We Are Land Snail Scientists ...Observing the Body and Behavior of Land SnailsConducting Fair Tests to Answer the Question ~ What Do Land Snails Like to Eat? | Meeting Caldecott Award Winner Javaka Steptoe!We are SO lucky to have had an opportunity to hear Javaka Steptoe visit our school and tell us about his life as a writer. We read his book that just won the 2017 Caldecott Award, "Radiant Child", before going to the assembly and loved this biography of artist Jean-Michel Basquait. After the assembly, we were so inspired by Mr. Steptoe that borrowed another one of the books he wrote to read together, "Jones Family Express". We loved it, too! Learning about the |
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Last week we learned how Scientists use a box and T-chart and then used one to compare our goldfish to our platy fish. Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles!Last week, we talked about reading books with more words and pages, and reading independently for longer periods of time ~ really giving our reading muscles a workout. We used reading mats to make a reading plan and we started using a stamina chart to measure how long we can read. We set a lofty goal of 20 minutes, and will be work hard every day as we get closer and closer to meeting this goal. We read for 9 minutes the first day, and 10 minutes the second. Not a bad start! At Queen Anne Elementary, we are Aware, Safe and Connected...
Coming Up Soon!
Celebrating the Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Since the first day of school, we have been talking about what it means to be kind, safe, and fair in our Kindergarten Classroom. We have also been noticing and appreciating how each of us are the same as and different from the people in our lives and from people all over the world. Last week, we started talking about the concepts of social justice and peace. We re-read the book, "Ron's Big Mission" that we read earlier in the year and talked about the civil rights work young Ron McNair did to peacefully change the segregation rules of his community library. I then introduced the kids to the civil rights work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by watching a Brainpop Jr. video and reading some great picture books and poems. We will continue learning about this important leader this week, reading more books, watching a video of him speaking and having discussions about how our world has changed for the better because of brave and persevering people like Dr. Martin Luther King. On Friday, our fifth grade student leaders will be performing a MLK assembly for the K-2 classes at 8:45 am in the cafeteria. Please join us if you are able. If you are interested in extending this important learning at home, here is a great resource: Teaching Tolerance - http://www.tolerance.org/. At QAE, I am AWARE, I am SAFE and we are CONNECTED
Last week, they asked us to think about what agreeing to be aware, safe and connected mean. We talked about how these concepts are a lot like our Kind, Safe and Fair, but are more big kid in that they really push us to think about how our actions and behaviors help or hurt the people in our learning community. And not just in our classroom, but in our whole school! Here is the poster we generated with our initial ideas. Next week, we will be creating an art/writing piece that will allow us to reflect on these concepts more. We will be sharing our results with the big kids, but will also be sharing it with you. Stay tuned! John, Jack and I are heading to Hawaii later today to celebrate Winter Solstice on Hapuna Beach where John and I were married 13 years ago. Before leaving, I wanted to to thank you for all of your generous holiday gifts and cards and share these photos from our Literacy and Marble Jar celebrations last week. I am so grateful to be a part of the QAE Room 203 Learning Communtiy with all of you and your chldren this year, and look forward to continuing this kindergarten journey in the new year. In the mean time, I wish for you all a break filled with joy, peace, love and family. Aloha! Katie Our 1st Kindergarten Reading and Writing Celebration!The Hard Work That Went Into Our 1st Literacy Celebration!
Another Listening Experts' Marble Jar Celebration!(which included pom pom pet making, stuffy recess parties and a very unique, stuffy-assisted choice time clean up session) Our January PE, Art and Library ScheduleIt is so hard to believe that we will be heading out on Friday for a few weeks of winter vacation! Last week flew by, with freezing temperatures and a constant buzz of excitement tied to the possibiltiy of snow. In spite of the distractions, we continued to focus on our Reading Horizons work work lessons, learning the sounds each letter of the alphabet makes and practicing using these sounds to read and write words. We have learned almost all of our letter sounds and are becoming letter sound experts! On Wednesday, the students participated in their first Hour of Code. We attended an assembly where we heard from QAE adult family members who use coding in thier work. Then the students all logged on to this website https://studio.code.org/s/couse1 and got to work, with lots of help from 4th and 5th grade buddies and Room 203 family coding experts. We quickly found out that this coding stuff is not that easy. It takes perseverance, patience, and a lot of thinking to code. The effort your students put into this new challenge was impressive and the 4th and 5th graders and parent helpers were a great resource to us! Thank you for your help!! If your student wants to do more at home, you can go to the link above to continue the work we did in class or they can try this link for even more coding fun: http://code.org/learn/beyond. Reminders for this week...Next Thursday, December 15th, we will have our first Reading and Writing Celebration. Our celebration will take place from 7:55 – 8:25. Come listen to your student read books that they have been practicing and share a published piece of narrative writing with you! This is a very informal/casual celebration that all family members are welcome to attend if they are available. If you are unable to make it, no worries! Your student will have the chance to share their learning with lots of different people! Next Friday, December 16th, we will have a Marble Jar Celebration. Students are enouraged to wear pajamas that day and to bring a favorite stuffy. We will also have some extra choice time to celebrate our expert listening! Please make sure you send your student's Go Home Book Bag withback to class this week so he or she can shop for new books to read over break. If it works for your family, please set up a routine that includes having your student read these books for 20 minutes a day during Winter Break and remember to record his/her reading on the reading log. Break is also a great time to have your student work on his or her Reading Horizons online learning.
We are concerned, confident and compassionate citizens of the world!When I spoke to David Elliott seven years ago about the possibility of helping him start a new school, we dreamed of creating a school that could teach global citizenship in an intentional way. The partnership that we have developed with Dwankhozi Basic School since then has really had a significant impact on me, not only as a teacher but as a human being. The teacher to teacher connections QAE staff members have made with the Dwankhozi teachers have been powerful, and we continue to work together to find meaningful ways for our students to interact with and learn from each other. In spite of the barriers we have encountered in nurturing this relationship, I am hopeful about what this partnership can contribute to our students' developing global citizenship skills. The partnership began when a few of us went to an event in April of 2012 and had a chance to watch this video about a day in the life of an 11 year old boy who attends Dwankhozi Basic School. Dwankhozi Basic School is supported by a Seattle-based foundation called Dwankhozi Hope. This foundation was created by a group of friends that includes Beth and Matt MacLean, current QAE parents. The foundation started when a man named Charles Masala, who grew up in rural Zambia as one of 10 children of a rural school teacher, asked some of his friends for help. He wanted to build a school for his brother and sister-in-law, who were teaching in Zambia without a building. Children have to work incredibly hard in rural Zambia to achieve an education. All 10 Masala "children" succeeded in doing so, all earning a college degree! Today, most of the ten Masalas are involved in the work of Dwankhozi Hope and are actively supporting the Dwankhozi Primary School community. Two of the Masalas, Idah and Maurice, currently teach at the school and were able to visit Queen Anne Elementary last April.. In July of 2013, Rene Ward, David Elliott, Megan Klope and I were able to be a part of our first QAE visit to our partner school! In July of 2014, Rachel Marks, Joe Bailey and Ciara Leckie had a chance to travel to Zambia and visit the school. Since our last visit, a secondary school has been built and currently has 80 students enrolled in 9th grade!
Our December PE, Art and Library Calendar
Supporting communities ~ locally and globally!I love all of our QAE pillars, but the one that resonates the most with me, as a parent and as an educator, is the one that states ~ We are concerned,confident and compassionate citizens of the world. We have spent November reflecting on all that we are thankful for and being grateful that we have access to what we need. This is also a great time of year to focus on helping those who do not have what they need. On Friday, fourth graders Josh and Skyler visited our class to tell us about the Raise for Maize fundraiser our school we will be doing to help our partner school in rural Zambia. We also started noticing signs around our school telling us about a local food drive the 2nd graders are leading as a part of their communities PBL focus. Pike Place Market Food Bank Canned Food Drive
Dwankhozi Basic School Raise for MaizeSome women in the Dwankhozi Primary School community are willing to make the students a school lunch during this Hungry Season. They just need us to help buy some maize. We were able to provide this support for the last two years and are eager to do so again this year. Our Raise for Maize Campaign will start on Monday, December 2nd and run through Friday, December 9th. Students are encouraged to ask friends and family for donations which will be collected at school on Friday, December 9th. Some kids in our class said they plan to use the saved portion of their allowances to contribute. Please consider making a donation if you are able.
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Getting Ready For Our | Assessing Our |
This week, we continued to look for brave in the actions of others and ourselves. We read books about our president, Barack Obama, and noticed how brave he has been as our President for the past 8 years. We learned about the men and women who have served in our armed services. We read a book called "America's White Table" and attended our school's Veterans' Day Assembly, recognizing how brave our Veterans are. | We also started talking about the concept of gratitude. This coming week, we will continue to read books and talk more about this important concept. We will be sharing wth each other the things and people in our lives that we are grateful for and publishing these sentiments on our class gratitude tree. Come by the classroom and check it out ~ and add a leaf telling us what you are grateful for! |
Mark Your Calendars!
Tues, Nov. 15th ~ Parent Net Meeting
Wed, Nov. 16th ~ Early Release @ 12:05 / Family Conferences
Nov. 21st > 25th ~ No School for Students / Family Conferences & Thanksgiving Break
Wed, Nov. 30th ~ Kindergarten Field Trip to "Stella Luna" at the Seattle Childrens' Theater
(If you are interested in chaperoning, please e-mail me!)
Thank You, Veterans!
Things we are grateful for today …
That Barack Obama is our President
Our homes
Having enough food to eat
Having enough money to buy the things we need
All of the friends in our classroom
Our families
Oxygen
That people who do not have homes or food or money and are so brave!
Clean water
Our dogs and our cats and our bearded dragons and our fish
That we have a classroom and we are not left out without getting to learn
That we have meat to eat
We have nice things
That we have all the trees and oxygen we need to be alive
That we are learning how to read and write!
TV and electricity and electronics
That we are Brave!
That we have doctors to help us stay healthy
That we have God
That we have friends!
That we have books to help us read
That we have paper to write on otherwise we would have to write on the air!
That we have lots of things to build with in our classroom and toys to play with
That we have a rule “no guns” at school so we can feel safe
That we have a teacher to help us learn
That we have Veterans and grown ups to protect us
That we can move
That we have muscles!
That we have beds so we don’t have to sleep on the floor.
(I LOVE my job!)
That Barack Obama is our President
Our homes
Having enough food to eat
Having enough money to buy the things we need
All of the friends in our classroom
Our families
Oxygen
That people who do not have homes or food or money and are so brave!
Clean water
Our dogs and our cats and our bearded dragons and our fish
That we have a classroom and we are not left out without getting to learn
That we have meat to eat
We have nice things
That we have all the trees and oxygen we need to be alive
That we are learning how to read and write!
TV and electricity and electronics
That we are Brave!
That we have doctors to help us stay healthy
That we have God
That we have friends!
That we have books to help us read
That we have paper to write on otherwise we would have to write on the air!
That we have lots of things to build with in our classroom and toys to play with
That we have a rule “no guns” at school so we can feel safe
That we have a teacher to help us learn
That we have Veterans and grown ups to protect us
That we can move
That we have muscles!
That we have beds so we don’t have to sleep on the floor.
(I LOVE my job!)
Written by Ms. Cryan Leary
Coaching kindergarten compassion, confidence and competence @ QAE.
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