Fourth Grade Sculpture Garden - Look left as you drive through the car line!

Link to the All School Video Holiday Greeting

Solo Strings Recital

Preschool and fifth grade buddies making a gingerbread house

Birthday Celebrations 

At the recent Lower School Community Meeting, the topics of birthdays was discussed, with the promise of running information from the Lower School Handbook in Lower School Notes.

 Everyone should feel special on their birthday, whether they are turning five or fifty! In the Lower School we have many rituals to acknowledge children in ways that minimize disruption to important classroom routines while acknowledging how special our birthdays are. Every classroom makes sure to wish the child a happy birthday in a way that makes them feel comfortable: for some children it's a rousing rendition of "happy birthday", other children might prefer something quieter.  In addition, families often choose to send in a treat to help celebrate their child's birthday.  To help us keep the focus on the child and not the treat, we ask that these are kept simple. 

Our Lower School Handbook includes the following guidelines for celebrating birthdays:

"Birthday celebrations in school should be kept simple. If parents wish to 

celebrate with his or her class, they may send in a nutritious snack, a simple cookie or cupcake  or a mini-muffin for each student. Parents are requested to consult with their child’s teacher in advance of the day. Birthday invitations, gifts, goodie bags or toys should not be sent to school. Summer birthdays will be celebrated during the last month of school.

Birthday parties are significant outside-of-school social events for elementary school-aged students. To make sure that there are no children who feel left out, it is best to invite either the entire grade or class or just a very small group of “best friends”. It is always appropriate  to consult with your child’s teacher, as he or she is the expert in the social dynamics of your child’s class. Invitations should only be given out in school if everyone is on the list. Make sure to work from an official class list and not your child’s memory."

Language Arts Curricular Notes 

by Susan Abramson

Last year in Lower School Notes we shared pieces describing the instructional time of day we call Writing Workshop.  In Writing Workshop students learn habits and processes of good, strong writers. They learn punctuation, paragraphing and other conventions good writers use.  They study authors as they try to find their own “voice”.  They learn to organize their ideas and gradually write longer and longer pieces. They choose the topics that are important to them, and they write about those ideas.  Writing Workshop is one component of our literacy instruction, the companion to Writing Workshop – which I’ll describe now – is the time of day we call Reading Workshop. 

Just as Writing Workshop provides opportunities for students to participate in writing the way “real writers” do, Reading Workshop teaches the skills children need if they are going to develop into lifelong readers. In Reading Workshop, students choose (sometimes with teacher guidance) books that are “just right” for them. They reading for meaning and purpose, and they share what they read with others.  And just like  Writing Workshop consists of students actually writing, Reading Workshop gives students a lot of time to read. Research tells us that the amount of independent reading students do in school is directly related to their progress as readers, as well as a source of vocabulary growth and reading fluency.  Students in Reading Workshop don’t, however, “just read”.  They learn and practice the habits and skills of good readers. To teach those habits and skills you’ll see the following in our classrooms:

• listening and responding to high quality literature
• Selecting (with the help of a teacher) and reading independently in a “just right” book
• Small group, teacher-led instruction as well partner reading and student-led book clubs
• Comprehension lessons
• Integration of reading and writing
• Explicit phonics and spelling instruction during Word Study

Reading Workshop also gives students the time and opportunities to communicate about reading with their teacher and their peers – both orally and in writing. And while they have choices about what they read, they also have guidance that requires them to select the book that will best help them grow as a reader – what we call a “just right” book.  Teachers will also steer students to selecting not only a just right book, but also books that help develop an expansive reading identity. For that to happen, we might encourage a child who reads exclusively in one genre (fantasy, for example) to try reading historical fiction.   Or we might tell a child they are ready to read something a little longer. Sometimes, though; we’ll guide a child towards something easier, as reading “too hard” books can result in children simply decoding words, rather than reading for purpose and meaning. Through these kind of discussions with children, we help them envision a reading life they want to make for themselves. The goals of our reading instruction are to develop competence, enjoyment and understanding, and these are the characteristics we teach and observe every day in Reading Workshop.  

Janet Glass' Spanish Blog has been updated.

From the entire Lower School staff, 

we wish you and your family a wonderful December break,

  full of time for relaxing, family fun, celebrations

and a few adventures too. 

 We look forward to seeing you in January!