So...the word on the street is that your portal log-ins should work now (not Power School yet...just portals!). I tried Emma's with success. Please try your student's log-in and let me know. I'd like to post next week's homework on the portal rather than running it off at school.
I also wanted to share that we received our first postcard from an amazing exchange that I signed up for this summer. Our class is the Idaho representative in the exchange. We will be sending out postcards to first grades in all 50 states and we will be receiving postcards from all 50 states!! Our first postcard was from Illinois. To which Samay said, "Springfield is in Illinois. That's where Abraham Lincoln lived!" Wow, what a smart guy! I love when the students can make connections to each state. Last year, I challenged the students to memorize all 50 states which the majority of the students did...in alphabetical order!! I'm upping the challenge this year. We are going to attempt to learn to draw the United States by memory. I've read a lot about it being done with students in 3rd grade on up but I believe this class is capable of doing it! I think it's very important to instill a love of geography in the early years. Kids this age are fascinated with maps! They also soak information like sponges so it's a key time to get as much information in their growing brains as possible. If your child went to a Montessori preschool, you probably know that they teach maps to preschool age children if they show the desire to learn them (which the majority of them do!).
In order to make our postcard exchange a success. . .we need some postcards! If everyone would be willing to send in 2-3, we would have a great selection! Please send in the postcards in the next week. We are supposed to have them all mailed out by the end of this month...and it's coming faster than I imagined.
This week was filled with a lot of learning about Christopher Columbus. We read stories about his life and watched a few videos about him and the voyage. Yesterday, we read the book by Jane Yolen called "Encounter". Wow, it sure helped the students realize there is two sides to every story. The poignant fact at the end we learned is that when Columbus arrived on the islands now known as the Bahamas, he encountered the "Taino" people. At that time, there were 300,000 Taino people and fifty years later only 500 Taino people were alive. As I was looking for a image of the book cover, I also found a youtube video that gives a great summary of the book
Here is the link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01SKUjCCVGU
They have extended the date for the $35 elementary fee until the end of next week. If you have not paid and can send in the fee, it is much appreciated! Our classroom directly benefits from the elementary fee. Thank you!
Have a great weekend!
Carin
No comments:
Post a Comment