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Mrs. Wilson: Valentine’s Day Celebration

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

Last week, the children had a Valentine’s celebration. We started the week by decorating bags with heart-shaped foam stickers. On Valentine’s Day, the children, along with Miss Jade and Mr. Kenyon, made apple donuts by spreading strawberry-flavored yogurt and sprinkling Valentine-themed sprinkles onto a heart-shaped apple slice. Afterward, the children put their gifts into their friends’ Valentine’s Day bags one by one. We ended the celebration by giving out heart balloons that Ms. Sara and I gifted the children and had a fun dance party. Ms. Sara and I want to express our gratitude for the lovely gifts we received on Valentine’s Day.

This week, we will continue to celebrate our family and friends, as well as ourselves. We tasted ruby red grapefruit during our Food Tasting activity this week. All the children seemed to enjoy its sweet, bitter, and juicy flavor. A couple of children noticed how good the room smelled from the scent of the grapefruit.

Love and Light

Cynthia and Sara

Mrs. Sargeant: A Peek at the Week

Posted on by Christine Sargeant

Last week wound up being a shorter week than we expected due to the snow. The toddlers enjoyed a delightful Valentine’s Day celebration filled with joy and camaraderie. They enthusiastically joined forces to create a “friendship fruit salad,” pooling their efforts to open containers, meticulously wash, and expertly prepare the array of fruits. Along with their fruit salad, they enjoyed raspberry muffins and sipped cranberry juice. They exchanged valentines and were thrilled to take home their specially decorated bags filled with goodies -spreading smiles all around.

We explored the themes of kindness and friendship, emphasizing the importance of helping others. Within our classroom, these values are demonstrated vividly as the children willingly assist each other in opening water bottles, offer to carry a friend’s lunch or drink to their designated spot, help one another hang their coats, and retrieve slippers from their cubbies.

Our food-tasting experience extended through this week and included both avocados and guacamole. The avocado was more popular than the guacamole. 

The toddlers have been exploring Arctic animals and engaging in hands-on experiments with ice and water. They’ve been actively observing how water interacts with ice, noting how it causes the ice to melt and drawing connections between the two states of matter.

See you next week! Christine & Lizette

Mrs. Lopes: All You Need is Love

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

While last week was a short week, it was a busy one. Last week, the children exchanged Valentine’s with each other, and Parker’s mom, Lauren, helped each child make a Valentine person to take home. We asked the children what love means. Their answers are sure to bring a smile to your face. In similar posts that we’ve done in the past, we always say the world would do well to listen to these children. It rings true with this post as well.

This past Thursday, we celebrated the 100th day of school. From the very first day of school, kindergarteners have been learning to count by 1s, 5s, and 10s to 100. They spent the afternoon going to different stations that revolved around 100. They drew pictures of what they would like when they were 100, what they would buy with $100, and what they wished they had a hundred of, made a 100 headband, and then played a game called Race to 100. They even did 100 exercises and learned how hard it was to sit quietly for 100 seconds. The highlight was bringing home a delicious 100th-day-of-school snack. As always, thank you for the behind-the-scenes help from all of our parent volunteers to make these memories possible.

Saturday, March 2nd, is National Read Across America Day. This is a day to celebrate our favorite activity—reading!!!!!!! This special day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. The day occurs each year on the birthday of children’s book author Dr. Seuss; on Tuesday, March 5th, the children can wear their pajamas to school and bring their favorite book and a stuffed animal in to share. It’s always a fun day for all.

Love Is……….

  • Nicolas- Love is when my Mommy buys me new shoes.
  • Elanour- Love is when my dog kisses my face.
  • Casey- Love is when Daddy makes forts with me.
  • Brisa- Love is when my Mommy sleeps in my bed.
  • Ben- Love is when my Mommy and Daddy play with me.
  • Daniel- Love is when Mommy hugs me.
  • Arjuna- Love is when Daddy comes home from work, and we all play video games together.
  • Evie- Love is when Mommy and Daddy give me hugs.
  • Arian- Love is my Mommy because she makes me happy.
  • Amelia- Love is when Mommy kisses me.
  • Ryder- Love is eating chocolate from my Valentine’s Day.
  • Kimberlin- Love is when my Mommy and Daddy hug and kiss me.
  • Levi- Love is when Mommy hugs me.
  • Elizabeth- Love is sleeping with my big Olaf.
  • Fiona- Love is snuggling with my lovey Lamby.
  • Harlan- Love is being comfy under a blanket.
  • Kian- Love is sleeping in my world bed because it’s so cozy.
  • Annie- Love is when Mommy cooks me scrambled eggs and chocolate pancakes.
  • David- Love is sleeping in my tall, cozy bed.
  • Noelle- Love is when I snuggle in my blankie.
  • Parker- I love it when I snuggle with my cat.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love,

Amanda & Hema

Mrs. Sargeant: A Peek at the Week

Posted on by Christine Sargeant

A large part of our work with toddlers is to lay the foundation for developing emotional intelligence—the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and express emotions. Cultivating emotional intelligence in toddlers is crucial for their social and emotional well-being.

Teaching children to identify and name emotions is the first step in teaching children about their own emotions and the emotions of others. Being able to identify and name their feelings can help children to feel heard and understood. Introducing toddlers to a diverse range of emotions through books, stories, and discussions will develop their emotional vocabulary. Since toddlers often mimic the actions and attitudes of the adults around them, demonstrating healthy ways to express and manage emotions is crucial – such as taking deep breaths to calm down when feeling frustrated. One of our favorite books this month was In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek. We have read it numerous times, and it has inspired discussions about times when we’ve felt a variety of different emotions. The children especially enjoy hearing the anecdotes that I share with them about times when I have felt brave, happy, sad, etc. 

For this week’s food-tasting experience, we tried beets. The children seemed very fond of exploring the whole beet and were quite eager to taste this vibrant root vegetable. Some studies have shown that children need to be exposed to a new food at least a dozen times before they make a final decision about truly liking it or not, so perhaps consider adding beets to your menu this week – maybe topped with crumbled goat cheese!

The children decorated their Valentine’s Day bags this week, and we’ve been reading Valentine’s books that celebrate friendship. We’re looking forward to exchanging cards next week. 

Wishing you all an enjoyable weekend. 

Christine and Lizette

This Week in Upper El

Posted on by Karen Sankey

We had a fun week filled with bubbles, baking, and learning.

On Wednesday, the Connecticut Science Center came to our school to teach the children about the science of bubbles. They learned about the essential ingredients and environment needed to create bubbles through interactive presentations. They also tested out creating bubbles in different shapes, holding bubbles in their hands, popping bubbles, and even being inside a bubble.

In history, we explored the Cro-Magnon people and compared them to Homo neanderthalensis people. The students discovered that we share a common ancestor with Neanderthals and that Neanderthals, along with us, share a common ancestor with Homo erectus.

Fourth-grade students learned about finding equivalence between a regular polygon and a rectangle in geometry. They learned to compare the perimeter of the polygon to the base of the rectangle and the apothem of the polygon to the height of the rectangle. Meanwhile, fifth-grade students learned to find the area of right-angled triangles using three different formulas.

Our biology lesson focused on animals’ vital functions of support and movement. We discussed exoskeletons vs. endoskeletons and the animals that have each. We looked closely at jointed and non-jointed animals, invertebrates, and vertebrates.

Fourth-grade grammar examined plural vs. singular nouns and the rules for forming plurals. Fifth-grade students learned about limiting vs. descriptive adjectives and three degrees of comparison in adjectives: quality, comparative, and superlative.

We are making significant progress on our autobiographies, and everyone is excited about this project. We have a few more weeks to complete rough drafts and final papers and prepare for presentations. Thank you for your support in helping your child at home during this project.

Have a lovely weekend,

Karen and Krystin

Middle School: Week in Review

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

It’s been another great week in middle school, and we have been outside to enjoy the sun every day!

Humanities

Throughout the month of February, each Humanities class begins with a mini-lesson acknowledging Black History Month. Topics range from highlighting a person to an event or time period related to Black America. 

6th-grade Humanities classes have been completing work with both research writing and Ancient Mesopotamia. Writing lessons in choosing an outline format to organize writing, using transitions between paragraphs, a refresher of using them within a paragraph, giving credit to sources using in-text citations, and using direct quotations to enhance writing were all completed while they continued to draft their essays which are due on Wednesday, 2/14. After completing and reviewing some vocabulary related to ancient civilizations, students began their study of Mesopotamia. They learned about the importance of the region and land, the fertile crescent, and why silt was a crucial factor in the success of the civilization.

7th grade Humanities classes also worked on their research essays. They started the week with a one-on-one review of their introductions and refreshers on using transitions between and within paragraphs, giving credit to sources using in-text citations, and using direct quotations to enhance writing. While they have independent study periods to work on their essays, students should also be working at home to complete them by the due date of Wednesday, 2/15. Additionally, students are continuing with the geography of Sub-Saharan Africa before moving on to the class novel, A Long Walk to Water. 

8th-grade Humanities had their first research check-in on Monday for their expert projects. Mrs. Lamb gave each student a goal and suggestions moving forward with the project. February should be spent conducting research regularly. Also, the 8th grade began a grammar unit on sentence structure and will begin to review independent and dependent clauses as they relate to complex and compound sentences. With Mr. Newman, the class continues to focus on the early presidencies and the formative years of the United States, examining the physical growth of the country as well as the political challenges faced in the years 1800-1850.

Math

Pre-Transition students spent the week covering units 6-6 through 6-10. From these units, students learned how to calculate percentages in their heads, calculate percent as a quantity, use percent of a quantity, order of operations, and multiply mixed numbers.

Transition students covered units explaining expansion and contraction using multiplication, area of circles, trapezoids, and triangles. Our next unit, ” Multiplication in Algebra,” will begin on Monday.
Algebra students were introduced to topics covering negative exponents, powers of products and quotients, square roots and cube roots, multiplying and dividing square roots, and distance in a plane. Students have done a great job using available resources to facilitate their understanding throughout the class.
Geometry students have been learning about reflection symmetry and how an object or shape remains unchanged when reflected across the line(s) of symmetry. They did this with some common shapes and a few uncommon ones. Students have spent a good deal of time learning about the properties of quadrilaterals and isosceles triangles. They have discussed the similarities between them (lines, angles) and the differences. The students have been applying these properties in the proofs that they are learning. The class will be done with Chapter 6 soon, and then they will move on to proving triangles congruent.
Science
6th-year Earth Science students are finishing their unit, Natural Resources. Students have been able to hold several class discussions pertaining to the role humans have on climate change as it relates to our use of natural resources.
7th-year Physical Science students finished their 3-D molecule project and have begun their new unit, Chemical Reactions and Equations. From this unit, students will be able to list the indicators that a chemical reaction has occurred and explain what happened, identify the reactants and products in a chemical reaction, distinguish between endothermic and exothermic chemical reactions, and explain the law of conservation of mass.
8th-year Life Science students have begun researching GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Each student was tasked with creating a slideshow representation that addresses what GMOs are, what the benefits and risks are, and where this research and application of genetic engineering may take us in the future.

Mrs. Wilson: Nurturing Emotions and Celebrating Family

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

In the month of February, our learning activities will focus on emotions, family, friendship, and self-love. During our circle time, we have been practicing a lovely song called “I Love My Body” by Mother Moon. At the end of the song, we give ourselves a big hug and recite positive affirmations such as “I am special, “I am kind,” “I love myself,” and “I am amazing.”

One of the topics we are exploring in-depth is emotions. We begin by looking at photos of children making different facial expressions and then guessing how they might be feeling. The children then practice making those facial expressions by looking into a mirror. Our older toddlers have been asking insightful questions, such as why a child might feel happy, sad, or angry, prompting us to discuss what makes us feel happy, sad, and angry. This month, we will continue to work on understanding, expressing, and how to cope with our feelings.

For families, we have a fun matching game in which the children can match their own and their friends’ photos to their respective family photos. This is a wonderful opportunity to practice language skills as they introduce their friends to their family members. We have also added a dollhouse with figures from diverse cultural backgrounds so that children can create their unique family units.

Food Tasting: We tried a fruit called gooseberry. This fruit had a sticky texture on the outside and a sweet and sour taste. If you haven’t tried gooseberries before, we highly recommend them. Perhaps your child can lead a food-tasting activity at home with your family.

Love and Light,

Cynthia and Sara

Mrs. Hood: Emotional Intelligence!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

Human emotion. We are so very lucky to each experience such a wide-ranging set of feelings, but that experience can be quite the roller coaster, especially if you are a toddler.

Supporting and teaching emotional intelligence to our students is one of our main goals in our toddler class. First, we do so by teaching the toddlers to identify and name emotions, their own emotions, and the emotions they see in others. It’s very important to teach children that there is a range of emotions and that ALL emotions are OK. Once children can name their emotions, they can better express themselves and feel heard and understood. We can then help the child develop techniques to manage that emotion.

This week, we focused on this theme during our morning circle time. We utilized songs, emotion cards, and captivating books to reinforce the vocabulary of emotions and their visual expressions. Some of the emotions we explored included happiness, sadness, anger, excitement, and shyness. In the upcoming weeks, we will continue to expand this emotional vocabulary.

Children also have been pretty engaged with all the new materials in the environment and had the opportunity to work on decorating their Valentine’s Day bags in preparation for our celebration next Wednesday, February 14th. Our older students, who grasp the concept better, are particularly excited about this event.

On another note, we explored delicious oranges for our food-tasting lesson, and it was a hit. Furthermore, children were introduced to the process of making orange juice all by themselves! Children worked their muscles and their maximum effort by making sure they squeezed and twisted their orange into the handheld juicer. After this, children practiced their fine motor skills by transferring the juice into a small pitcher and then serving themselves their orange juice into an open cup. To say that they seem to enjoy the process and the result of this activity is an understatement.

Lastly, we celebrated another 3-year-old birthday in our class! It’s awe-inspiring to witness the remarkable growth of our students every single day.

Enjoy the snapshots,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Mollie