Ms. Nicky and Ms. Julie’s News
Thank you to all of you for taking the time to come to conferences! It was nice to meet with all of you to discuss your child’s accomplishments.
We are wrapping up our STEM Unit of Study on Making Music. Our focus has been on how sound is made, and the 4 instrument families-percussion, strings, woodwinds, and brass. The highlight of this unit was all of the real-world experiences we have been able to have, including taking a field trip to Thunder Valley to hear musicians play, having the Frederick High School Bell Ensemble come and perform at Spark!, and even having Ms. Julie’s and my own kids come and play their instruments in our classroom. We will wrap the unit up by doing a Design Challenge where each student gets to make their own instrument, and then having our class perform a song that they chose for another class. Be sure to ask them about this!
During the week of February 27-March 2, we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday with many fun activities. Please check the flier sent home, as well as the attached calendar, to find out what special event is happening each day.
Following Dr. Seuss week, we will be starting a STEM Unit of Study on Life Cycles. We will focus on human life cycles, plant life cycles, and insect life cycles. As part of the human life cycle focus, we are hoping that each child can bring in a baby picture for a project we would like to do. If it’s easier to email it to me, feel free to do that, too. If you have any expertise or know a fun project for learning about life cycles that you would like to share, please let me know!
STEM Profile of the Month: Empathetic
“I am learning to put myself in someone else’s place so I can better understand them.”
Some books to encourage being empathetic:
HELP! A Story of Friendship by Holly Keller
Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Social Emotional Solutions Parenting Class
On Tuesday, February 28, from 6-7 p.m., a team of Spark! educators will be hosting a parenting class that focuses on Social Emotional growth. Please take time to attend and learn about this critical domain of childhood development. Child care and light refreshments will be provided.
Picture Day
Our class pictures will be taken on March 1. If you would like to order pictures, but have not sent in your order form yet, please do so by March 1. If you need another order form, you can pick one up from the office.
MyOn Reading Challenge
During Spring Break (March 24-April 2), the school district is going to be hosting a MyOn Reading Challenge. Prizes will be awarded to the schools with the highest average minutes read per student (total mins/enrollment). If we were to win, these prizes will help fund our school’s literacy program. Please help our school win a prize by utilizing MyOn over the break!
Working With Your Child at Home
Thank you for continuing to work with your child on their homework. We are doing a lot of work with beginning sounds in the classroom so, hopefully, your child is able to complete the Beginning Sounds assignments with little assistance. This is a great emergent reading skill.
Another great emergent reading and writing skill to work on at home is Rhyming. Some quick ideas for working on this include reading books that have a rhyming pattern and asking your child what rhymes they have heard. You can also play a game in “I Spy” fashion and say, “I’m thinking of a word that rhymes with ____” and see what they come up with. It’s okay if they come up with nonsensical words–the point is to just get them to hear the patterns within our language.
Important Dates
March 1: Class Picture Day
March 9: Love and Logic Parenting Class (6-8 p.m.)–dinner and childcare provided
March 13: All-School Movement
March 16: Pajama Day–Bring $1 and wear your p.j.’s to school
March 23: PBIS Award-Dance Party
March 24-April 2: NO SCHOOL-SPRING BREAK!