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“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
― Albert Einstein
Dear Community Member,
Looking forward to seeing you at the park tomorrow! Don’t forget to put sunscreen on…forecast is Mostly Sunny with the high at 83°. Dokmanovich’s are scheduled to bring community snack.
One of the practices we encourage in the 5-7 class is: Learning to Learn. As collaborators and facilitators, Yvette and I trust that our students will come to the growth mindset and do the work to shift from the (natural) fixed mindset, which means…our emphasis is not on the final, finished, correct result, but rather, the stretching, challenging and gratifying – process. We are willing to hold space for each child to take that road.
Learning to learn means that our children practice varied and flexible different learning strategies. We are also helping them learn that the adult is not necessarily the one with the answer, but that they in fact, are capable of arriving to the answer either by finding the information within them, by working with their peers, or by searching the resources in the room. We ask students to document or verbalize their learning by asking “How did you do that?” questions. We have reflective meetings where we may share something that was learned, a struggle they overcame, strategies they used, a thank you to their neighbor, and so much more. This is one of the cornerstones of this classroom and we will continue to support students in seeing themselves as competent learners, and independent doers.
Language
Many students have picked out books that are “just right” or “medium” books, not too hard and not too easy, to put in their book boxes. While some have picked chapter books, they are looking at each page and finding words they know and are always excited to be “reading” these longer books. Your child is always welcome to bring a book from home that they are learning to read, or want to read to us. Yvette and I were able to meet with most students to play sight word game and now the words they want to learn are in their book box as well. Students continue to work on their “I am…” books and you may have even received the first TKG newspaper with details on who is done. Some of the specific skills we focused on this week from the English Language Arts Standards »
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.2.E Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.4.A Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
Homeschool Opportunity: Ask to read your student’s I AM book. Make more I AM books at home.
Math
We are into the Masloppy Family! This big family, in a big big house, inspired us to count and label things in our classroom. When entering our room you will find many items labeled, tray of counted and not counted items, and partners working together to discover how many. I introduced the ten-frame as a tool, and we will continue to learn more and more math tools and strategies. Some of the specific skills we focused on this week from the Math Standards:
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.NBT.B.2.A 10 can be thought of as a bundle of ten ones — called a “ten.”
- Extend the counting sequence.CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.NBT.A.1 Count to 120, starting at any number less than 120. In this range, read and write numerals and represent a number of objects with a written numeral.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.1 Count to 100 by ones and by tens.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.2 Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1).
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.3 Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).Count to tell the number of objects.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.4 Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.4.A When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.4.C Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.5 Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects.Compare numbers.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.C.6
Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.1
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.C.7
Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals.
Homeschool Opportunity: Ask your child about the Masloppy Family. Organize, label and count at home!
Sciences
Thank you to Erin for the outdoor plans. The geology lab and geometry art were big hits! With this crazy hot weather we will dig into graphing the temperature each day and continue to explore items at the investigation station. M.E.A.P.S. groups on Field Day will be switching and will either be exploring geology or measurement.
Listening Area
We now have 2 listening areas, one supports a child who may need some grounding time or wants time alone, the other is for small group learning. We will be learning how to use our classroom equipment this week.
Homeschool Opportunity: Use your CD player together. Learn how to use it and talk about your family values around books on tape, music and electronic equipment.
Project time
This week we focused on our Bill of Rights (social/emotional) and thought about the right to be and feel safe, to have friends, and the responsibility of Keep the Flow. Each time we met, students drew a picture or wrote words for what each word means to them. We will turn these into mini-books and use them to support our Bill of Rights.
Homeschool Opportunity: Schedule playtimes with new friends. These outside interactions help support flexibility in forming new friendships, comfort in others joining plans, and sparks the understanding we are more similar than different. How about YOU? Have you made any new friends this school year?
Social/Emotional
Listening with your whole body. We read The Dream Tree and noticed how the little caterpillar was listening with her whole body. We practiced listening with our whole body, and teachers cued students into looking at body language to help them notice that when a teacher or friend is not facing or looking at them, they may not be ready to hear what you are saying.
Homeschool Opportunity: Model listening to hear instead of listening to respond.
Happy Learning,
Michelle and Yvette
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Tending the Garden
***Classroom Request – Music Education
We are opening a listening station and need some hands-on tools. Please donate percussion instrument (drop off to Trish at drop off/pick up)
***Oct Monthly Parent Meeting – Thursday 10/9, 7pm @TKG
***TKG BookClub- Wed Oct 29th, 7.00pm
Get started on reading Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. Our focus will be the chapter titled: Whole-hearted Parenting. Buy the book at the TKG Marketplace (click Reading List tab)
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TKG Principals
- CONSTRUCTIVISM, as teachers and parents, we provide the trellis on which students will build on their existing knowledge
- WHOLE CHILD, cognitive, physical and social/emotional are inseparable
- BRAIN SCIENCE, students are sensory learners, we honor each student’s unique developmental map
- CAPACITY BUILDING, nurturing creative thinkers who are encouraged to solve problems that serve our community
- COOPERATIVE LEARNING, small groups, low ratios, mixed ages and generations
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Parent/Teacher Toolbox
PT Schedule for the week*
MONDAY – EL, MS, SW
TUESDAY – LB (JC, EL)
WEDNESDAY – EC (LS, SW)
THURSDAY – RD,TV (JC,SW)
FRIDAY – GS, SM (LS, SW,TV)
*Names in parentheses are working on-campus, outside the classroom on that day.
Please contact Trish Valdez with any questions related to PTs and scheduling. Download the most current PT Calendar. |
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PT RESOURCE-When It’s Done With Adults, The Gender Stereotyping We Do With Kids Looks As Ridiculous As It Is
As teachers, we want to stay out of the way of our students as much as possible. One way to do that is to avoid judgement or evaluation like “good job” or “I like your dress” or “your mom would be so proud.” What we are looking for are phrases that acknowledge process and personal accomplishment “you kept going even when…” or “you like that color!” Another is by not making conclusions about a student’s capacity or stereotyping them as “smart,” “cute,” or “a handful.”
Stereotyping It’s a ridiculous thing to do, and this video makes it very apparent with good old humor. |
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From the TKG Office
- TUITION IS DUE – please pay your Oct invoice as soon as possible.
- TKG OFFICE HOURS – Fri 10/10 After drop off @ Green Roast Coffee
- Fundraiser Opportunity This Thursday – visit Fresh Brothers and earn deferred tuition credit. Fundraiser team will circulate flyers soon.
Thank you Families! Contact Trish or Monica with any questions or to schedule meeting time. PRINT the official Calendar here. This is a handy tool, the google calendar, online, is the most up to date calendar. |
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The Four Agreements
1. Be Impeccable with your Word
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
3. Don’t Make Assumptions
4. Always Do Your Best
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Resource Of The Week – Cooperative Learning
This Land Was Their Land: Native American Culture
from RedTricycle
While Native American Heritage Month isn’t until November, lots of the events and activities celebrating this rich culture take place all fall long. Los Angeles was once home to the Tongva, Chumash and many other tribes, so we have loads of museums and cultural centers that teach history, awareness and arts. Take your tots to see and experience how native California peoples lived and worked long ago.
See more at Red Tricycle… |
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