Practical Life in action

At the end of next week, Sweet Briar Creek (2/3) and Temescal Creek (2/3) classrooms will hold their annual Family Tea events. A huge amount of effort and preparation goes into putting on these lovely celebrations of family and community, one small strand of which is simply preparing the invitations to family members. This is a great opportunity to learn about -- and put into action in a project of relevancy to students' real life -- the different parts of letter writing, and there is so much to learn:  the location of the date, drafting and finalizing text, creating the salutation and closing, preparing the visual presentation, figuring out how to folder the paper to get it into the envelope and how to arrange the letter, RSVP card, and any other elements in the envelope, and getting the address accurate and using proper postage.

A template for the letter provided by teachers

A pair of draft letters

An ornately decorated final copy of a letter

Folding a letter to fit in an envelope take practice

Finished letters await their stamps

Making Learing Visible

We had three great presentations of student learning in the last 12 hours at TBS!

Last night the students in Strawberry Creek (4/5) shared their Famous American research projects with the community. Each student stood by his/her display and essay, and answered questions from parents and visitors. The room was alive with a joyful buzz. As a parent, I was thrilled to watch my child speak confidently to other adults about what she had learned, and the choices she made creating her project.

At the same time, the students and families in Wildcat Creek (6th grade) gathered for a class feast in the depot, where a student band performed.

Finally, this morning the students in Blackberry Creek held a publishing party. The event began with a class performance of "Octopus' Garden"; children and families then split up into groups, and each child presented and read from his/her "All About" book on a marine mammal. The event finished with a gallery walk of the great animal models that were hanging around the room.