Joyful Learning

This is a time of year when the hustle and bustle of the holiday season can make it hard to maintain a focus on teaching and learning. At Dryden, however, it makes me feel so joyful to see so much learning taking place!

In fourth and fifth grade, I got to sit in on some fascinating reading lessons and discussions for science. One group was reading and discussing whether microbes were a "friend" or "foe". Another group was reading and learning about carnivorous plants.

In art, our students were treated to choosing stations to use media of their choice.

School Resource Officer, Rick Veenstra, visited the third grade classes, and talked to them about Bully Prevention.

In gym class, students eagerly took on the Healthy Heart Challenge. Mr. Gries created an obstacle course that follows the course of blood through the heart, so that children can learn how the heart works.

Our multi-age classes have been learning about Chinese culture. As part of of this experience, they tasted a variety of Chinese foods and wrote creative, mysterious fortunes on slips of paper for fortune cookies. They are researching the Great Wall of China, learning about their history, people, animals and much more!

One of our fourth grade classes spearheaded a winter coat drive throughout the school. Students' posters and morning announcements inspired many to donate to those in need.

The Dryden PTA coordinated a memorable Winter Wonderland for our students! Older students were paired up with younger students to work on crafts, play games and learn some dances. It's always so heartwarming to see our older students be such positive leaders and role models!

The fourth grade musical was a highlight of the week. The students sang, danced and played instruments to a variety of seasonal songs. My favorite was "Celebrate with Joy!" The chorus was "Celebrate what you celebrate with joy!" What a powerful, positive message of inclusion and acceptance for all of our students, families and staff!

We are heading into a two-week winter break. May this be a time of joyful celebration for you and your families. On behalf of Dryden Elementary School, we wish you a happy and healthy 2015!

It's a WONDER-ful Life!

As we take in the joy and wonder of the holiday season, I imagine how our children would benefit from a never-ending "season" of wonder. Wondering leads to meaningful exploration and questioning. Learning to ask meaningful questions is at least as important as finding the answers. The pursuit of finding the answers to one's questions often leads to deep, rich learning, and of course, more questions.

As we incorporate more opportunities for Personalized Learning, we are cultivating a culture of wonder for our students at Dryden. Some ways you may see this happening include students recording their thoughts in a Wonder Journal or posting and sharing them on a Wonder Wall. The Wonderopolis website (watch this video) is a great forum for children to explore and share their wonders.

Learning how to ask good questions requires instruction, practice and feedback. In order to ask good questions, we make students aware of the need to first have some understanding of the topic, perhaps even do a little "presearch". It is difficult to ask meaningful questions when we know nothing about the topic.

Children learn to ask questions of different "sizes". A "small" question focuses on factual information, a "medium" question may be more analytical in nature, and a "big" question will be more open-ended and focus on creative thinking and evaluating. Often, we have to ask and seek answers to many small questions in order to address a big question.

The following question stems are great ways to start "big" questions:

Might...?

Should…?
Would…?
Could…?

We can help our children strengthen their questioning skills by openly sharing our own questions and wonders and by encouraging them to share their own. By tapping into children's curiosities, we find their deepest sense of motivation to learn, think creatively and take on challenges. It truly is a WONDER-ful life!

Feasting on Books and Doughnuts, and Feeling Thankful...

Brrr! With colder temperatures and spending more time inside, it's a great time to snuggle up and "devour" a good book!

To encourage more non-fiction reading, the LMC dubbed this month Non-Fiction November and held a friendly competition among the grades to see which grade could read the most non-fiction books. 

Reading content-rich non-fiction is a great way for children to learn about the world around them and expand their academic vocabulary (words that appear in different areas such as science, social studies and history).

Talking with your children about what they are reading is a great way to help strengthen their comprehension and vocabulary. Encourage discussions that require your child to state an opinion and support it with evidence from the text. For example, you can talk about why you thought Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk was a good guy or a bad guy by giving examples from the text. It's also very enriching to talk about the similarities and differences of information found in two different sources on the same topic. For example, if you are reading about different environmentally-friendly sources of energy (e.g. wind and solar) you can talk about the pro's and con's of each source and debate which is best. 

Following are other ways to support your children in reading:

• Encourage and model reading for pleasure, insight and information.
• Engage your child in reading functional text, like directions for games or product assembly, recipes or maps.
• Provide exposure to a variety of books so that your child can develop skillfulness in choosing classic literature and books from different genres that he or she wants to read.
• When your child is reading non-fiction, point out and ask questions about the different ways non-fiction text is organized and the different features that help readers (subheadings, bold print, captions, maps, charts, tables, graphs, etc.)
• Introduce books that your child might not select on their own. 

At Dryden, feasting doesn't just happen on Thanksgiving! The PTA hosted Dads and Doughnuts so that dads, uncles, grandfathers and other male caregivers could bring their children to school and start off their day with breakfast together. What a fun morning for our students! Thank you, PTA!

 

 

November is also the time when we focus on gratitude and Thanksgiving. I am so thankful to be part of such a wonderful school community where children's positive growth and learning are always the priority. The first grade musical was a shining example! Teachers and parents worked closely together under the direction of music teacher Mr. Deptula. It was so heartwarming to see the children proudly showcasing their artwork, singing, dancing and playing the xylophones. Happy Thanksgiving!

Learning from Others

An influential mentor in my life taught me that it is better to be the "guide on the side" than the "sage on the stage".  In order to develop lifelong learners, teachers recognize that one of the most important things we teach the children is how we can learn from everyone around us.

This past Tuesday, on Veterans Day, we honored our crossing guard, Mr. Poteracki. Children gave him cards, and shared words of appreciation as they walked to school. 

Mr. Poteracki brought photographs of when he served in the Army, during the Vietnam War. He also brought in pictures of his father, who served during World War II. 

This was a great opportunity for our students to learn about the service of veterans and say "thank you". 

The ideas for honoring Mr. Poteracki originated from our Student Council, who declared it Mr. Poteracki Day at Dryden!

Scientists from High Touch High Tech visited the first grade classes and introduced them to many exciting science concepts. 

Electricity

Changing states of matter

One of our fourth grade classes has developed a partnership with a fourth grade class from Futabakai Japanese School. The children from Futabakai visted Dryden for the first time this week. Our students were eager to make new friends and make our guests feel welcome. We were all so touched by the respectful, good manners of our new friends. Communicating, sharing, playing, eating and working together helped everyone learn about similarities and differences in cultures, while forming new and positive relationships. 

As students utilize technology more frequently to research, document learning and give constructive feedback to one another, it's imperative that we instill a deep understanding of safe and ethical use of technology. Mrs. Breaux, our amazingly talented technology facilitator, is often working behind the scenes to make sure all of our devices are working properly. We are grateful that she has also been able to spend time with students in the classroom to make sure they "THINK" before they share their thoughts electronically. 

Creative Costumes!

October 31 was a very fun day for the students to dress up in creative costumes and enjoy the fall festivities. We thank many parent volunteers for planning many enriching games, crafts and activities!

We had fun working and playing together!

 

We always make time to read a good book!

Problem-solving, creativity, collaboration and a sense of humor are needed for both work and play!

Brrr! The cold, windy weather did not deter us from our costume parade! It was great to see our friends in the neighborhood bear the cold with us and cheer us on as we walked through crunchy fall leaves. 

The Dryden staff showed their team spirit by dressing up as dominoes. We are so fortunate to be able to "lean" on each other for support!