Week of May 24, 2021

 While SBAC testing took up much of our time, we still managed to play and have fun throughout the week. We ended our week with a picnic on the soccer field and a visit from the Otter. She brought popsicles!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! See you all Tuesday!

Enjoying some ice cream Wednesday morning to celebrate making it halfway through SBAC testing!

Water play! I promise the water was much clearer before a bunch of 3rd graders came along 😀

Thank you to everyone who donated! We had wonderfully delicious food options every day.

Friday we began writing our own Cinderella stories

Hanging out, waiting for the Otter to arrive

Thank you, Otter!

Class picture!

Taking 2 seconds without our masks on to capture our first class picture of the year! I'm sure going to miss this crew. 

Week of May 17th

 What a week! We had an incredible week, filled with time outside, literacy and math review, as well as our first day of SBAC testing on Friday. Everyone did a great job trying their hardest on the test and used all the test-taking strategies they have learned. Thank you to everyone for your notes of encouragement. I wish you could have seen their faces light up as they read your loving words. We will continue to review these notes each morning before we begin our tests. All SBAC assessments should be finished by next Friday, but if students need more time than that they can certainly have it. 

Now, for the best part of our week...our first-ever FOREST POETRY RECITAL. I am so humbled and proud of the number of people who showed up for this event. Every single child was in attendance! That is incredible. It was evident how much work everyone put into their poems. Thinking back to September and how far each student has come since then is magical. I'm certainly going to miss this crew!

Here are some pictures from our week. If anyone captured a picture from tonight's recital they'd like to share, please send them my way!

Enjoying our hammocks!

Dipping our heads in the brook after a hot game of soccer!

Nothing beats playing Gaga Ball with Mr. D

The forest is a wonderful place

Forest Poetry Recital 2021...so, so proud!

Week of May 10th, 2021

 This week was absolutely fantastic! We spent the entire week outside. Honest! Most students did not take a single step inside the regular school building all week. It was awesome. The weather was cool in the morning and warm in the afternoons. Most days the bugs were minimal, with a light breeze in the air, and we ended the week working to clean up our forest field and playing in the brook. We even got our hammocks back up in the trees!

During academic areas, we spent much of our time reviewing concepts learned throughout the year to better prepare ourselves for the upcoming SBAC tests. During ELA, we continued our Cinderella unit. Students are beginning to recognize similarities across all versions of this fairy tale as well as the big idea behind the story. We will finish up this unit by the end of next week before we head into SBAC testing. 

Questions to spark conversation:

-What is a protagonist? antagonist?

-Where in the world have some of the Cinderella stories you've heard taken place?

-What changes did you notice in the forest this week?

Here are some pictures from the week:

We have the best classroom at DBS!

Cleaning up the forest

Teamwork!

Removing a huge stump!

Our hammocks look so great!

Working together and building with nature's tools while their teacher is hanging up hammocks!

They are so brave!

Chillin'

Week of May 3rd

 This week we began our new ELA unit about fairy tales. We focus on the story of Cinderella, taking a closer look at all parts of a story plot. Students travel around the world to hear various versions of Cinderella, identifying similarities and differences among the versions as well as looking at the Big Idea of the fairy tale. Over the next few weeks, students will identify each story's exposition, rising action, climax/turning point, falling actions, and resolution. Be sure to ask your child about the stories they have heard. So far we have read The Little Glass Slipper (France), The Eqyptian Cinderella (Rhodepis), and Yeh-Shen (China). 

This week we also continued to focus on SBAC prep. Students are becoming more familiar with answering questions on the computer-based program and how to work through multiple choice problems to pick the best answer. We have used the "RELAX" method as one of our test-taking strategies. 

Feel free to review these strategies with your kiddo when you have a free moment. I do not want any student stressing over the SBAC testing. Naturally, there will be some test-taking anxiety. However, the more our students feel prepared and ready for these tests, the less anxious they will be. Please reassure them these assessments are only going to ask them about things they have already learned in K-3rd grade. All we want them to do is their very best. This is what is most important. 

Pictures from the week:

The Book Fair was a huge hit!

Warmer weather, cloudy or not, means more time near the brook

Some choose to go deeper than others

...very deep 😀

Lunch by the brook

Heading home after another wonderful day together

Making new tools to play with