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Click here for the April 2009 school calendar.

April 2009

News from the Academic Director

Dear Families,

One of the tenets of the Taylor School’s educational philosophy states: The learning will be experiential – fostering curiosity and creativity, while instilling a love of learning. This is an important characteristic of the Taylor School – one that sets us apart from other schools.  As I go through the classrooms I often see evidence of learning activities where children have stretched their minds and capabilities.  It is clear the children have tapped into their curiosity and engaged in meaningful experiences that have expanded their prior knowledge.  Through these positive experiences, our students develop a love of learning and a desire to express their understandings in creative, interesting ways.

This month I have chosen to highlight the poetry study being done in the 5/6 class as an example of the tenet stated above.  The 5/6 classroom is rich with literature and students study the many facets of the English language – spelling, grammar, vocabulary development, to name a few.  During the poetry study, students learned about the literary devices used to create poetry, many of which were associated with sound and rhythmical patterns.  Students were asked to use language in creative and thoughtful ways as they experimented with a variety of types of poetry.  As a result, each student produced a collection of poems.  To further enhance their learning, the 5/6 students are now creating hard-cover accordion books with Mrs. Crane.   The books will showcase their poetry collections. Through the use of abstract watercolor collage, the children will add an artistic visual element to their poetry.  Each book will be a unique example of how children at the Taylor School participate in creative learning experiences.  I have included a small selection of poetry from the 5/6 class below.  Enjoy!

Kelly

Waterfall
By Jillian Ridler
(Haiku)
Water rushes down,
Flowing hard and hits the rock,
The mist feels like jewels.

Spring and Fall
By Hunter Briccetti
(Diamonte)
Fall
Dark, lethal
Falling, darkening, dying
Winter, darkness, summer, light
Growing, sparking, brightening
Bright, lively
Spring

Palm Tree
By Cheyenne Finkle-Green
(Haiku)
Palm trees in Egypt
Swaying in the foreign breeze
Standing tall and straight

Fire
By Mateo Julia-Wise
(Diamonte)
Fire
Hot, fierce
blazing, burning, glowing
fireplace, campfire, pool, lake
slithering, slipping, sliding
smooth, soft
Water

White
By Zoë McLean
(color poem)
White
White is
White is snow
White is snow that is falling from feathers in the sky
It is warm, but cool
We can all hear it-
The feathers dropping the white snow
Tink! Tink!
We can taste it-
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
The scent-
 Spring
Warmness
Warmness of spring is white
But….snow
White snow
White

The World Is…
By Maura Mulligan
(free verse)
A waterfall of wishes.
A sea of dreams.
A desert of thoughts.
A moon of wonders.
A forest of thrills.
A galaxy of discoveries.
And a world of possibilities.

Peace and War
By Kendall Ackner
(Diamonte)
Peace
love, harmony
skipping, laughing, playing
fun, beautiful, dark, gloomy
crying, booming, screaming
horrible, sad
War

Sleeping
By Dylan Couch
(free verse)
Tick Tock goes the alarm clock
5 minutes before the alarm clock goes off
Not wanting to get up
Soft pillows
Covers
Mattress
Yawning

Ring!!!!!!

Courage
By Franco Julia-Wise
(acrostic)
Courage
On the edge of danger
Under the fighting chance
Right
All for it
Great
Eager to succeed

The Power of Spring
By Jamison Carlen
(free verse)
The smell of spring is the color of light see-through green.
When I feel spring, a cool breeze strokes my face and I feel happy.
The taste of spring is cool, warm and a happy taste
that makes the smile on my face grow.
The sight of spring is green, windy and a beautiful sight
that can make you happy enough to cry, a happy cry.