third graders are starting their volleyball unit. We are working on the three skills of volleyball, passing setting and spiking the ball. They are also learning about the overhand serve and transferring your weight from your back foot to your front foot as you serve the ball.
TEAMS: In TEAMS this week, kindergartners reviewed parts of a computer, practiced typing and began learning how to code. The students learned that coding simply means we tell the computer what to do. As students are studying about cleaning up the Earth for their CKLA domain, we did a coding activity to clean up the ocean. We also played a live coding game pretending we are a character inside the computer as other students give verbal commands where to go (forward, backwards, left or right.)
Reading/Math Intervention: Reading and Math interventionists are continuing to work on strong programs to enhance the reading and math abilities of the students they see in groups. Our programs consist of Really Great Reading, SIPPS, Read Naturally and Hill Rap. Our intervention team encourages reading at home with your child for at least 20 minutes each night. Read anything and everything! We will continue to push through in intervention until the very end of the school year. Here we go!
