100 Days Smarter and So Much More!!

 
Week of February 10th:

This blog is two weeks in one.  I was unable to post for the week of February 10th, so now you get double the blog.

On the 11th we celebrated the 100th day of school.  It was such a fun day, with many activities that revolved around 100.  The children built towers, wrote about their first 100 days and created an image by using the number 100.  Stations were set up all around the room for the children to participate in.

  

The children seemed so excited as they went from station to station.  There was a lot of cooperation, especially when it came to build a tower with 100 small cups.

 

 
We are also working on R.A.C.E. strategy for answering questions.  They have been working in groups and partners to help each other out and giving suggestions on what to add.

 
Our fifth graders presented their speeches to their classmates.  They sat with small groups and gave their speeches as the audience listened to their claims and reasons why they felt strongly about their topic. 

Week of February 17:
I am sure the 2 days off were a nice break.  Once we returned it was back to writing, reading, and learning.  ON Wednesday the fourth graders had a guest reader, Courtney Carter, from Channel 12 News.  She came in to speak to the students, read to them and even had a few of them practice what it is like to report the news.  The children were excited to see a celebrity in our midst. 

 

We continued working on our Night of the Nations projects.  They are creating Italian landmarks in Art.  Along with that they are writing informational pieces about the landmarks.  There is also work on creating a slide show for that night.  It has been a busy 3 days. 

Our fifth graders were also catching up on their work.  They are also using R.A.C.E. to construct written responses.  This strategy is helpful not only for RICAS but in their everyday reading and writing.  It can even be applied to Summit.

Our school is beginning to create SMART goals.  Each week we will come up with a goal and work towards attaining it by the end of the week.  Ms. O'Neill did a great job explaining it to the class on Friday.  We are ready to go on Monday!!

 

This month many of the students have been using empathy toward one another.  It is our trait for the month.  We have been reading books about empathy and trying to do our best to walk in another person's shoes.

The next few weeks will be busy ones.  We have Night of the Nations coming up, along with Reading Week.  Our teachers/staff are planning many wonderful things.  It is an exciting time at Stephen Olney. 

Stay tuned for more information to follow...

Our Community is Always Learning!!

This past week we celebrated World Read Aloud Day on Wednesday.  It was a great day filled with reading and fun activities.  The theme for the day was Empathy. 

 
The children listened to wonderful stories that dealt with putting yourself in someone else's shoes.  The discussions that developed were so meaningful.

 

Mrs. Sanchez and our student teachers enjoyed reading to the students.  Everyone was so attentive and focused when listening to the readers. 
The day was filled with lots of great discussions about feeling empathetic toward others. 

Fourth Graders:

 

 
Night of the Nations is a big event at our school so we are in the process of getting ready for that.  We are doing research on Italy, our Art Teacher, Mrs. Tucker, is preparing many fun art projects for the students and in the classrooms you will find the students working on brochures, informational writing and a Prezi will be put together. Collaboration is always happening, great ideas are shared and many hands on activities are filling up our days.

 
 
The students are busy preparing for such a wonderful night.  They are really excited and eager to take part in this great event.  More information will follow as we progress through this night of the nations celebration.

Fifth Graders:
The students are preparing to deliver their speeches on Monday.  They have worked hard on choosing a topic that they feel strongly about.  They have helped each other out by listening to one another's speech and giving suggestions on how to make it better.  I am eager to hear them present and take a stand on their topic.

  

You can see how they interact with one another to help out.  On any given day you will see just how much they take interest in each other in  making sure that they are getting the task completed. 

It is great to walk around the room and hear the conversations that are taking place, as well as, how they get along with one another. 

 

 
The students even enjoyed the reading of Hey, Little Ant, by Mrs. Sanchez.  They were so attentive and willing to take part in the discussion after the book was read. 

Lastly, on Friday, we were all assembled in the gym to watch the 3rd graders kick off our new trait for the month, Empathy.  They did a fantastic job from showing us all a video, putting on a skit and singing a song to all of us. Bravo third graders!!

 

There is so much going on and we are all so involved in continuing to build community in our school.  It is amazing to see how helpful everyone is, how they get along with classmates and help each other out.  

Stay tuned for more fun and learning...