Chances are, if students enjoy the story or activity that is part of the lesson, they will be more inclined to remember.   La Primavera- Spring LE students work with vocabulary like: primavera -spring, flores - flowers, pajaritos - birds, etc. They also work with parts of the plant and what it needs to survive. They learned a poem, made paper flowers, wrote sentences, and performed a play.  ¡ Viva la Primavera!  The play was called  Los 5 Amigos - The 5 Friends .  ME is working on parts of the plant and vocabulary related to things that we see in the springtime. Students are labeling parts of the plant and making sentences related to spring.  ME students worked on a story about traveling in South America in which they used many props to help students follow the story in a visual way. Students learned names of places in  South America in Spanish. Musical Chairs Retell is a great game to get LE, ME, and U

Large motor skills, more commonly referred to as gross motor skills, are the ability to control the large muscles of the body. These are the muscles involved in activities such as running, jumping, lifting, and reaching, as well as in maintaining proper posture and balance. Riding a tricycle is great for the development and exercise of those large muscles, and recently our EC students have been all smiles as they motor their vehicles on the porch. Children on tricycles learn how to pedal and steer at the same time. The dual wheel in the back offers balance as the child learns the rhythm and coordination of feet pushing the pedals while steering the handlebars. This activity enhances bilateral motor coordination and spatial awareness. The need to travel safely, accelerating or decelerating as needed, helps build motor planning ability. In celebration of spring's arrival, we have been taking our large motor skills into the woods of Abintra! Our walks through the w

The Sylvie Stewart Coin Drive has been taking place during the month of April at Abintra. Students are encouraged to bring in loose change to support the Tuition Assistance Fund. Each classroom has a collection jar so students can see the coins collected. This fundraiser was created by former student Will Stewart in memory of his sister, Sylvie, an Early Childhood student who passed away from brain cancer in 2000. The guides have shared the Sylvie Stewart story with each classroom in an age-appropriate way so the children understand what their coins support. Early Childhood students have  received lessons on counting money and have been involved in the process of keeping up with their totals.    We appreciate those of you who have contributed to the coin drive thus far. The drive runs through August 22, so there is still time to participate! 

Early Childhood students have been working together on collaborative pieces.  Music class in Lower Elementary has continued on the path of learning to read music! Note recognition activities, including playing, writing and singing, have taken the music classes to a new level of music theory. Music appreciation lessons of early Irish folk music brought the sights and sounds of important early song, dance and instruments. Lessons and examples of instruments like the bagpipe really had interest high. LE student made rain sticks in art class and we incorporated them into several music activities. Students also had an opportunity to share their inspiration for the decorations. Using an instrument that they made in a creative group setting offered many lessons and lots of fun! Middle Elementary students created these sea and landscape collages inspired by Eric Carle. They used a combination of texture rubbings, stamped pages and watercolor pages cut and arranged to