February is Dental Hygiene month! Dr. Shung of Simply Orthodontics and the Tooth Fairy would like to share a video to teach us about proper oral hygiene! Be sure to brush AND floss at least twice a day!
The students received their Living Museum Biography posters on Friday, February 7th. The posters are due Monday, February 24th. Students should have all areas completed and the poster should be fully colored and outlined. Here are some great examples from previous years. Students may choose to use their neatest handwriting to complete the poster, or as seen below, students may choose to type their responses and neatly cut and paste their responses. They may also print pictures rather than draw if they'd like.
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” – Fred Rogers
The Global Day of Play is coming on Wednesday, February 5th (though every day should have some time specifically dedicated to play!).
This is a specific day that educators all around dedicate to allowing the children to just do what children are supposed to be doing— PLAYING! All too often, kids are expected to work, work, work, but it is very important, developmentally, that your child has time to PLAY!
In the classroom, we will be playing. All. Day. Long. Yep. You read that right. Your child will get to play all day at school. While to some, it may seem like a waste of time at school— playing is actually incredibly important for children’s development! It teaches the children turn taking, fairness, friendly competition, cooperation, self-control, language skills, patience, sharing, communication, creativity, strategy, organization, and so many other skills that most adults don’t even realize!
To get this day going, we will need various games sent in to school for the children to share- age-appropriate board games, blocks, Legos, dolls, dress up items, etc. The only exception is no electronics, no screens, no toys with batteries. The goal is to spark imagination, cooperation and creative play. Some examples are below.
We have so many wonderful cultures represented in our classroom. We learned about the Lunar New Year and how many asian cultures celebrate the new year in special ways.
In class, we painted beautiful ming vases and cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms symbolize spring and new life.
Students began working on their Living Museum prep guides in class today. Completed Prep Guides are due Friday, February 7th. The document is saved onto their Google Drives (a blank template can be copied from Mrs. Dyer's Google Drive). A sample of a completed prep guide with sentence starters that can be used to help the students get started can also be found online. There are 10 interview questions and each question should have a 3–4 sentence response with full details. Truly, the more details, the better. Here is an example:
Sample Question: "When and where were you born? When did you die?
Sample response with full details: "I was born on a chilly Feb. 6 morning in 1872 in the town of Birmingham, Alabama. I've been told I was quite the small infant. Sadly, my mother passed away soon after my birth, and I lived with my father and two older siblings, Michael and Sarah. We lived in Birmingham until I was about nine years old. After a long and happy life, I died of a heart attack on Oct. 14, 1958. I was 86 years old at the time of my death."
Sample response with not enough details (too brief and leaves questions): "I was born on Feb. 6, 1872. I died on Oct. 14, 1958.
To celebrate the last bit of winter, the kids created these adorable aerial view snowmen using chalk pastels. Most people visualize snowman figures head on from the ground so that you can see the top, middle, and bottom layers of snow balls stacked on top of one another. Most people don't visualize snowmen from up above using a "bird's eye view." These art projects turned out so great! A few of the students even chose to have their snowmen looking straight up at the sky!
February 3rd is Crossing Guard Appreciation Day! If your family typically crosses the street in the mornings or afternoons before/after school, please be sure to say an extra special thank you to Ms. Rosie, Ms. Judy, and Ms. Thelma— our three crossing guards.
Each of them are dutifully at their stations every day rain or shine, heat or wind, to help make sure our students and families can cross the streets safely.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is on January 15th. The federal holiday is observed annually on the third Monday of January. On August 28th, 1963, he gave his famous, “I have a dream,” speech that inspired countless people throughout the nation.
In class, students wrote about their own dreams that they’d want to pursue in their lives, and created these beautiful dream jars. It was so sweet to read what each student wanted to accomplish!
Students made new year’s resolutions for 2025. They each thought of attainable and important goals for themselves and have made decisions to improve in personal areas during this year year. Parents— ask your child what goals he/she decided to work towards!
Our class will be working on a month-long project called the Living Museum. Each student will pick a famous person to research, and bring that character to life! The famous person must be someone who has made a significant and positive impact to the world. Students will pretend to be their chosen famous person and speak about what their life had accomplished.
Some suggestions on famous people include Presidents, inventors, pioneers, athletes/Olympians, actors/actresses, authors/illustrators, First Ladies, famous chefs, animal researchers, cartoonists/animators, film directors, astronauts, queens, princesses, pioneers, etc. Students should pick someone that they find enjoyable and exciting to learn about.
Optional famous people may include (but are not limited to):
Betty White, Bill Gates, Abigail Adams, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, George Washington, Lucille Ball, Walt Disney, Leonardo Da Vinci, President Obama, Helen Keller, Betsy Ross, Roald Dahl, Albert Einstein, Jesus Christ, Clara Barton, Michael Jordan, Rosa Parks, Sacagawea, Kobe Bryant, Martin Luther King Jr., Cleopatra.
Parents: Attached is a parent letter for your reference (the preparation guide will be provided later). Please help your child manage their time wisely to stay on top of the work timeline. This is a large project for the students, and will require diligence throughout to complete. Each student has a manila envelope with the letter and a calendar to help keep them organized and on track.
All Living Museum materials (books, notes, articles, etc.) should be kept in the envelope and brought to school daily.