Parents doing their first-grade childrens' work during the
Back-to-School Night - Part 2

Back-to-School Night-Part 2

Over 60 preschool through first-grade parents attended our first round of "Back-to-School Night - Part 2" last Thursday. They were asked to put themselves in the shoes of their children as they experienced first-hand why their children are so excited when they come to school each day. The Back-to-School Night - Part 2 for second through fifth-grade parents is on Thursday, February 2nd from 7-8 p.m.

Fourth Grade Artist Dylan's Work Featured in D-E Visual Arts Blog

One of Dylan's beautiful watercolors

4th Grade Artist Dylan

Click here to view more examples from Dylan's amazing  sketchbook and see what other talented visual artists from all three divisions are doing. Congratulations, Dylan!

 Writing Workshop  by Assistnat Principal, Susan Abramson

Imagine walking into a Lower School classroom. Children are gathered around books and talking,
but it’s clearly focused, purposeful talking – the kind of hum when people are working alongside one
another on a shared task. In the corner, two students are flipping through a book on dolphins, marking the text with post-it notes to indicate new, salient information. Nearby, the teacher is conferencing with a student to help her understand how the writer uses italics and bold print to highlight new and important words in a non-fiction text. Another student is intently studying a book about deserts and using a graphic organizer (an outline, for example) to organize information into categories he’ll later use for a report. A few students have completed their graphic organizers and are now starting their drafts, which will eventually be edited, revised, published and shared.

Students work with one another and their teacher as
they edit their writing.

If you can picture this scenario, you have a good idea of what the time of day we call “writing
workshop” looks like. (Some families who joined us for Back-to-School Night - Part 2 on Thursday
even had a chance to experience the instruction that takes place during writing workshop). In
the scene above you’ll notice that while students are all working within the teacher-selected
genre of non-fiction, their topics are not teacher-selected. That’s because an important feature of
writing workshop is the idea of choice. In writing workshop, students – kindergarteners up to
fifth grade – make the important decisions about what they’ll write about. When we are learning
about the genre of non-fiction there is no need for the teacher to have everyone “choose an animal”
or “choose a country” as a topic for their pieces. Non-fiction isn’t about animals or countries
(although many children will choose to write about these topics!) It’s about voice, structure, and the
balance of research and opinion, and that’s what the teaching in a non-fiction unit is about.

This week in a fourth-grade class, I observed Elisabeth write about playing violin because she has
been studying and learning about the violin for years. Rudy wrote an article about caring for babies
based on what he has learned from his grandmother about caring for his own baby brother. Before
she stared writing about Paris, where Sylvie really wants to go, she did some preliminary research.
And if you know Andrew, you know he loves origami, and this was a natural choice for his topic.

While I ask you to imagine the scenario described above, it’s one we are lucky enough to see daily
here in the Lower School. We see students thinking about what they really care about and sharing
their ideas through writing. We see them organizing their research into question and answer books
and sharing their expertise about how to ride bike. They incorporate features of non-fiction such
as text boxes, labels, headings and captions into their writing. They make decisions about which
words are important and should be in big, bold print. While the teachers are explicitly teaching
strategies, techniques, conventions and understandings that go along with non-fiction, the ability
for students to choose the “what” of the writing really matters. The opportunity for choice teaches
students that writing is something powerful they can use to share their stories, ideas and lives with
the world.


Click here for a terrific article from the Wall Street Journal (The Importance of Child’s Play:
In striving to make our kids super safe and super smart, we have turned them into bored blobs.
By LENORE SKENAZY)

Remember  LS Skate Day, Sunday 1:30-3:30 at the ICE HOUSE

5th Grade Opera Logo

 PR team member, Ryan

           

                      Fifth-Grade Opera Updates

The composers are Zhana, Ehren , Jordan, and Anika.

The composers have been working on the chorus of the opening aria. The lyrics of the opening aria were written by the writers, but the composers get to put music to the lyrics.

I got a chance to listen to the chorus of the opening aria. It really sounds great. I also got a chance to talk to the composers and here is what they had to say:
Jordan said, “The composers and I have been writing the music to the opening aria and
have been making up little tunes.”
Anika said, “I am looking forward to working on the songs and getting to know the other
composers better.”
Zhana said, “I might be playing some guitar, Jordan may be playing the trombone, and
everyone will play on the keyboard and percussion.”
Ehren said, “I can’t wait to play on the instruments at the opera.”
I hope you know about the composers now. Please read below as Emma Lee writes

Set designers Megan and Jenny

about the Set Designers.

PR team member Emma

My name is Emma and I am a Public Relation’s officer. I’m going to tell you who and what they are doing. The Set Designers are Megan  and Jenny. They are sketching out the setting of what the opera is about. They are doing a great job! They are very artistic and creative with their work. I asked Jenny what her favorite part is and she said, “My favorite thing to do is painting.” I also asked Megan what she is looking forward to and she said, “I am also looking forward to painting the big set.” They are first painting a shoe box to prepare for the big set. Next Kyle will be telling you about the Carpenters. I hope you enjoyed learning about the Set Designers.


Senora Glass' 3-5 Spanish Blog has been updated.