| March 2010
News from the 1-2 Class
February has been an exciting month! The class performed the play “Vacation to Mars” at the Capital Region Art Center. The students did an outstanding job both singing and acting. For Valentine’s Day, students in the entire school created their own paper heart with their name on it. Students were taught the value of kind words, and “filled each other’s buckets” with positive thinking. We also practiced our cooperative skills in a community art project with the kindergarten students. The two classes joined forces to paint four large pieces of paper with beautiful images of love.
This past month also featured the 100th Day of School. This school-based holiday is  looked upon with anticipation from the start of school! The students worked on a series of projects. The first project was a sculpture made at home using 100 of the same items. The second was a “100th Day Handprint” activity in which students had to fit 100 handprints on a 12x 18 piece of paper. To meet this challenge, students had to use cooperative group interactions, patterning strategies and mathematical strategies. Finally the kindergarten through second grade students celebrated together in a series of events that called for the application of mathematical thinking. This day was full of math fun. Students enjoyed a 100 cup stacking challenge, a partner stamping project that required students to see how many stamps they could make in 100 seconds, playing the game “Race to 100” and counting to 100 (with the help of some movement). The 100th Day at Taylor School was a wonderful day to reflect on our learning and apply our new patterning and math thinking.
February ended with a visit from the Native American storyteller, Jim Bruchac. Jim dazzled the audience with his combination of stories, songs and animal tracks. To learn more about outdoor survival and animal tracking the 1-2 Class is in the process of coordinating an end of the year hike at the Ndakinna Education Center in Greenfield, New York.
For more information please visit his site at: www.ndakinnacenter.org
“Real life” math is something we do every day in the first grade classroom. The  students are challenged through the Math Trailblazers program to apply math concepts to everyday issues. Recently, the class added an Estimation Jar. Each week, this jar is taken home by a first grade student who will fill the jar with their item. Throughout the week, students guess the amount of items in the jar. At the end of the week, the total is revealed. Estimation is a skill that helps students prepare for the math thinking they’ll be doing for the rest of their lives.
This month also promises more hands-on minds-on activities. Students are currently exploring the senses through a series of cooperative and independent activities. IN the near future, the students will embark on a web-based journey to learn more about their own bodies. This adventure, a “Web quest” is a way that the students can explore the Internet in a controlled and appropriate way. All the information the students are exposed to is chosen by their teacher. Web quests are also inquiry-based creating a buzz of excitement for the topic.
This month, we’re kicking off our Western Africa unit with a trip to the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, Massachusetts. This trip will expose students to the masks created by various tribes. The students will learn the stories behind the masks and how storytelling plays a dominant role in African culture. In class we’ll begin our studies by finding out where the various tribes are located and what life is like for the people of Western African tribes. We’ll explore this culture through various art projects, including the building of our own drums.
Have a great month –
Jennifer
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