¡Feliz Verano!

Dear AFS Families,

I wanted to close the end of the year with a video that shows some of the activities we did during Spanish class. Have a great summer!

Abrazos.

¡El Mundial!

The Soccer World Cup went from South Africa to five-time champion Brazil. The opening ceremony is this coming Thursday, June 12th, and the first match is Brazil against Croatia. If you are a soccer fan like me, you are probably as excited as I am!

What does this has to do with Spanish?

Fútbol (soccer) is very popular in Spain and Latin America. If you and your children can easily contract la fiebre del fútbol (soccer fever), I would like to encourage you to watch the matches in Spanish. Depending on your channel lineup, you will find a few networks always showing World Cup soccer games in Spanish.

Some of the are: Univisión, Telemundo, ESPN Deportes, and Fox Latino.

P.S: El Mundial short in Spanish for "The World Cup."

The Mexican Hat Dance

After Music class, First Graders couldn't wait until Spanish! They had just learned the Mexican Hat Dance, and they had to find out if their Spanish Teacher also knew about it. I certainly knew the song, but I had no idea how to dance it.

This is one of those situations in which the teacher becomes the student. Two First Graders did a demonstration of the Mexican Hat Dance to show me the steps based on Jarabe Tapatío, a traditional Mexican music genre. 

We also took the opportunity to review some of the vocabulary learned during the fall about Mariposas Monarcas and México. 

¡Gracias Aedín!

Click here to watch a video of students demonstrating how to dance Jarabe Tapatío.

Science/Music Connections

Last week in science, Aedin came to work with the students to explore the concept of pitch.  The students tried "matching pitch", first by tapping on different size nails.  The students matched those sounds with the notes on a xylophone.  Next, they filled beakers with water to different levels.  They were amazed that they could create different notes by changing the water level just a bit!  They were even able to tap out simple songs on their beakers!  Thanks to Aedin for helping to create such a terrific science/music experience!

Lower School Arts Day Is This Friday!

THE RHYTHM WITHIN

An AFS Early Childhood and Lower School Spring Arts Day

~ Friday, June 6, 2014 ~

12:15 p.m.

Muller Auditorium ~ Doors Open

12:30 p.m.

Spring Program Begins
Abington Friends School Muller Auditorium

1:30 p.m.

Lower School Arts Gallery Walk

2:15 p.m.

Home and School Cupcake Celebration

~ Spring Program Concert Attire ~
All lower school students should dress in black shirts and long, black pants.  Students are welcome to bring their concert attire clothing to school on Thursday, June 6, 2013.  All students will be given the opportunity to change at school on Friday morning prior to the performance. 

Please note that many students will be involved in movement performance on stage and should wear pants and comfortable shoes (no heels, sandals or flip flops please).  Please make sure that students have on dark socks as we occasionally do movement performances without shoes.

We look forward to celebrating our accomplishments with you on Friday, June 6th in the 

AFS Muller Auditorium beginning at 12:30 p.m.  The auditorium doors will open at 12:15 p.m. 

Please allow additional time for parking.

NO EXTENDED DAY ON FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 2014

Extended Day will not be providing care on Friday, June 6, 2014.

Please make note of this for planning purposes. 

Join us for the Nature Playdate on May 17th!

Sound!

The 1st grade students have been exploring sound.  How does sound travel?  Does it travel through things?  Those were the questions we asked in our last lesson.  We discovered that sound can travel through wood, metal and string!  Students also tested various items around the room like the tables, chairs and windows. The students are now experts in using tuning forks to learn about sound.  Aedin also gave us some instruments to try that enhanced our learning!

Arbor Day

  Arbor Day is a wonderful AFS tradition. 

Here is just a short video of the procession today.

Mornings in First Grade

One of the goals for first graders is to become more independent.  As the year progresses they are taking on more responsibility.  Their growth is especially evident with our morning routine. 

By now all the students are experienced with every day tasks like putting away their belongings and greeting the teachers & friends.  As they arrive, students check to see what the morning work is and readily join in.  

We start the day with a variety of activities, generally connected to math on Mondays & Fridays  and reading & writing on Tuesdays & Thursdays.  (Wednesdays are less structured as we head to Meeting for Worship by 8:20.)

Here’s a peek into a first grade morning. 

We offered a variety of activities & games that use skills we want to practice.  Students also are exercising social skills as they work cooperatively. 

One group plays word bingo with Susan.

Another group plays Vowel Bingo with Caroline.

Others practice grammar skills with the Silly Sentences game.

definitely some silly sentences here!

Another small group uses the letter connecting cubes to spell out words and phrases.

Students help each other sort and find the letters they need.

Oliver was quite proud of his work.

 

Sometimes students use the time to catch up on unfinished work.

With 4 teachers available, mornings are also an opportunity for individual attention.

Ensemble 7/4 Concert

This news comes in a little late but it seems worth trying. An group called Ensemble 7/4 will debut in Philadelphia with a medley of traditional music from the Americas: tango, bossa nova, chachachá, among others. For more information click here.

Seed Starting for the Garden

1st grade students love gardening!  Today's planting project was also a science experiment.  Will seeds germination faster in peat pellets or in regular soil?  Students planted vegetable seeds both ways, and next week we'll take a look at which seeds have started to germinate.  Most students felt that the peat pellets might grow better, since "the seed has everything it needs in one small package".  Hopefully we'll be planting our germinated plants in the garden in the next few weeks.

Pocoyó and Music

Queridos padres,

Since the beginning of 2014, Second Graders have been occasionally watching a cartoon called Pocoyó (the Spanish version). I have also been watching some of the episodes over the weekends. The show is great and wanted to recommend it to families.

Pocoyó involves a lot of body movement, music, colors and little dialogue. The dialogue targets specific language. There is only a narrator that provides context to the stories, which would be for more advance language learners like in Middle School.

However, Second Graders have been able to pick up key words when directed during class. It would be great idea to continue watching the show at home. They may resist a bit a the beginning under the excuse that they do not understand (they did the first time we watched it in class). But the show is too much fun to resist! They will certainly not understand the entire story, only a few words. But as they grow, it will become easier to understand whole sentences and learn new words. In the future, this will help them with speaking skills and phonetics.

You can watch the show on Univision. The channel number depends on your channel lineup and provider, but it is normally shown on Saturday mornings. You can also find some of the episodes on YouTube.

I also wanted to pass along information about an interactive concert tailored for children. The Chamber Orchestra from ArCoNet will be performing next week in Philadelphia. The title of concert is "Dances From Around the World", which will include music from Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

Animal Research- The Animals Featured in Fairy Tales

What do the bear, wolf and pig have in common? They are three of the animals that are frequently featured in fairy tales.  The first graders are reading various versions of Goldilocks and The Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. It is exciting to note the commonalities and differences in the various versions of the fairy tales.

As the first graders have now read and become experts in the various versions ofGoldilocks and The Three Bears, they have embarked on researching the grizzly bear.  We are reading from books, using internet research sites such as National Geographic and PebbleGo and learning how to read articles and highlight important information.  After reading, watching videos of the animal and engaging in discussion, the students choose the facts to write that they find compelling.
Enjoy this link of a grizzly bear mother teaching her cubs how to fish.
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/bear_grizzly_teachingcubs

Garden Cleanup!

Yesterday 1st and 4th grades spent some time cleaning up the courtyard garden and the Science Room garden.  They moved rocks, dug up weeds, trimmed bushes and raked leaves.  They worked so hard to make the gardens ready for planting very soon.  1st grade will be doing some seed germination in science to get ready for planting outdoors in May.  Here are a few photos of the fun!