Monthly Specialty Class Newsletter
February 2019
Chinese with Mrs. Ma
Happy Chinese New Year/Happy Spring Festival (新春快乐)! These past few weeks, the students have been working on the new worksheets in their Chinese book binders. At all levels, each lesson includes pronunciation improvement practice by using the Mandarin pronunciation corrector app. Students showed great passion for improving their own pronunciation and aiming to reach higher scores in each recording exercise. We also discussed the Spring Festival Gala, which has the largest audience of any entertainment show in the world and has become the ingrained tradition in many Chinese families. For fun, an extraordinary Kungfu performance in the Gala was shown to the students. I've included the video for you below, so you can see as well!
TK and K students have become more proficient with the pinyin sounds. We used various scenarios to help the students to apply the new daily phrases/sentences they learned.(eg, self-introduction, apology, food ordering). 1st and 2nd grade students have been focusing on common classroom phrases and “what’s this” topic. Multiage students have begun learning the basic grammar rules.
A special thanks to Mrs. Zhao, Jory’s mom; thank you for your constant support and bringing more mandarin writing and story books all the way from Taiwan. I would like to thank Mrs. Hua, Chandler’s mom, for volunteering in our Chinese class.
Spanish with Mrs. Thompson and Miss Kelley
This month in Spanish, our students are continuing their learning of the Spanish language and culture of Spanish speaking countries in a variety of ways. Multi-Age students have almost completed Level 5 in our Spanish program, Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids, and our 1st and 2nd Grade classes have almost completed Level 4. At the end of each unit, students will complete Reading and Listening Quizzes, as well as an assessment on the Spanish speaking country they have been learning about throughout the unit. In Level 5, students have been studying the culture of Panama, while 1st and 2nd Grade students have been studying all about the culture and people of Chile. One of the things I love most about this program is the way it not only makes learning a new language fun, but gives students exposure to people in countries around the world where Spanish is the primary language spoken. It really gives them a well rounded approach to learning a new language and helps them appreciate cultures around the world!
In our TK and Kindergarten classrooms, students are currently being exposed to vocabulary for "la ropa" or clothing words! They are working on identifying different articles of clothing, label them, and use them in sentences. They are using their prior knowledge to identify and classify clothing using color and numbers words as well. They are playing games, participating in matching activities, and learning songs to help teach them the vocabulary. A variety of learning methods allows them to better understand the new material and allows it to stick more concretely in their long term memory. At a young age, it is important to build a foundation of terms and vocabulary that they can build upon as they advance to higher grade levels and more difficult curriculum. This foundation will allow them to use the vocabulary they've learned to better speak, read, and write in Spanish as they grow older.
Music with Ms. Zhang
TK and Kindergarten are preparing for their recital in March, and have learned the Hello Song, Friend Song and a Chinese song: Two Tigers. Additionally, Kindergarten students were introduced to a beginning piano lesson: how to sit in front of piano, how to play piano with good hand shapes, high notes, lows notes, 2 black keys and 3 white keys.
1st grade students have been busily preparing for their February performance today. They have learned Wake Up Song and Have a Nice Day song. 1st grade students improved their piano skills and prepared three piano solos and one piano ensemble for the performance.
2nd grade students have learned the YMCA song and a few piano solos, such as Firefly and more piano skill exercises.
Multi-Age students have learned such piano compositions as Over the Rainbow, Lightly Row in High C position, Rain Rain Go Away in bass C position, and continually compose their own works. They have learned If Children Rule the World song.
STEM With Mrs. Bustle
We have had a great time in STEM this month! We are learning so much!
TK and K have learned about animal and plant survival. Students transformed into various animals to see how they survive in their habitats as well as experimented with growing radish seeds in the dark versus in the light to see which grows into a healthier plant!
In first grade, we learned about bird beaks and why they are different on all types of birds. In order to figure this out more easily, we turned ourselves into birds and tried to ‘eat’ with our different beaks! We also explored our heart in a special Valentine’s Day activity. Students found their pulse and created a realistic science heart Valentine! We have also started working on our OC Fair competition projects. We are all excited about our Upcycle project ideas so far!
Second grade concluded their erosion activities with the challenge of ‘how can I stop a landslide?’ Students used various materials to determine which ones were best at stopping the rain from destroying their land made from cornmeal. We also learned about how planes fly and why they are not able to make it all the way to space. We followed by creating our own paper airplanes and watched them soar! Second grade has also started creating their OC Fair projects and are designing and building their very own ‘Steampunk Hats’ for the competition!
In Multi Age, we have continued our learning about parts of the human body, more specifically the human eye. By creating our own models of the eye, we discovered how parts of the eye work, and how glasses help some people’s vision.
Art with Miss Jordan
Extended Care with Miss Jordan and Mrs. Bustle
Extended Care has been so busy the last couple of weeks enjoying all of the special activities that our extended care teachers have planned for them. One of their newest and most collaborative activities has been Buddy Reading! Each Tuesday, Mrs. Jordan and Mrs. Bustle send our upper-grade students to the AMA library to select a book they would like to read to their lower-grade buddies. One of their favorite choices is Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library! This activity allows the students to build special bonds with one another while improving fluency, speech, and basic reading skills. Buddy reading gives our younger readers an opportunity to see what being fluent looks like as they have a peer model demonstrating reading skills. They can also acquire a positive role model with some intentional pairing by our extended care staff. The older students develop social and emotional skills like patience and empathy as they work with their little buddies.
As with any collaborative activities, students are encouraged to practice patience, leadership, and so much more. It is quite a site to see them taking on a leadership role and reenacting what they have learned from story time with their extended care teachers.