Announcements
Last Call:Overnight Voyage Chaperones Needed : We need more male chaperone volunteers. Last call to put in your name for chaperoning on voyage will be Wednesday March 6th. This is the time of year when Ms. Bethany and I look ahead to our Voyage (overnight experience) at Camp Elim in Woodland Park on Wednesday, May 15th to Thursday, May 16th. This is a wonderful and culminating Crew Experience for our crew! Please note that our Day of Rest will be Friday, May 17th (which means no school for kindergarten on this day). We need parent chaperones for this Voyage. If you would like to be a chaperone please email me and I will put your name on a Potential Chaperone List. If we have more chaperones than we need, we put names in a hat and draw out names. Update: We will confirm chaperones after Spring Break.
Repeated for Reference
REMS Auction, Save the Date!
When - Saturday, March 30th
Theme - Red, White, and READ
Where - the Philip and Jerry Library (in Castle Rock)
Time 6 - 10:30 pm
We'll have food and drinks to enjoy while you bid on awesome items and experiences in the Silent & Live Auctions including Teacher Time, Crew Art, theme baskets & more!
Enjoy this adults-only event to visit with other Renaissance parents and our teachers and staff.
Early bird prices area available now! Buy your tickets today!
Lost & Found: Our Lost & Found is overflowing, so now is a great time to collect any misplaced items. The Lost & Found gets donated during Spring Break- so be sure to check soon! Check your snowgear bag when it comes home this weekend to make sure there are not missing items.
Calendar
Mar 11-22: Spring Break
Mar 25: Crew Picture
Crew Highlights:
In phonics, we were working on the letter D. It was a review week for sight words. Students are doing a fantastic job with learning word families -an and -at, and can easily sort words on their whiteboards. We did a phonics assessment this week. Please take a look at it. There are some tricky sight words that need extra practicing at home. For reference, here is a list of what students should have mastered, as well as a look at what is coming up next. Also, phonics booklets went home today. Hold on to these for the fun games to play over Spring Break and reinforce phonics learning at home.
Writing this week was focusing on preparation for our hike. Students wrote a daypack list, a hike agreement to focus on, and a goal in their growth zones. After the hike, they wrote a reflection about how they were feeling and why. These went home in Take Home folders. Be sure to check them out!
In reading, we used the mentor text "Ly's Goldfish" to discuss how understanding the feelings of the character helps us understand the story. Students identified how Ly felt excited when she got her goldfish, then she felt sad when she forgot to feed it, and then she felt determined be more responsible in taking care of her pet. We used text and picture clues deepen comprehension. This is a great talking point for when you read with your child in the evenings.
This unit in math was about making number partners for 10. We used red & yellow counters to play "counters in a cup," where students would shake and spill out all the 10 double sided counters. They would count the yellow and red sides to find a number pair to 10. (This can be replicated at home with pennies and counting heads/tails). However, the favorite activity this week was using beads to make ten. With one number pair, they put their beads on a pipe cleaner to take home as a bracelet. Be sure to have them tell you their number pair (ex. 5 yellow and 5 red make 10).
In expedition, we have been learning about the wheel & axle. We learned through books and exploratory learning that it is easier to push or pull a load that is on wheels. We also used this opportunity to learn more about gravity and friction. Our Lego Challenge of the week was making race cars!
Students are continuing to expand their creativity in building inclined planes.
On Thursday, we went to the skatepark for students to test items from home. Students brought one item that they were sure would roll and one item to test out. Our Crew worked like scientists to make predictions, ask questions, and experiment with their items on multiple slopes. At the end, we debriefed and shared observations. Some examples of student learning included:
-items can slide down even it if doesn't roll
-gravity pulls things down from a high place to a low place
-items travel at different speeds depending on the slope
-some heavier items rolled faster than light ones and some lighter items rolled faster than heavier
-some predictions were correct and some were false
-sometimes the smooth items rolled better because of less friction
-the items that had wheels were not always faster
This led to more questions and thinking. Bravo Crew! What a great learning experience!
On the way to the skatepark, students were noticing the inclined planes of the curbs, roofs, sloping hillsides, windshields of cars, and even mountains. Then... they saw the inclined planes of the skatepark!
Students made predictions about their items, and we set expectations for our fun learning time.
And... they were off!
Here is a quick timelapse to show our fast-rolling learning in action!
At one point, they all dropped their "test" items at the same time.
Students did a fantastic job drawing, writing, and sharing their observations.
Climbing week!
A huge shoutout to our volunteer belayers!
Hearing the pride, joy, and excitement of overcoming fears and reaching goals in climbing is simply the best! I'm so proud of our climbers!
Check Seesaw for individual pictures.
Winter hike day!
Well, with 60 degrees and full sun, it felt like spring!
Checking out our hiking route along Plum Creek Trail.
Our first wildlife sighting... a caterpillar!
And we're off!
It was such a lovely day to be outside!
One of the wildlife highlights was spotting a woodpecker. Then as we were watching, we noticed that there was another bird in the hole. Kids predicted that one woodpecker was giving food to the other or the babies inside. Then at the end, the second woodpecker emerged, and they both flew off. It was quite a show!
Checking out Plum Creek.
Lots of evidence of beavers!
Snack time.
Our hikers did amazing!
We are CREW!
And we are silly! :D
I spy... a herd of deer.
Several on the left and one on the right.
Almost there!
Big high fives as they came to Festival Park!
Woohoo! They did it!
3 miles in about 2 hours!
Lunch- YUM!
And still plenty of energy to run and play. HAHA!
Back to school for an afternoon that included writing reflections, leap day activities with buddies, and climbing. What a great day!
"I feel ______ because __________."
"I feel proud that I persevered."
"I feel happy because I walked a long ways!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"I feel happy because I hiked a long way even when my feet were hurting."
"I feel proud because that we saw so much wildlife."
"I feel proud because our crew did it! Yay!"
My favorite part of the day was hearing the highlights of the hike from students and chaperones. Students were beaming with pride that they "did it!" They shared about feeling proud of carrying their own backpack, persevering when it was hard, and hiking for 3 miles. They were excited to see all the wildlife, which included deer, woodpeckers, sparrows, crows, a grasshopper, and a caterpillar. We saw evidence of beavers and mystery tracks of either dogs or coyotes.
Chaperones shared that their highlight was seeing the Crew so motivated to pick up trash along the way and leave the trail better than we found it. They were proud of our crew for hiking and staying positive. It was a beautiful day to be outside together and spend time with our Crew.
Personally, I AM SO PROUD of our CREW! It was inspiring the feel the excitement and buzz of positivity from the moment we started all the way to our finish line. We rotated groups taking turns walking in front, so I enjoyed hearing the conversations and checking in with everyone as we went. Our Crew did an excellent job being nature detectives and staying positive when they began to get tired. It feels good to accomplish something challenging together, and today we really got to experience that wonderful feeling that... WE ARE CREW!
A HUGE shoutout to our chaperones today!
Thank you for being upbeat, flexible, and supportive!
I hope everyone has a restful weekend.
My heart is full. I am SO PROUD.
Bravo to all!
~Ms. Lauren
