FROM UNDER OUR BIG TREE: Week 21

Field Trip Day with TKG
“Rewards and punishment is the lowest form of education.”
― Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)
WHO ARE WE? WHO ARE YOU?  Let’s explore!

Last week we started a class meeting folder.  If anyone has a problem they want to bring to the group they can write it in our notebook and we will have a conversation our next meeting.  We established that we would like the following for our meetings:

  • one speaker at a time
  • listen. learn. know.
  • ask questions, or expand, on the topic

Tuesday Michelle will introduce a metaphor of all riding in the same car and how meeting relates.  Can you come up with a metaphor for life from the prompt: people riding together in car?  Individual people…in their pick (or maybe not) of seats…sharing space…watching things go by…seeing things from a different vantage…from different origins…going to the same place…

Our first meeting entry was related to clean up.  One students shared that a reminder that deep learning has ended and that it is clean up time would be helpful as they can forget.  Another exclaimed that it is important to leave on time in case you have a dentist appointment or a play date after school so we should clean up to help us leave on time.  One was worried that St. Andrews may not want us to be here if we leave the room with things all over the floor.  When asked what if your friend isn’t cleaning or you are having a hard time a sprout chimed in “sharing kindness and working together” will help.  Reminding students that they came up with these ideas has helped us in our clean up time.

Wednesday Bennett mentioned wanting to do another holiday show so he can be Cookie the Hamster again.  A Valentine Show! Valentine’s Day is tomorrow.  I chimed in, what if you made up your own holiday?  YEAH!  Alex made Wednesday Writings Day.  Thursday a group began making aprons to work at the Valentine’s Store.  Another group planned and held a Turtle Presentation.  Many of our sprouts are really engaged in creating, setting up, and performing.

Wednesday revealed: a walk.  On our way we discussed our protocols for leaving the classroom and crossing the street.  We noticed different houses, gardens, blooming trees, different grasses, and trees as wide as the sidewalk.  Have you walked around your block lately?

Some students brought Valentine’s on Thursday but they were never handed out.  We will have an opportunity to give our gifts on Tuesday.  This will also allow time for the student Valentine shop to open so classmates can come to an “art class” and make valentines for each other.

Project of the week:
Please observe and wonder about what powers your sprouts when they are engaged in creating, engineering and presenting/performing.   Feel free to share your observations with Michelle – don’t be shy!

Your feedback and questions are encouraged:
CLASSROOM/CURRICULUM/PARK DAY – Michelle Goldbach-Johnson
CLASSROOM – Yvette Fenton
CURRICULUM – Lena Garcia Kaufman
SCHOOL BUSINESS – Trish Valdez
Check Out Flickr!

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QuickSand with my Friends
TKG Info

Tending the Garden

Park Day – We will be staying at this park through the rest of the month.  Please check in with Michelle if you have any questions and don’t forget to pack light.

Parent Info Night #3 is next Thursday (Feb 21).  Please tell a friend!  Thank you for your support.

Parent/Student Conferences Parent Conferences are scheduled for Monday February 25th.  Please sign up for your meeting time.  Watch your email for an observation form to be completed prior to the meet.

March Monthly Parent Meeting: March 7th, Thursday evening.  We will be working on providing childcare…send in your request or recommendations!

The 5 Guiding Principals at TKG
  • CONSTRUCTIVISM, as teachers and parents, we provide the trellis on which students will expand their existing knowledge
  • WHOLE CHILD, cognitive, physical and social/emotional are inseparable
  • BRAIN FUNCTION & DEVELOPMENT, students are sensory learners, we will honor each student’s unique developmental map
  • CAPACITY BUILDING, supporting the development of creative thinkers who are encouraged to solve problems
  • CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING, small groups, low ratios, mixed ages and generations
Parent Teacher Info

Parent/Teacher Corner

Teaching Focus – Boys & Girls Learn & Behave Differently: Boys score as well as or better than girls on most standardized tests, yet they are far less likely to get good grades, take advanced classes or attend college. Why? A studycoming out this week in The Journal of Human Resources gives an important answer. THEY SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY…Read More in another article!

Teacher Focus – Prepare for March Gardening: Tomato Seedlings – Good Bugs – Fruit Trees – Herb Garden – Succulents – Acidify – Feed Plants – Manage Snails…of course you want toRead More!

For your Toolbox – Do you feel like you float between permissive and authoritarian classroom management? Cooperation doesn’t have to come from fear or doubt…Dr. Laura shares some tips:

  • Use Empathic Limits
  • Meet Needs
  • Emotion Coach
  • Manage Your Own Emotions
  • Ditch the Guilt
  • Find mutually agreeable solutions
  • Stay Connected

Check Out Echo Parenting Classroom Management Workshop…

PT SCHEDULE, WEEK OF FEB 18…
THERE HAVE BEEN SOME CHANGES TO THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE DUE TO SOME SCHEDULING SHIFTS…PLEASE ADVISE IF YOU HAVE ANY CONFLICTS. Thank you!
Monday – 
HOLIDAY
Tuesday – RD
Wednesday – TV
Thursday – LS
Friday – BM/ME
Please contact Trish if you have any concerns about this week’s schedule.  We will probably be shifting next week’s schedule too…please check the TGK Calendar for more.  March’s calendar will reflect recent changes and will be out early next week.

The Seeds (Core Standards)

We are creating intention around these standards:

WRITING
Grade 2 Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.
Grade 1: b. Use end punctuation for sentences.

SPEAKING AND LISTENING STANDARDS
CCLS Grade 1 4.a Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or a phrase.
a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).

SCIENCE
Earth Sciences
3.  Weather can be observed, measured, and described. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know how to use simple tools (e.g., thermometer, wind vane) to measure weather conditions and record changes from day to day and across the seasons. b. Students know that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in temperature or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season.
c. Students know the sun warms the land, air, and water.
Physical Sciences
1.  Materials come in different forms (states), including solids, liquids, and gases. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know solids, liquids, and gases have different properties.

HISTORY
Grade 1: 4.Describe how location, weather, and physical environment affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and recreation

MATH
Number and Operations in Base Ten 
K.NBT Work with numbers 11–19 to gain foundations for place value.
1. Compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 18= 10 + 8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, or nine.
1. Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as abovebelowbesidein front ofbehind, and next to.

Work with addition and subtraction equations.
7. Understand the meaning of the equal sign, and determine if equations involving addition and
subtraction are true or false. For example, which of the following equations are true and which are
false? 6 = 6, 7 = 8 – 1, 5 + 2 = 2 + 5, 4 + 1 = 5 + 2.

READING
Grade 1, 2. Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
Grade 2, 2. Identify the main topic of a multi paragraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.
Kinder, 3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words both in isolation and in text.
a. Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or many of the most frequent sound for each consonant.

FEATURED WORKSHOP (Call In) – Thurs Feb 21st: 
Addressing Listening Challenges, with Patty Wipfler and Dr. Mark Brady
Mark Brady, Ph.D. and author of A Father’s Book of Listening, and A Little Book of Listening Skills, and Patty Wipfler, Hand in Hand Founder, will bring their experience teaching listening to grownups to this Teleseminar. They’ll talk about what hurdles adults face in learning to listen at a deep level, and how we parents can speed up our learning curve in listening both to our children, and to one another.REGISTER…

From the TKG Office:

  • February Tuition is past due!
  • School Holiday – There will be no school on February 18th, in honor of President’s Day.
  • Fundraiser Contributions are due on May 1st. Don’t forget to shop Amazon and Scrip for more ways to credit your fundraiser balance.  Please contact Lori with any questions.
Thank you Families!  Admin Questions, please email t.valdez@knowinggarden.org.
“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
― C.S. Lewis
Resource Of The Week

Raising Healthy Children (Boys)…
Means Letting Them Run A Little Wild
Huffington Post

We live in a culture that celebrates efficiency, practicality and hard work. We don’t like time wasters or things that don’t seem like they have a purpose, but what Dr. Brown has discovered is that our very ability to create and innovate, characteristics that also are expected out of our workforce, come out of free play, useless silliness, and time spent (not wasted) on open thought. Far from being useless, play creates empathy and compassion as well as trust, which allows people to live in ever-changing worlds, take risks, and ironically, know where the lines of real violence are.

Fake play fighting and play in general will help reduce real fighting later in life, it seems.

Limiting their fighting or physical play based on fear or cultural tropes about encouraging violence (that are now proving to be false), won’t help them learn how to navigate real conflicts later in life. Read More…

Play With Swords!

 

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