Fairfax Monthly Updates - December 2017
Kindergarten
The kindergarten classes have finished our inquiry unit on weather and day and night. The children track the weather on the smartboard and are able to identify events of each season. We are going to moving into our inquiry unit of family traditions but will continue observing and learning about the seasons all year long. Students in kindergarten are beginning to read words using the letters and sounds that have been introduced. C O G A S L I Example; g/a/s/ gas, d/o/g/ dog, s/l/i/d slid. In math we have learned to write numbers to 10 and are beginning to add numbers plus 1. We also working on counting to 100.
First Grade
First graders are learning how we all are sharing the planet. In the first grade classrooms the students are examining how living things interact with their physical environments to meet their needs. The classrooms are building terrariums for pill bugs to observe. Fifth graders will be visiting the first graders to help them learn and explore food chains in different environments.
Second Grade
The second grade students have become quite fluent in their ability to complete 50 addition math facts through 20 in 5 minutes. Just come look at the wall outside the second grade classrooms and you will see the results of their success. Each classroom is working towards earning an ice-cream party at the completion of their class all becoming fluent with their math facts. Each student earns a scoop of ice-cream once they have reached their goal of fluency. The focus for the students now is to become just as fluent with their subtraction facts as well.
Fourth Grade
This month, the fourth grade team is going to begin our third IB unit of Inquiry, “Sharing the Planet.” Our central idea for this unit of study is, “conflicts create actions and reactions over time.” Students will explore the following key concepts as they learn more about conflict and compromise: perspective, causation, and responsibility. The following lines of Inquiry will also guide our inquiry-based discussions in the classroom: How interactions can result in either conflict or cooperation (causation); historical perspectives (perspective); establishing processes (responsibility); and uniting for a common cause (perspective.) Then, students will complete a long-term cross-curricular project in social studies in which they will explore these themes in more detail. Students will have an opportunity to present their exhibits or performances at the Ohio History Day celebration.
Intervention Specialists
We finished out November by hosting a huge “Friendsgiving” Celebration at Fairfax. We invited our friends from other buildings to help us celebrate, including classes from Gearity (Mrs. Buckley, Ms. Blazetic), Canterbury (Mrs. Meese) and Boulevard (Mrs. Peterson, Mr. Russell). Students participated in activities such as making crafts, playing glow stick pumpkin toss, making edible acorns and more! We finished by all sitting down together for a meal (all 100 of us!). We had some special visitors including our favorite bus drivers, along with Ms. James and Mrs. Gould.
Posted: Tuesday, December 12, 2017