Student Portfolios

Creating the future, without fear.

// Curriculum Update: Week of Feb. 18 //

February 25, 2019  /  Michele Spiezia

We had a wonderful trip to the New York City Aquarium in Coney Island last Friday.  We were able to get an up close look at some of native species to the Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean.  We also caught a show staring Bruce, a 9 year old California sea lion.  Bruce helped teach the children about the importance of keeping the ocean clean.  We ended our trip with a walk through of the new shark exhibit, we learned about what makes sharks unique and got up close and personal with them crawling though a tube in their tank. 

In class the second and first levels finished up their stem observation by completing the last two steps of the scientific method, analyzing the data and sharing the conclusion.  The children concluded that roses were better at drawing up the water than the carnations and the celery made it easiest to see the way the water traveled.

// Week of February 11 ❤️ //

February 14, 2019  /  Michele Spiezia

This week...

February 08, 2019  /  Michele Spiezia

Last Friday our third graders had the opportunity to teach the rest of the class the Third Great Lesson.  This lesson tells the story of the coming humans and how they first stood up and tamed fire.  Later that day we also welcomed in Earth Room parents Eve, Melissa, Cory, and Angela to share about Lunar New Year.  They taught us the history of the holiday, shared it’s the year of the pig and brought in a small gift for each child. Thank you for joining us!

The time has finally come in writers workshop, our stories are complete!  After many hours of writing, editing, illustrating, and creating our covers all our hard work has paid off.  We hope to see everyone at the publishing party and can’t wait to share our stories with everyone.  

We started a new book this week, Mandy written by Julie Andrews.  

// Week of Feb 4 //

February 08, 2019  /  Michele Spiezia

// Curriculum Update: Week of Jan 28 //

February 01, 2019  /  Michele Spiezia

We have been very busy this week putting our finishing touches on stories for Writers Workshop to get them ready for next weeks publishing party.  Our friends have been busy editing and rewriting their final drafts as well as starting to illustrate their books.   We also learned the importance of the comma and the origin of the word comma. 

In culture first and second levels are continuing their study of plants by looking at the importance of roots and identifying the parts and function of the rest of the plant.  Third levels have been studying The Cnidaria( ask your child how to pronounce it for a surprise!) which includes animals such as sea anemones and jellyfish.  

We beat the incredibly cold arctic air this week by having fun with indoor recess, playing games such as mancala, chess and checkers.  A few friends have also taken to learning the old string game Cats Cradle.  

// Week of January 21 //

January 28, 2019  /  Michele Spiezia

We spent the end of last week learning about and discussing the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr..  We read books at morning meeting about his early life and work and how he started preaching his peaceful message.   We worked on an essay sharing our Dream of Peace for the future of our country and planet.  Please stop and read them in the hallway if you are on the third floor!

We started a new book at lunch time this week, The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden.

We also had a tie for the estimation jar for the first time forcing us into a estimating tie breaker! 

// Curriculum Update: Week of Jan. 14 //

January 18, 2019  /  Michele Spiezia

We ended last week with our trip to the South Orange Preforming Arts Center to see an interpretation of The Phantom Toll Booth by Norton Juster.  We loved all the word play and songs.  Since it was a quick show we had a lot of time to work on our Writers Workshop stories.

The first levels were able to study a real frozen fish while learning the different external parts.  They were then able to make a print of a fish using a rubber fish and labeled this.  

We had several days of indoor recess this week because of the cold winter weather but that didn’t get us down.  We used this time to play games, build towers and created beautiful and intricate art projects.  

// Curriculum Update: Week of Jan 7 //

January 14, 2019  /  Michele Spiezia

This week we continued to work on our fiction stories.  We had group discussions about how morales and themes run across a story and how we can incorporate them in ours.  We also continued to explore ways to add rich details to our stories. 

In Culture we broken down the study of plants by grade level, building upon last years knowledge. We also looked at the biomes of Europe to see what kind of climates our European friends are living in. 

In Math the first levels had another fraction lesson, seconds learned Roman numerals and thirds working on plotting coordinates. 

We started a new book during lunch this week, The BFG by Roald Dahl.  

// Curriculum Update, New Year! //

January 04, 2019  /  Michele Spiezia

Happy New Year and welcome back!

This short week we spent time getting back into the routine of the school day. We also had the opportunity to share our favorite experiences from the long break. 

 We had some group culture lessons separating invertebrates from vertebrates and also studied parts of plant and animal cells.                               

In writers workshop we further developed our ideas for our fiction story, learning that ideas can change and evolve even as we are writing our story.  

// Hibernation Week: Curriculum Update //

December 13, 2018  /  Michele Spiezia

This week Earth Room started getting ready for the long break ahead.  We wrapped up reading groups, follow up lessons, and started sharing our hopes for the new year.   We cleaned our classroom in anticipation of starting school off with a fresh start come January.  

A few friends started division this week along with some friends who started multiplication and other who moved on to checkerboard multiplication.  We all studied similes, making beautiful snowflakes and using smilies to describe them.  

We wish everyone a relaxing break filled with great family memories and a happy New Year to all.  See you in 2019!