Lantern Walk
/Our lantern walk was a joyous celebration of community as we gathered under the oak trees to sing songs and share time together. Our lanterns glowed brightly against the dark, rainy sky.
Guest Photographers
/This week we were busy preparing for the lantern walk that will be taking place tonight! We decorated beautiful glass lanterns with tissue paper and shimmery glitter. We learned how to finger knit to create handles for our lanterns. I was amazed at the Otters' ability to learn how to finger knit and then teach each other this new skill. I taught two or three students how to finger knit, then they taught others. This knowledge quickly spread throughout our classroom with everyone learning to finger knit in just two days! Students loved knitting so much that they created long, knitted strands, some measuring over 18 feet in length! We will continue to offer finger knitting experiences over the coming weeks. Finger knitting is not only a great fine motor exercise, but it's also meditative and leads to some excellent math inquiries. In addition, it keeps fidgety fingers busy during classroom meetings and helps many children do their best listening. We also practiced reading and singing some of the songs that we'll sing at the lantern walk tonight. This week we were thrilled to have Carter's grandma and Claire's grandma join us on Zoom as guest photographers. They shared some excellent photography tips and showed us some of their amazing photos. We got to see photos from all around Oregon, Antarctica, Africa, and Yellowstone National Park. We also observed how Carter's grandma turned some of her photographs into beautiful greeting cards. We are excited to make greeting cards with some of our own photos. This week we read a book called Have You Filled a Bucket Today. We talked about how our kind words and actions can fill other people's metaphorical buckets. We talk about how unkind words can dip from those same buckets. We practiced being "bucket-fillers".
Week of October 11-15
/Our photography explorations are in full swing. Through experimentation and collaboration students discovered how to use some of the specific features of our iPad Pro cameras. Students learned how to zoom in and out, how to take photo bursts and panoramic photos, and how to capture videos. They were thrilled to discover how to take slow motion videos too. We took nature walks around campus to admire and document the beauty of fall. In writer's workshop this week we've been working to increase excitement and momentum around our stories. Students reflected on some of the "best ever" writing pieces they've created and made goals to create even better stories this month. We've increased our writing block from 25 minutes to 40 minutes so that we have time to capture all our awesome story ideas. We've been ending writing time by sharing some of our individual writing successes from the day. It's great fun when we can celebrate each other's accomplishments. In math we learned how to play "How Many Are Hidden?" with snap cubes. First graders have been working on creating number bonds and adding single digit numbers. Second graders are working on building large numbers and using mental math strategies (like "make ten") to quickly add numbers together. We are greatly enjoying our Upside Down Magic read aloud and it has led to several interesting discussions about inclusion and about celebrating diversity. On Monday we talked about Indigenous People's Day and learned that Pacific University sits on the land of the Atfalati, also known as the Tualatin Kalapuyas. We explored a digital museum exhibit called This IS Kalapuyan Land by Five Oaks Museum. This week we also got to celebrate Alexander's birthday and read current event articles about turtle hatchlings at the Oregon Zoo.
Fall Beauty
/We started our Fall & Photography unit this week. We kicked off the week with a nature walk around campus to enjoy the splendor of fall sights and sounds. We noticed squirrels frolciking and gorgeous leaves changing colors and crunching under our feet. We collected several natural materials to use for scientific explorations and artistic endeavours next week. We also started our fall art pieces called Starry Sky in Autumn which will involve using tempera paint, oil pastels, and watercolors. In writer’s workshop we wrote about our strengths, our favorite parts of school, and our individual learning goals. We also created a memory book page about our play production. In math we learned how to play Shut the Box and we watched this YouCube math video about how everyone can become good at math. During our whole class read aloud we started reading a new book called Upside Down Magic. We’ve been talking about different reading genres and specifically about the fantasy genre. We also started our poetry folders where we will be compiling class songs and poems. We learned a funny song called Eener Meener.
We Don't Eat Our Classmates Play
/We were thrilled to finish filming our play this week. Throughout the process of creating this play Otters gained experience collaborating, brainstorming, problem-solving, using art materials and props to create a set, speaking in clear voices, and working as a team. Our student actors were so proud of their final production.
Below you will find more fun photos from our week. We enjoyed outdoor picnics, relaxing read alouds, birthday celebrations, lots of writing time, new books, and many engineering and artistic endeavors.
Published Authors
/Today during writer’s workshop two student authors had published stories to share. The authors read their books to the class and called on classmates to ask questions or give compliments. These authors are taking home their books to share with their families before bringing them back to school for our classroom library. In our outdoor classroom today we found a spider and two interesting insects. This afternoon we started setting up the bedroom setting for our play. Tomorrow students will be bringing in the rest of the props we need and then we will start filming our play on Friday and Monday.
New Structures in Outdoor Classroom
/We are intentionally cultivating a community of readers. We start our mornings with reading and then any time we finish work early, we immediately grab a book to read. This week our yellow reading group started reading a book called The Littles. Each day the readers in this group read a chapter and then meet to discuss. A student leader helps facilitate the group discussions. During writer’s workshop today we wrote birthday letters to Emma. In our outside classroom this week Mr. Mark brought in some new boughs and a durable canvas tarp for our building projects. These materials have been great for creating shaded structures on these warm days. We continued to work on our play set this afternoon. We also continued our discussion about how our brains grow when we make mistakes. Today we started talking about mistakes we’ve made and what we’ve learned from these mistakes. We worked together to help each other brainstorm ways to learn from mistakes we’ve made.
Set Design
/Today we started designing the set for our We Don’t Eat Our Classmates play. First we discussed the term setting and talked about the different settings in the story. We decided to begin by designing the set for the part of the story that takes place in Penelope’s bedroom. We brainstormed a list of props, materials, and art we would need for this scene. Then we got to work. Different teams of artists worked on developing the following props: ABC poster, wall map, and magneta/purple bedroom walls.
In other news, we are loving our morning dance party! We love to dance with scarves and practice our hand-eye coordination as we throw and catch the scarves. This dance party serves as a brain break that gets our blood pumping and our brains active in preparation for writer’s workshop. In our outside classroom today we noticed a yellow jacket eating the remains of what appeared to be a honey bee. Since it’s Monday we got to choose new class jobs. As usual, we ended the day with project exploration. Below you can find some photos taken by students of their structures.
Week Two
/It’s been fun to watch new friendships develop as students connect with classmates. During project exploration time this week Carter was teaching students how to create rubber bands bracelets. Student engineers were busy creating huge Rigamajig structures, Lego vehicles, and Magantile worlds. Artists created paint pieces and three dimensional art structures. During writer’s workshop this week students worked on stories about all kinds of different topics- escaped gingerbread people, dragons, skiing adventures, and gymnastics. During numeracy today we all learned how to play Blokus. Then students used mathematical reasoning and strategic thinking to play various board and card games. Students who knew how to play specific board games taught others how to play! We love helping each other learn and grow. In our outdoor classroom several students worked together to create a fairy house. We had a great week together!
New Class Project
/Last week we read a silly book called We Don’t Eat Our Classmates. Otter students were cracking up during the book and one of our students suggested that we could do a play of this story. Classmates quickly agreed. We had a discussion and vote about whether we would like to pursue a play called We Don’t Eat Our Classmates as our first collaborative class project. The vote was nearly unanimous and we began brainstorming ideas and questions about how this might work. This afternoon we reread the story and started brainstorming the characters and props we’d need for the play. Owen and Morgan created a list of all of our ideas so far. We will continue working on this play during our afternoon content time this week. We also watched a video interview with the author Ryan T. Higgins about how he got the idea for the story and how he turned his ideas into a book.
Other popular Otter activities have been dodgeball outside, playing chess, creating structures with magnatiles and Rigamajig, and painting. Today we started our class jobs. We each have an important role to make sure our days function smoothly and our classroom materials are well taken care of. We also had our first official writer’s workshop time today! I will be looking over student writing pieces this week to develop individual goals for our student authors. You probably noticed that a maroon folder came home in your child’s backpack on Friday. This is your child’s folder for take home work. Please be sure to check the folder daily and keep the folder in your child’s backpack. We are teaching our students organizational skills and this folder will be an important part of our school to home routine. Please be sure to admire your child’s hard work. You should also notice a “just right” book coming home with your child each night. Your child may also choose to bring home extra books to read with family members. Please be sure to return these books to school each day. As always, let me know if you have any questions.
First Days of School
/What a spectacular group of children we have this year! We’ve spent the last two days getting to know each other better. Returning Otters have really stepped up into leadership roles and new Otters have quickly adapted to new routines. I’ve been particularly impressed with the kindness and empathy demonstrated by all our Otter students.
Yesterday we read a book called All the Ways to Be Smart. We talked about how each of us bring different skills and personalities to our community. We are so grateful for that. Each Otter shared a way in which they are smart. Today we started talking about how mistakes are excellent opportunities to learn and grow. We hope to make lots of mistakes this year so that our brains can keep growing smarter.
During math time yesterday we learned more about each other as we sorted ourselves into different categories. We presented the data we collected in bar graph format and developed equations to depict our data.
In Writer’s Workshop yesterday we wrote first day of school signs and record our age, school information, and some of our favorites. Today we wrote birthday letters to Claire. We had the opportunity to celebrate Claire as we sang happy birthday and enjoyed popsicles in our outdoor classroom.
We end our days with project time where students are able to pursuit their own projects and explorations. Many student engineers were eager to begin designing Rigamajig structures. Some artists were eager to explore with tempera paints, watercolors, remida materials, and hot glue. As students engage in these projects they are using many executive functioning and problem solving skills. It’s fun to watch the collaboration and creative solutions that emerge as students engage in these processes.
