Greetings Spanish Lime Families,
Happy holidays and happy new year! December was filled with community gatherings on the conch train, class field trips and our first annual student lead conference. Thank you to those families that constantly donate, volunteer and support our classroom. Without your generosity and time our events, field trips and classroom would not run as smoothly!
The student lead conferences appeared to be a hit with the children, they gave positive feedback on how they felt the conferences went with their parents. Many students responded that they enjoyed showing their parents what they do on daily basis and few other students wished it could have been longer so they could present more lessons! For those parents that could not make it the student lead conference process first began by having individual conferences with me about their work. We went through their work folders, composition books and writing books to analyze their work ethic and identify and strengths or hardships they may be having. Next each child was interviewed by me, they expressed what they enjoyed working with in each area and we set goals for the remainder of the year. The students were given a script of their interview that they read out loud to their parents and included pictures to help visualize what they have been working on. Students then went through work in their composition books and showed parents presentations and lessons they are proud of. Towards the end parents were able to act as the student and observe their child giving lessons. They children were very honest and gave their best efforts in preparing their scripts and goals for the rest of the year. I was very proud of each student for taking this seriously and being thoughtful with their goals and what steps they can take to achieve them!
As the students come back from the break and settle into their routines it is crucial we review our daily grace and courtesy lessons; interrupting someone politely, care of the materials and environment, respecting fellow classmates concentration and keeping conversations in the classroom a place of business are just a few to name. Practicing our daily courtesy lessons sets the class up for knowing how we respect ourselves, others and the environment for the remainder of the year. Keep an eye out for an email describing a few changes with our work cycle expectations and grace and courtesy reminders chart that will be implemented the first week back from break.
For the next few months we will be getting into the third great lesson, The Coming of Humans. At last our earth was ready for human life! In October the students were shown the impressionist black felt the represents the amount of time it took earth to prepare itself for life! After the black felt has been unrolled (33meters long) at the end is a little red strip (represents life). The red part reminds us that human beings have been on the earth for only a very short time of the earths history. This great lesson discusses how when the human being came onto the earth, they were very different from all the other animals that had come before; analyzing what makes humans so different and special. Topics that stem off this lesson are:
*Ice age
*Plate tectonics
*Africa – where civilization was first discovered
*Vegetation
*Mammals
*Human body
*Fundamental needs of a human
*History – early humans, ancient civilization
Our History on earth is very short. 200,000 years is a blink of an eye in the history of all life on earth. Earth began its journey over 3 billion years ago with small microorganism so small to detect. They have led us to our present diversity. All life is interconnected with each other and with the earth itself. It is up to each one of us to protect the Earth and the species that have evolved over so many millions of billions of years ago!
I hope you all enjoy the rest of your break and I look forward to catching up in the new year!
Sincerely,
Ms. Sally
