Look what has hatched in the art room!
Lower elementary art students have been learning about life cycles in their classrooms and this prompted our current art project. Large eggs were created out of paper mache. Students learned an inexpensive and natural way to make paper mache. They may want to create this recipe at home. It is a simple recipe of equal parts of flour and water. I usually start with 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. Mix to get a paste like consistency and add water if too thick and flour if too watery. The students enjoyed mixing the recipe and getting it just right. So fun and so messy! Take a look at the process.
The following week they created either a snake or a caterpillar hatching out of their egg. This has been a great lesson for students to practice patience while working on a 3 dimensional art project that took many weeks. They are excited about completing their final art piece. Be on the look out for these marvelous creatures!
Students have also worked on scenery for their upcoming program about life cycles. Here is a sneak peek of one of their pieces.
“I want to live in a way that lines up with my values."
Volleyball begins right after our winter holiday break for students in the Elementary and Middle School. The classes focus on teamwork and communication in volleyball. Lower El is working hard on basic serves and hits. Upper El is playing without the need of a training ball (they are using one of the 2 pictured below) and middle school is midway through their ISL competitive volleyball season. Go Panthers! Championship game is Thursday, February 11.
Volleyball is a great team sport and makes the kids rely on their fellow team players in a way that other sports don't. It is rarely the case that a player can just hit the ball hard and score a point. In volleyball players must be able to hit the ball with some accuracy or at least be able to bump the ball straight up to set it for the player who can hit it over the net. Communication is essential to success! Sometimes it is challenging enough for youngsters to just get a good hit on the ball. But the other big challenge is to have enough confidence in your teammates that they will assist in the volley in order to get the ball over the net. In the end, whoever wins or loses doesn't matter, because the main lessons are about teamwork and good communication.
Following our unit on volleyball, we will move directly into basketball season. March Madness... here we come!!!
Thanks, Terry
Educating the Whole Child Research confirms that students perform better in school when they are emotionally and physically healthy. They miss fewer classes, are less likely to engage in risky or antisocial behavior, concentrate more and attain higher test scores.
January was a busy month in our Spanish classes, but we also had time to learn about Día de Reyes (Three Kings Day), a Spanish tradition celebrated on January 6 (the 12th day of Christmas) that commemorates the story of the three wise men who traveled from afar bearing gifts for the newborn Jesus. Hispanic children often set out symbolic goodies for the Kings and hay to feed their camels as well as a place to leave their shoes. When morning arrives, children discover that the camels ate the hay, and there are wrapped presents waiting beside their shoes.
Did de Reyes observance comes to a close with another Spanish Christmas tradition: a typical breakfast of Roscón de Reyes, a ring-shaped cake decorated with fruits symbolizing the precious gems that adorned Los Reyes Magos' clothing.
Our kids observed this tradition by sampling the Roscón de Reyes.