TAS Blog: ‘1/2’ Category

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the 1/2 and 3/4 class go to Tellus Museum

Posted March 12th, 2010 by Stacia Farabee
Categories: 1/2, 3/4 | No Comments »

News from the 1/2

Posted March 12th, 2010 by Stacia Farabee
Categories: 1/2 | No Comments »
Dear parents,
The 1 / 2 class has had an exciting and busy year in 2009/10. We try to offer children opportunities to learn and grow in all areas of development: cognitive, physical, social/emotional and artistic/aesthetic. We offer opportunities to extend and practice these skills and abilities every day.
In a typical day we will have at least one literacy and one math mini lesson every day. Then children are presented the opportunity to actively use those skills. In literacy we cover decoding skills and word attack skills (i.e. beginning sounds, vowel sounds, word families, contractions), punctuation, capitalization, comprehension skills and writing skills. In math  we cover number concepts, combining and separating sets, place value, enumeration, mental math, units of measurement (time length, etc.) set theory, skip counting, graphing and chart reading.
This week Tim, Mia’s dad, came to help us dissect a fetal pig. It was very exciting and we made lots of comparisons to our bodies while we found and touched all the internal organs. This has sparked real interest and enthusiasm for learning more about the human body so we are capitalizing on this while they are interested.
We also have been very excited about studying Native American costumes for our paper dolls. We have many resources to research this then construct authentic clothing and accessories.
We had an experience rich with learning at Tellus Science Museum on Wednesday. The children really enjoyed the opportunity to dig for fossils and pan for gems. We also learned about constellations and atoms at the planetarium.
Next week Edmund’s dad will come play guitar for us on Tuesday. Joy will be out of town the last two weeks of March but Jami, our Oglethorpe intern, will be with Suzanne many days and Alison and Matt will be pitching in, too. Suzanne has a very exciting literacy event planned for that time which you will hear more about next week.
Pray for or meditate on warm, dry, weather because we have about had it with cold, rainy, no outside play days!
Please be sure to check your child’s planner daily. We do not only send important messages home, the children write about their days. It might make for great dinner conversation!
Joy and Suzanne

Weekly newsletter from 1/2 class

Posted March 9th, 2010 by Stacia Farabee
Categories: 1/2 | No Comments »
Dear Parents,

Another week has flown by! We have been very busy learning and enjoying each other.
Please take some time to visit our room to see the Matisse drawings the children have done. They are gorgeous! Every single day our kids impress us with their talent and ability to transfer knowledge. You can check them out on the bulletin board in our classroom. We were pleased that the artwork made an impression and not just the Oglethorpe cafeteria!
The History Museum was wonderful. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. The children got to see many authentic tools and weapons. They also got to touch different game equipment and fur. The discussion about the many purposes these things had was meaningful and rich. They were so impressed with the Muskogee legend The Great Ball Game that we ordered a class copy. You may want to check it out from your local library to read together.
On Wednesday Jami Vance, our intern, was here all day. We really lucked out getting her. She worked with many children one-on-one learning math and literacy. Her warm demeanor and competence has allowed us to lower the teacher/student ratio and be able to spend more time on individual instruction. She has agreed to substitute in the future after she fulfills her required master’s hours for Oglethorpe!
The trip to Spivey Hall was fantastic. The musician was unbelievably talented and introduced the children to many different instruments. Almost every child in our class had a chance to perform on stage! Please check your email for a photo Joy sent from her phone.
We have decided to cancel the trip to Fernbank Museum on March 31. Instead, we are going to go to Little Shop of Stories in Decatur. They are going to give us a tour of the shop and explain how the various genres of books are arranged. After that they will be doing a read aloud. If you have already paid for the Fernbank trip, we will apply your $7.00 to these new ones. We have also added another trip for that week to The Wren’s Nest. More information about that trip will follow as we get closer to the date. Suzanne is looking for parent volunteers to drive and chaperone for both trips. A special thanks to Chad, Sabrina’s dad, and Ted, Alek’s dad, for agreeing to accompany us to Sensations. Also, if you are able to volunteer in the classroom during the weeks of March 22-26 and March 29-April 2, Suzanne would really appreciate it. Please let her know your availability as soon as possible.
March dates to look forward to:
March 10 – TELLUS Museum – $8March 24 – Sensations – $10March  30 – The Wren’s Nest – $6March 31 – Little Shop of Stories – $10 (This will include a book for each child!)
Have a terrific weekend. Warmly, Suzanne and Joy

Science in the 1/2 Class

Posted March 9th, 2010 by Stacia Farabee
Categories: 1/2 | No Comments »

Check out the 1/2 class dissecting a pig today!

School Closing

Posted March 2nd, 2010 by Corrie
Categories: 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8/9, Events and Announcements, K/1, PreK | No Comments »

The Atlanta School will close at 5pm today.  We want to make sure that all of our families and faculty members make it home safely.  Stay warm everybody!!

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