Gandhi

As Brynn pointed out yesterday, January 30th was the anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi's assassination.  We then calculated that he would turn 143 years old this year.  This article was passed on to me by a former parent, which I shared with the class.  In honor of his death, children in India dressed up as Gandhi for Martyr's Day.

We hope you can attend assembly on Thursday, February 16th to see our small presentation by the second graders on the life and quotations of Gandhi.

"500 Tiny Gandhis"

Spelling Words Week 1/30/12

Ed and ing endings
1. walked
2. looking
3. planted
4. asked
5. jumping
6. filled
7. talking
8. needed
9. spelling
10. played
11. inspired
12. studied
13. listening
14. researching
15. celebrated

Parents: Our flight to India is Friday morning right after assembly. We hope to see you there. Namaste!

Students watching the Tiger Dance and getting in on the fun. Below Liam is determining whether he can turn his triangles into a trapezoid.

Weekly Highlights 1/27/12 Mrs. Barulich

Dear Parents,
Just a reminder that all Civil War historical figure books and internet printouts are due on Monday, January 30, 2012. We've started note taking off our new internet source Ed1Stop. If you haven't checked it out please do so. There is so much information available. We also went to our Woodland School library today and many of the students were able to check out books on their historical figure. They have all been talked to about plagiarism and we are reminding them that this is going to be THEIR research report.

The Willy Wonka Jr. Play is still available to the public in San Carlos. There will be three performances this weekend. It is being performed by children the same age as our students that reside in San Mateo-Woodside. Well worth watching.

Also, please note that next Friday we will be flying to India on Pretendly Airlines. An indian costume will be brought home by each child on Thursday night. The students are to arrive at school in their Indian costume Friday morning with their Woodland School uniform in their backpack so that they can change after recess. All are welcome to attend this flight.

We hope that you are enjoying the progress your child is making with their cursive writing. They are so proud of themselves and are taking such pride in their writing.

Stefan: I LOVED the story, The Five Chinese Brothers, working on our Mondrian art in Mrs. Switkes' art class and playing Protect the Pin in P.E. with Coach Schneider.

Kenna: I really LOVED music and Miss Hamill, the story of the Five Chinese Brothers was very funny. Also working on our Mondrian art was great too!

Vicki: I really liked doing our painting project about Mohandas Gandhi, having Clara Barton be my historical figure for our Civil War research report is exciting and Mrs. Barulich.

Madeline: I really liked starting our new literature book: Sarah Plain and Tall, it's a little sad because Anna and Caleb do not have a mother. I also liked art class this week and the story of The Five Chinese Brothers was hilarious. Also, the Tiger Dance on the Smart Board was so funny!

Aidan: I really liked starting my note taking about Abraham Lincoln. Boy he failed a bunch of times but never let it stop him from moving forward. I also liked P.E., The Five Chinese Brothers and Mrs. Barulich!

Nathan: I liked science and working with the Gobstoppers, we each got to eat one after our experiment! I also liked The Five Chinese Brothers, the Tiger Dance on the smartboard for the Chinese New Years and learning about Mondrian art.

Rohan: I liked watching our Gobstoppers dissolve in science and determining the colors it produced, The Five Chinese Brothers was so funny and the Tiger Dance was cool!

Ivan: I liked the Tiger Dance for Chinese New Year, Mrs. Junaid coming in and talking to the class about the school they worked at in Pakistan. It was very nice of Mishal to bring us each a gift from the children of Pakistan. P.E. was a lot of fun too.

Oliver: I liked painting my Indian flag and writing about Gandhi, the Tiger Dance for Chinese New Year was super! The Five Chinese Brothers was very good.

Renee: I liked the Mondrian draft in art class, The Five Chinese Brothers, Mrs. Junaid's presentation of the school in Pakistan that they visited, science was fun watching our Gobstopper produce different colors and the Tiger Dance!

Weekly Highlights 1/27- Ms. Der Yuen

Thank you to the Junaid Family for sharing such interesting photos and stories about your trip to Pakistan this week. We were moved by the stories of building schools to support rural villagers. Thank you also for generously sharing crafts handmade by children in the school.

We also began the writing process for our Civil War research reports. The children worked in small groups to take notes on encyclopedia material. We learned about the concept of plagiarism, so we practiced putting ideas from reading into our own words. Please kindly make sure your child brings his/her research books and/or internet print outs to school on Monday.

And finally, thank you so much for all the birthday love!  I can't imagine a better way to celebrate than with funfetti, freeze dance, and squealing second graders- so much fun!  Thank you!

Maya: I liked watching the dragon dance, learning and memorizing my Gandhi quote, and playing charades for Ms. Der Yuen’s birthday.

Brennan: I liked watching the dragon dance, learning my Gandhi quote, making Gandhi flags, making Chinese paper lanterns, learning more cursive, celebrating Ms. Der Yuen’s birthday with Tim, Kate, and Ryan, and the science Gobstopper experiment.

Nina: I liked doing the Gobstopped experiment, Mishal’s VIP and when her mom came in to talk about Pakistan, celebrating Ms. Der Yuen’s birthday with Tim, Kate, and Ryan, and the dragon dance.

Alexander L.: I liked finishing Matilda, gym, science, and playing charades with Tim, Kate and Ryan for Ms. Der Yuen’s birthday.

Matt: I liked everything! I liked seeing Tim, Kate, and Ryan on Ms. Der Yuen’s birthday, finishing Matilda and watching part of the movie, making paper lanterns, painting and writing about Gandhi, cursive, computers, and PE.

Lindsay: I liked celebrating Ms. Der Yuen’s birthday playing charades with Tim, Kate, and Ryan, making Chinese lanterns, starting my Harriet Tubman research, writing and painting about Gandhi, the Gobstopper experiment in science, watching the dragon dance, and finishing Matilda.

Mihir: I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen and celebrating her birthday with Tim, Ryan, and Kate. I also liked the Gobstopper experiment in science and basically everything else! I liked cursive, PE, and math.

Riley: I liked the Gobstopper experiment in science, finishing Matilda and watching a little bit of the movie, watching the dragon dance, and seeing my mom come into the class.

Alexander C.: I liked jump roping PE, science, finishing Matilda, starting the Gandhi project, making Chinese lanterns, and I’m looking forward to Bingo night!

Brynn: I liked when Mr. Schneider called me “Lady Brady” at kickball, Mishal’s VIP and Pakistan presentation, especially seeing the crafts that the kids made- I can’t believe that kids could make all that! I liked being Announcer this week, learning j, p, d, and a in cursive, the Gandhi project, the Gobstopper experiment, and celebrating Ms. Der Yuen’s birthday. I guess I liked everything!

Spencer: I liked the Gobstopper experiment, PE, Mishal’s VIP week, and Ms. Der Yuen’s birthday.

Mishal: I liked everything! I loved seeing Ms. Der Yuen and playing charades for her birthday, I liked math, science, PE, art, cursive, computers, and finishing Matilda.

Many children wanted to add that they are looking forward to Bingo night! Have fun!

"Tiger Dance" for Chinese New Year

This morning Mrs. Barulich shared a video of a Tiger Dance for the Chinese New Year.  It's an adapted version of a traditional Dragon Dance.  The kids all laughed when the music switched over to, as one student described, "radio music!"  We hope to use this for our next round of freeze dance.

Tiger Dance (YouTube)

Spelling Words Week 1/23/12

Dear Parents,
Regarding the link below my password is: mbarulich_stu Please check out these amazing links at www.SMEdCenter.org
Also, the chaperones for 2A for the February 10th field trip will be:
1) Koryne Smith
2) M.J. Hawes
3) Grace Tan
All students are to report to school by 7:45 a.m., no later as the bus will leave at 8:00 a.m. We will send out another reminder before February 10th.

Plurals:
1. birds
2. boxes
3. eggs
4. glasses
5. boats
6. dishes
7. boys
8. foxes
9. girls
10. wishes
11. families
12. potatoes
13. sandwiches
14. people
15. guesses

Great Resource- Ed1Stop, San Mateo County Office of Education

Ed1Stop is an aggregator of many internet resources to which Woodland subscribes.  All families and students have access to these subscriptions, which we wanted to share with you particularly as we embark on our first research project.  Students can access World Book Encyclopedia online, Brain Pop, National Geographic, PBS, the Peninsula Library System, and more.  Each historical figure for the research reports are included in the World Book Online for kids.  You can also check out the Core Links bar on the side of the blog for some pages specific to the Civil War biography research project.

To access, please bookmark the link: www.SMEdCenter.org.  Each class has a student login, 2B's classroom username is "jderyuen_stu", password is "woodland".

We hope you take advantage of this great resource!

Plural Noun Matching Game and Practice

Since we are working on plural nouns in spelling this week, we thought it'd be fun to share this game of matching irregular verbs in their singular and plural form.

Word Matching

Weekly Highlights 1/20/12 Mrs. Barulich

Dear Parents,
The San Carlos Children's Theatre will be performing Willy Wonka Jr. January 25th - 29th. Each performance is at 7:00 p.m. with an additional one at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. This is exceptional children's acting. I believe that our second graders would enjoy this production tremendously.

Rohan - I enjoyed watching the movie about the Chinese New Year in Ms. Der Yuen's classroom, P.E. and finding the hidden colors in science this week.

Kenna - I always like music, learning about the Chinese Zodiac and our creative writing story about the magic carpet ride. I took mine to Hawaii!

Aidan - I liked science, gymnastics was fun too doing the bear hunt. I also love cursive writing. We can write kiss, she, little and sweet!

Nathan - I liked watching the Chinese New Year movie, learning more cursive letters, we're up to twelve lower case letters so far! I also liked gymnastics.

Liam - I liked Ms. Der Yuen showing us the Chinese Zodiac movie, not having to do dailies on Thursdays anymore! I really liked doing the magic carpet writing. I also liked P.E. and science.

Oliver - I liked it when Vicki came in with her braces. Math with the menus was a lot of fun and science.

Madeline - I liked dissolving the colors in science, art, gymnastics and cursive writing.

Vicki - I liked getting my braces, gymnastics and learning to write more cursive letters. I also love being with Mrs. Barulich!

Stefan - I liked P.E., cursive writing, watching the movie about the Chinese New Year and the S'mores party.

Renee - I liked it when Vicki came in on Tuesday and showed us her braces, gymnastics, working on our creative writing story about the magic carpet and the S'mores party!

Ivan we miss you! We hope to see you on Monday and that you are feeling better.

Weekly Highlights 1/20- Ms. Der Yuen

Spencer: I liked being VIP and bringing in my shares, the Chinese zodiac cartoon, combining the second grade classes, when Matt and Alex C. came back, jump roping in PE, and science.

Brynn: I liked combining the second grade classes, looking at rupees, the last etiquette class, jump roping in PE, more cursive, reading Matilda, and I loved seeing Ms. Der Yuen.

Alex C.: I liked PE, Spencer’s VIP, Matilda, coming back to school after being sick.

Riley: I liked Matilda, Spencer’s VIP poster and shares, and listening to My Father’s Dragon on CD.

Mihir: I liked Spencer’s VIP, comparing the rupees with the American money, cursive, math, Matilda, listening to My Father’s Dragon on CD, when 2A came to our class and we worked together, and when Alex C. and Matt came back to school, the Chinese myth and the animation about the zodiac. I liked that more than half of the second graders are monkeys!

Lindsay: I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen, Matilda, jump rope in PE, learning about the Chinese zodiac and the cartoon, the Chinese myth about the Kitchen God, looking at rupees, the giraffe project, and Spencer’s VIP week and everything!

Matt: I liked everything! I liked Matilda, Spencer’s VIP poster, writing about Gandhi and MLK and how I am a giraffe too, cursive, and gym.

Kayla: I liked everything! I liked reading Matilda, jump rope in PE, the Chinese zodiac cartoon, combining the second grade, seeing Ms. Der Yuen, and listening to My Father’s Dragon on CD while we worked.

Alex L.: I liked listening to My Father’s Dragon, science, Spencer’s shares and poster, jump roping in PE, combining the second graders, cursive, Matilda, seeing Ms. Der Yuen, and the rain.

Nina: I liked the Chinese zodiac and cartoon, the rain, Spencer’s VIP poster and share, art, science, French, and everything!

Brennan: I liked the Chinese zodiac cartoon and story, jump roping in PE, Spencer’s VIP poster and share, mixing the colors in science, and combining the second grade classes.

Maya: I liked mixing colors in science and art, jump roping in PE, I’m looking forward to more PE later today, the Chinese zodiac cartoon, and seeing Ms. Der Yuen.

Mishal: I loved seeing Ms. Der Yuen! I liked PE, science, cursive, spelling, watching the Chinese zodiac cartoon, and morning gathering.

Studying rupees

Looking for Gandhi when the rupee is held up to the light

Happy New Year!

Although it starts on January 23rd, we started learning about Chinese New Year today, learning about the lunar calendar and zodiac. The kids observed that they are all either sheep or monkeys and quickly made the connection that it's because they were all born in 2003 or 2004. We read a story about the legend of how the animals were chosen and then watched a funny short video (posted below). The kids had differing opinions on whether the rat won the race fairly, riding on the back of the ox. However, they all agreed that the dragon was quite heroic to help the rabbit floating downstream. 

Zodiac animal race (YouTube)

Chinese New Year (PBS Kids)

Motivation and Self-Control

This morning I read an article about motivation and learning in the New York Times that synthesized two articles that I posted on our blog last year, so I am reposting below.  The article outlines research about intrinsic motivation and promoting self-regulation in students, with applicable teaching strategies to promote both a "growth mindset" and self-control.  Very interesting!

Post from October 2010:

In relationship to Core Virtues "Wisdom" and "Self-Control", I am reminded of interesting articles I've read that explore developmental psychology and implications with motivation and learning. I wanted to share!

The first article was published in New York magazine while I was teaching in New York and covers studies done by Carol Dweck (psychologist then at Columbia, now at Stanford) about growth and fixed mindsets and the effect on motivation in children. It was published while I was teaching in New York and instantly went viral at our school, and since then I've shared it with other teachers and parents- it's one of my favorites. Dweck also lead a workshop at Columbia that I attended, so I had the chance to hear more about her tools for teachers. She stressed the importance of using language that applauds effort as opposed to simply outcomes to help motivate students, as well as the power of metacognition and talking explicitly about using the brain as a muscle to help it grow.  She has an online tool called Brainology for middle school students.

The latter was published in the New Yorker a couple years ago and also follows the work done by another psychologist, Walter Mischel (coincidentally, formerly at Stanford, now at Columbia). Mischel studied "deferred gratification" through his famous marshmallow study. He argues that intelligence is at the mercy of self-control, which can be improved by metacognition and cognitive training. In longitudinal studies outlined in this article, he found strong correlations with the ability to delay gratification (self-control) and academic achievement.

While it may sound dry, both articles are full of colorful anecdotes and written as digestable features. Hopefully you find these articles interesting and relevant as well!

The Power (and Peril) of Praise (Carol Dweck, New York magazine)

Don't! The Secret of Self-Control (Walter Mischel, New Yorker)

Thank you, Mrs. Randall!

After half of a school year of table manners, polite greetings, household help, and proper social conduct, our term of Etiquette has ended.  Amidst all her decorum, Mrs. Randall has a sense of humor!  She left this note on our board after class.

Spelling Words Week 1/17/12

1. one
2. two
3. three
4. four
5. five
6. six
7. seven
8. eight
9. nine
10. ten
11. hundred
12. thousand
13. million
14. fraction
15. decimal

Weekly Highlights 1/13- Ms. Der Yuen

Field trip slips are coming home today for our upcoming trip to the San Francisco Creativity Museum.  We will be exploring materials with a clay animation project as well as working with a "Mysterday Box" design challenge where the children will have to create an invention using miscellaneous materials.  Please fill it out and return in by Friday, January 20th.  We hope you can join us as a chaperone!  For more info, check it out here.

We also had fun with our compliment party!  The kids voted to bring in a stuffed animal to celebrate with ice cream and games.  Most popular activity was building racing ball ramps with KEVA blocks.

Spencer: I liked earning the compliment party, Riley as VIP, the Banana Slug Band, cursive, doing jump ropes in PE, and dissolving sugar grains and cubes in science.

Brynn: I liked everything! I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen in the seastar costume with the Banana Slug Band, jump roping in PE, reading Matilda and laughing when she made the water glass tip over on Ms. Trunchbull, and I’m looking forward to the party.

Alex C.: I liked Matilda, jump roping in PE, Riley’s VIP, and I’m looking forward to the party.

Mihir: I liked everything! Specifically I liked playing chess with Alex C., Riley as VIP, seeing Ms. Der Yuen, Lindsay and Nina’s awards, Banana Slug Band, dissolving sugar in science, and doing more cursive.

Riley: I liked being VIP, finishing My Father’s Dragon in literature, Matilda, and the Banana Slug Band. Basically, I liked everything!

Lindsay: I liked getting my Core Virtue Award, the Banana Slug Band, reading Matilda, writing my New Year’s resolutions, earning the compliment party, writing about jumping for joy, seeing Ms. Der Yuen, science, and PE.

Kayla: I liked earning the compliment party, cursive, and writing about jumping for joy (I wrote about wanting to get a dog).

Alex L.: I liked the joy writing, earning the compliment party (I’m looking forward to it!), math, etiquette, gymnastics, seeing Ms. Der Yuen in the seastar costume with the Banana Slug Band, science, PE, finishing My Father’s Dragon, reading Robi Dobi and Matilda in read aloud, writing a compliment to Riley as VIP, and seeing her poster.

Nina: I liked reading Robi Dobi, seeing Ms. Der Yuen, getting my Core Virtue Award, cursive, Matilda, and Riley’s VIP.

Brennan: I liked Riley’s VIP poster, earning the compliment party, cursive, etiquette, seeing Ms. Der Yuen in the starfish costume with the Banana Slug Band, jump roping in PE, Matilda, and science.

Maya: I liked PE, the Banana Slug Band, Matilda, and I am looking forward to the party.

MIshal: I loved seeing Ms. Der Yuen! I liked jump roping in PE, science, gymnastics, etiquette, getting a sticker in cursive, seeing my sister get her Core Virtue Award, and earning our party.

Feel better, Matthew!

Weekly Highlights 1/13/12 Mrs. Barulich

The excitement keeps building with our second graders as they learn an extra cursive letter each day. Today they were able to write: little, bell, bill, well and will! Their cursive writing is actually better than their printing! We've finished our studies on the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and compared the similarities to him and Mohandas Gandhi. Amazing what can be accomplished through peaceful protesting. The most powerful message Dr. King gave his audience was that, "Only love can stamp out hate."
Enjoy the three day weekend and we will see you on Tuesday.

1. Liam - I liked being able to sing a solo at the Banana Slug assembly, receiving the Compassion Award and learning more about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. Oliver - I liked when Mrs. Barulich introduced us to Pachebel's Cannon's today on the CD player. I also liked it when Miss Der Yuen was the sea star at the Banana Slug assembly and writing my New Year's Resolutions.


3. Vicki - I liked receiving my Joy Award, the Banana Slug assembly and it was funny when Mrs. Barulich was dancing with Miss Der Yuen as the sea star!

4. Madeline -I really like learning to write in cursive. I also liked the Banana Slug assembly, writing out my New Year's Resolutions and learning more about Dr. King.

5. Nathan - I liked the Get to Know Your Water Shed song at the Banana Slug assembly, math and drawing out our sketches in art this week.

6. Rohan - I liked the race in science to see whether hot or cold water would dissolve sugar faster. I also liked the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. and cursive writing!

7. Renee - I liked learning more cursive letters and being able to write out words! I also liked doing the backbends on the wheel barrel in gymnastics and the Banana Slug assembly was great!

8. Stefan -I liked P.E., starting words in cursive and doing our art sketches in art.

9. Aidan - I liked basketball in P.E., making words now in cursive and Mrs. Barulich!

10. Kenna - I liked singing, I Have My Closet Key and My Lady's Garden in music, cursive writing and writing out our New Year's Resolutions.

11. Ivan - I liked the Banana Slug assembly, singing the Water Shed song, the race in science to see what temperature water dissolved the sugar the fastest and working on my New Year's Resolutions.

Logic Puzzle

In math today we solved a logic puzzle together on the Smart Board.  The kids had to work together and solve the puzzle with logically reasoning.  They were particularly impressed to learn that this puzzle dates back to the 8th century!  

Crossing the Rive Logic Puzzle

Happy New Year!

This week the second graders wrote New Year's resolutions.  We learned about resolutions as personal goals and can be large or small.  Together we brainstormed a bunch of different ideas of goals for ourselves, friends and families, and the school and world.  Come by the classes to check out their personal resolutions!  They also found this New Year's resolution generator particularly funny, so thought I'd share.

Spelling Words Week 1/9/12 Consonant Clusters

1. fly
2. clean
3. sleep
4. free
5. grade
6. train
7. drive
8. tree
9. please
10.slow
11.multiply
12. integrity
13.slipper
14.creative
15.practice

Weekly Highlights 1/6- Ms. Der Yuen

Happy New Year! It has been wonderful hearing about all the winter break happenings through stories and Winter Break News writing. The kids have gotten right back into the swing of things, and 2012 is off to a great start.  

Lindsay: I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen, starting cursive, reading Matilda, and making my courage superhero.

Mihir: I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen, starting cursive, doing my courage superhero, writing about things I wonder about for 2012, and mixing gravel, salt, and tissue paper in water in science.

Riley: I liked starting cursive, making courage superhero, doing experiments in science, and My Father’s Dragon.

Alexander C.: I liked learning cursive, jump roping in PE, and spelling with Kayla as my partner.

Brynn: I liked everything! I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen, making my courage superhero, Matilda, sharing highlights, starting cursive, adding to the Wonder Wall, jump roping in PE, and My Father’s Dragon.

Spencer: I liked jump roping in PE, mixing gravel, salt, and tissue paper in water in science, sharing highlights of my break, My Father’s Dragon, cursive, and getting couch this week.

Mishal: I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen again, seeing Nina’s VIP board, PE, learning cursive, math, and learning more about Hinduism and Buddhism in computers.

Maya: I liked PE, Matilda, My Father’s Dragon, and quiet independent reading.

Brennan: I liked starting cursive, watching the Jataka tales video, Matilda, hearing the Robi Dobi stories, jump roping in PE, starting Tintin in French, and playing chess.

Nina: I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen, learning cursive, watching the Jataka tales, the science experiment, and computers.

Alexander L.: I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen, starting Tintin in French, making my courage superhero, science, PE, Matilda, learning about Gandhi, starting a Buddhism and Hinduism project in computers, hearing the Robi Dobi stories, having Kayla join our reading group and starting a new book, and starting cursive.

Kayla: I liked seeing Ms. Der Yuen, Matilda, starting cursive, switching reading groups, and science.

Matthew: I liked everything! I liked cursive, PE, computers, learning about Gandhi, and Matilda.

Weekly Highlights 1/5/12 Mrs. Barulich

Happy New Year Second Grade Parents,
Our first week back to school has flown by and the students are adjusting marvelously. By today, Thursday, I feel everyone, including myself, is back in the groove of things. We have started our cursive writing, as Ms. Der Yuen wrote below. It has been met with great enthusiasm. The students are doing a great job of 'hugging' the lines, aware not to 'dip' their letters below the line and to have pride in their writing. In Core, we are discussing Martin Luther King, Jr., Jim Crow Laws and the Civil Rights Movement.
For a short week we've had a lot going on.

1. Liam - I liked Miss Nelson's visit and finding out about her life at Columbia University in New York. I liked talking to the prospective visitors today and learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. Aidan - I liked learning to write the letter i in cursive! I also liked learning about Dr. King's childhood and Miss Nelson's visit made our week!

3. Ivan - I liked writing the letter i in cursive on my daily! I liked writing out my Holiday News on Tuesday and Miss Nelson's visit was very special.

4. Oliver - I liked Ms. Anscombe's visit to our classroom, Miss Nelson's visit and learning cursive writing!

5. Stefan -I liked P.E., learning about Dr. King, Jr. and learning to write in cursive!

6. Rohan - I liked learning about when Dr. King was a little boy. He was mischievous! Miss Nelson's visit was a lot of fun. We got to ask her many questions. She is so nice. And I like Mrs. Barulich, she makes learning fun!

7. Vicki - I LOVED my week back. I really like cursive, cursive and MORE cursive! I also liked writing out my Holiday News especially about my Zuca. I can carry so much in it!

8. Kenna - Miss Nelson's visit was very special to us. She talked about having to stay in during the hurricane in New York City this past fall. I also liked learning about Dr. King and how he and his sister would try to scare grown ups in the bushes with their grandmother's fox fur! It was funny. Last of all, the cursive is really fun and easy.

9. Nathan - I liked getting to free draw in art, testing our experiments in science, mixing solids with liquids and in Saxon Math, we are now adding double digit numbers where our answers add up to three digit sums.

10. Madeline - I liked learning cursive writing. I like having my own book. I also really liked Miss Nelson and Ms. Anscombe's visit.

11. Renee - I liked Miss Nelson's visit. Living in New York City sounds exciting! I also LOVED learning cursive this week and Ms. Anscombe's visit to our classroom

Cursive Practice

The kids all cheered when we told them that we would be starting cursive this week!  Much to their delight, we started today with the undercurve lower case letters, beginning with lower case "i".  While we will be using Zaner-Bloser in class, we will be using Handwriting Without Tears for additional OT help in tutoring.

If you would like to print out additional practice cursive letter worksheets to do at home, you can do so here.  We will be practicing using specialized OT grips to help our grips and letter construction.  These grips we are using are designed by an occupational therapist (O.T.) to correct improper pencil grasps. A barrier prevents the thumb from overlapping and a rim keeps fingers at the correct distance from the point. You can order more for home here on Amazon.

Jataka Tales

We've read some Jataka tales during our Core lessons on India. The stories have been a fun way to learn about the reincarnations of Buddha and we've noticed that many of them remind us of Aesop's Fables. Today we watched a couple on youtube, so we wanted to share-

Jataka Tales (youtube)