An integral part of our language curriculum in Lower Elementary is a literacy program called Junior Great Books. This program provides our students many opportunities to interact with thought-provoking stories as they develop their reading, writing, oral communication, and critical thinking skills. Each piece of literature engages the students through multiple sessions in order to teach and reinforce through different methods. The progression of study includes the following activities: Listening to the story being read aloud by one of the guides, then writing initial questions or reflections on a flip chart. Listening to the story a second time, followed by open discussion and a written reflection assignment. Completing activities that help students understand vocabulary or text. Participating in a shared inquiry conversation where students openly discuss their interpretations of the text. Often, there is an art activity which allows the students to translate their refle...

Early Childhood artists studied the work of Piet Mondrian .  They learned that during his time, Mondrian’s friends liked to paint landscapes but he liked to paint lines and shapes using the primary colors.  Early Childhood A artists have had tissue paper collage work on their art shelf. Some of them decided to frame their work. Early Childhood B artists combine gluing within lines and order of colors of the rainbow to wrap up their color wheel art. Lower Elementary artists kicked off the winter with a painting of birch trees.  This project was a review of the 6 elements of design. They used masking tape to "shape" the trees and limbs on white paper. They were careful of how they used the "space" when making their trees and branches.  They painted over the whole paper with cool "colors".  They then removed the tape exposing the white paper and "forming" the trees.  The...

Lower, Middle, and Upper Elementary students had the opportunity to learn about how people celebrate the New Year. Many of the students mentioned that they practice this tradition at home.  Twelve grapes! Here is how we celebrated. We finished our four “More than Warmth” blankets and delivered before winter break .  Lower, Middle, and Upper Elementary students are making their own books. Each book will have an illustration with the description of their drawing.   We will use some of the books that the students are writing in our Spanish library at school. We will donate the other books to the Casa Azafran library.  Lower Elementary Who said. . . ? is a game we play where students recall the story and determine which character made which statements. The students love the challenge of answering questions. We finished with our first novel, Brandon Brown quiere un perro !     Las aventuras de Isabela is the second nov...

Students enjoy a special picnic lunch; the candle represents the sun! An integral and unique part of the Lower Elementary curriculum is the Great Lessons. These exciting lessons are designed to ignite a child's imagination and curiosity about the world around them. There are five Great Lessons that are presented every year so that students are exposed to them more than one time. The Great Lessons are used to paint a broad picture of large concepts. Then, students can be shown how smaller ideas fit into the larger framework. Lower Elementary students were thrilled by the First Great Lesson, the story of the coming of the universe and the beginnings of Earth. The story was told in the loft. As students climbed the ladder to the loft, cosmic music welcomed them to a dark space, representing an empty space before existence. The bursting of a black balloon filled with gold stars and other demonstrations helped tell the story of the coming of the universe. ...