What would it be like to live on a continent where the north end is having winter when the south end is having summer? The children are thinking about questions like that as we explore Africa. They made physical maps this week, and some began political maps. Their literature circle books all take place in different parts of Africa. We sang a call and response song from Eritrea, accompanied by musical instruments from Cameroon. Some of them began an art project based on kente cloth, which you can learn more about with your child in these two links:

https://www.kentecloth.net/video-how-kente-is-made/

https://www.kentecloth.net/kente-cloth-patterns/

On Monday, we will have visitors from Ghana play drums with us in an interactive session they call “Africa Comes to You.” Some of the children would like to make galimotos (wire push toys), which means we could use some very thin coat hangers, if anyone has some to spare. We will share some of our activities with you at the Early Bird Event, 9:00 am Friday, January 27.

Preparations for the original musical, ‘Odysseus’ are in full swing. The performance will be February 10. If your child cannot be in the performance, it is important for us to know as soon as possible.

Look on Bloomz very shortly for the opportunity to pick a conference time. Conferences will be held February 2 and 3.
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Stay warm!
Ben, Mary and Ali

We hope everyone enjoyed the impromptu 3 day weekend.  We had a lot of excited students hoping for snow this week.

​Highlights from this week were a fun geography lesson with Ms. Mary about how continents move and practicing new adjectives with Mr. Ben.  3rd years finished their art projects with Ms. Michelle and continued using our sewing machine with Ms. Linda (Claire’s grandmother, 3rd year.)  The book fair was also an important event this week and some students got to help and shop at the school’s book fair.  We got many book donations for the classroom and we thank you so much for them.

This week we also talked to students about what to do when we have an emergency at school.  We have already practiced several times what we do during a fire and an earthquake but we hadn’t practiced what to do if something unexpected happens.  We introduced the word “trouble” to the group. When they are told there is trouble they have 3 things to do: first they need to Pause, stop what they are doing; take a breath to stop talking.  Then, find a trusted Adult and go close to them.  Then, lastly, they need to Listen to what the adult needs them to do until we are all safe.  The steps spell the word P.A.L.  We practiced this both inside the classroom and outside the classroom this week.  We are practicing to set safety behaviors that will enable everyone to stay safe no matter what occurs.

Next week, we will be having last week’s spelling post-test on Monday and will start our next new lists in January.  On Friday, we will have Pajama Day.  Students can wear a clean pair of pajamas to school and bring a stuffed animal (same rules as sharing: it needs to be able to fit in their MCH backpack and does not need batteries). 

Also next week, we will have a sign-up for students to bring the huge amount of donations to Mary’s Place.  We believe that about 2/3 of the class are interested in going and it was a really amazing experience last year.  We still need drivers to transport students to Mary’s Place in Seattle.  We are leaving MCH at 10:00 and should be back by 12:00.   
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Have a good day,
Ben, Mary, & Ali

We had a wonderful trip to see Nutcracker this week. Wednesday’s workshop made it even more meaningful, as children got to look through the Nutcracker’s mask and see the Sugar Plum Fairy’s tutu. They tried out choreographing their own dance to Tchaikovsky’s music, with 16 counts of sharp movement, 16 counts of smooth movement, and 16 counts of their choice.

In other areas, Mr. Ben demonstrated just how much washing is required to remove germs by putting “glo-germ” powder on children’s hands and shining a blacklight on them to reveal where they missed spots. For literature this session, the children are exploring genre. Previously, they discussed music genres with Ms. Amy, and now they are finding the biographies, poetry and various types of stories in the classroom. They are also learning the features of informational nonfiction, such as tables of contents, indexes, glossaries, and captions. We are discussing how to recognize and approach different genres. Many children have been making maps lately. We also sewed drawstring bags with our new sewing machine and the help of a student’s grandmother, Ms. Linda.
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Please consider donating more socks for Mary’s Place. These are among the most needed items for people who don’t have a home. Their life will be particularly rough this week with the cold temperatures, and we can keep them in our thoughts by donating. The children will have opportunities to sort and count donations before taking them to Mary’s Place December 15. Please sign up on Bloomz if you can drive that day; a large portion of the class said they were interested in going.

Ben, Mary, and Ali

This week in Morado, the children were excited to vote in the presidential election for the amphibian they thought would best represent them. Toad won overwhelmingly.

Sewing was a popular activity this week. Mr. Ben gave lessons on the part of speech called the “article”. Some children made character maps for their literature circle books, which are simply a visual that expresses what they know about characters to help them understand the story. Some math activities that inspired people this week included fractions, long multiplication with the bank game, adding and subtracting using the stamp game and bead frame as well as abstractly.
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We hope to see all of you at K-El Family Night, Friday, November 18.