February 12, 2016

Greetings!

February 24 is World Read Aloud Day, but we started celebrating early! In fact, we started at the beginning of the year. As we approach the actual day, we will put an even greater emphasis on the shared experience of reading. In other words, the kids will choose read aloud stories from the ICSA library to share with the class. This week proved to be extra fun and insightful reading already.

A book called Redwoods seemed to be a class favorite. Redwoods, like all things in nature, are phenomenal! Their functionality and majesty, wow! The kids' favorite turned out to be an amusing tale called The Seven Silly Eaters. We voted. I lost. Ask your child to recall some of the week’s stories (i.e. Jack and the Beanstalk, The Great Kapok Tree, Redwoods, Families are Different, The Seven Silly Eaters, 100th Day Project, and The Lion and the Mouse.

In science we studied properties of matter, which included water balloons to show how quickly states and properties of matter can change. The kids have been introduced to their next project: make a booklet with a cover page and individual pages for each state of matter. This means four pages in total. The detailed rubric can be found here. Each child has been given a hard copy as well. The due date is February 24.

Next Thursday morning at 8 a.m. is our 3rd Grade Assembly. Each student will be recognized for a valued character trait. There will be short skits and a lively song. We hope you can join us.

IN-SITES this week include an article called “What Kids Need From Grown-Ups (But Aren’t Getting It).” The piece is an interview from National Public Radio – Education (NPR-Ed) with former Yale professor Ericka Christakis. Her new book is called The Importance of Being Little. The professor’s research and observations about childhood education is indeed insightful.

London’s Science Museum provides a game-based activity here that builds an understanding of simple machines for problem solving. Let me know if your child finds anything else interesting at the Science Museum.

That’s enough for now.

Enjoy your weekend,

Mr. Johnson