The Astronauts have been learning about why communities have laws. They have come to the conclusion that laws are made to keep citizens safe, solve problems, meet needs, and promote fairness. At home, the students chose a pre-existing law, thought about why it was created and what would happen if it was not followed in the community. Then, they created a poster promoting the law. At school, the Astronauts presented their projects to their classmates. The students practiced their presentation skills as well as being thoughtful and respectful audience members! During Screen-Free Week, the Astronauts spent the week learning WITHOUT using technology. They spent the week learning through many fun activities. At the start of the week, they read, If you Give a Mouse an iPhone, which the students really enjoyed. After, the Astronauts participated in a fun scavenger hunt around the school. The class was split up into teams and had to go around the school finding different clues. The scavenger hunt ended with the Astronauts having to put together their own puzzle that revealed a special message- "You have earned roof time on Wednesday- Congrats!" Another fun screen free week activity the Astronauts did this week was making FLUBBER! The Astronauts used measuring cups to measure out all the ingredients to make their flubber. They finished screen free week off with a BOOK COOK! First, the class read a book called, I like Myself, and discussed different traits that described each of the Astronauts. Some of the traits the class came up with were; curious, brave, hardworking, creative, loving, and helpful. After reading the book, the Astronauts created their own "personality pizzas" with different ingredients the represented a different trait. The Astronauts each had different pizzas, representing that we are all different! It was a very successful and FUN screen free week! The Astronauts were extremely excited to be able to spend some time with their V.I.Ps in the classroom! All of the Astronauts were able to show off all their Social Studies knowledge through a fun game of Jeopardy. Some of the Jeopardy categories included; National Symbols, Vocabulary, and Rules and Laws. The V.I.Ps even had a chance to participate in the game by helping out with the $500 questions. The V.I.Ps were so impressed with everything the Astronauts knew about the current social studies topic, "My Community and Other Communities Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities." We had a great V.I.P Day in the Astronaut classroom! During the winter season, GBS students participate in Martial Arts at Asphalt Green. This is a favorite for the Astronauts because they get to show off their patience and hard work to the coaches and teachers. Once a week, the students work with Coach Casey and Coach Nick to learn a variety of different Martial Arts moves. The class always begins with a warm up that includes running laps, jumping jacks and --sometimes-- some crunches. This is a great way for the students to build up their stamina and strength while having fun at the same time. After the warm up, the students do different drills on the punching bags to practice their kicks and punches. As a reward for their hard work, the coaches will play a few fun games at the end of class. The Astronauts are challenged to be very focused and ready at all times in Martial Arts; every time the coaches ask them to do and activity they must say "Yes Sir!". So far, 2017 has been an exciting year for the Astronauts! To start the year, the Astronauts have added Book Buddies to their weekly schedule. Book Buddies is a time for the Astronauts to pair up with the Apples class and read a special book to them. Both the Astronauts and the Apples had a great first book buddy activity and are so excited to continue this special reading time together! The Astronuats had a fun-filled in-school snow day in honor of the GBS students reaching their reading goal of over 75,000 minutes! The students wore their pajamas to school and enjoyed a fun read aloud on the rug all while drinking hot chocolate and eating some popcorn. They even had a special guest- Emmy's brother Jackson- join them for the festivities! The Astronauts enjoyed reading the book Skippy John Jones Snow What while learning a few new words in Spanish. After reading the book and enjoying the special snack, the Astronauts created their own class snowman. Each student decorated a different part of the snowman and then worked as a class to place the pieces together. The snowman's name is to be determined. This was the best snow day ever! This week the Astronauts had some fun with math! The class has been learning how to use bar models to solve word problems. The Astronauts were able to use the iPads to continue practicing bar models with some fun math apps! Some of the apps included, "Thinking Blocks," "Math for Kids," and "Math Flash Cards." The class was very responsible with the iPads and really enjoyed practicing their math skills in a fun way! The Astronauts are looking forward to using the iPads in math again soon! Chess is new to most of the Astronauts this year and the students are really enjoying it. Chess takes place every Friday so many of the Astronauts look forward to this every week. Sari, the chess teacher, teaches lessons about each of the different pieces, how to strategically play the game, and reenacts some of the most famous chess games from around the world. Chess helps students think about how to plan moves in advance and how to one move can effect the entire game. After lessons, the students are paired up to play a few games. Sari will watch students play and give advice or guidence for a variety of different moves. Chess has become a very popular game for the Astronauts. Students often choose to play chess at choice time and at community games. Students also enjoy teaching their teachers how to play, and enjoy winning against them even more! The Astronauts have been in school for over 50 days and have shown to be ROCKIN READERS! The Gillen Brewer community is currently striving to reach a school-wide reading goal of 75,000 minutes. So far, the Astronauts have contributed to about 5,000 minutes of that total goal. At the library, the Astronauts spend their time reading books with each other, teachers, and of course the library dogs! The students are encouraged to check out books that they will enjoy reading at home and can include in their reading logs. The Astronauts will continue to be ROCKIN READERS in hopes of reaching the Gillen Brewer goal very soon! KEEP READING ASTRONAUTS! |