Seabury Beacons

Summer Vacation!

2011-06-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

The last week of school was a great one! We had a fabulous Publishers' Picnic on Monday, Field Day on Thursday, and last day of school on Friday. The Jeopardy game was lots of fun (thank you to the brave parents willing to play against the kids!). The kids won the game and received an AMC gift card (thank you to Misty Tinsley for getting them).

I hope you all have a wonderful summer. Remember to read, play math games, and write in a journal this summer!

Week of June 1st

2011-06-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe it is already June with only 7 days left of school. The kids are getting restless, but we are continuing our routines and learning.

Friday, June 3rd is Beach Day. The kids should come dressed in layers with appropriate beach clothes and shoes. Please send an extra set of clothes and shoes with your child just in case they get wet. Subway sandwiches will be provided for the students, so if this meal will be a problem, please send something else with your child. All students will need to bring a water bottle. I have some parents who have volunteered to help with Beach Day, but we could always use more! Let me know if you are available. We will have gathering at 8:30 and will leave about 9 to get down to the beach. We will return before 3.

Please join us on Monday, June 6th for the Publishers' Picnic. The students will have recess from 12-12:30, then we will (hopefully) have a picnic lunch to show off our fabulous writing from the year. Many students would love a "special" lunch on this day. PLEASE let me know if your child will not have anyone here. I will be asking administrators to please come over to eat lunch with students who are without an adult.

June 9th is Field Day. We will be going over to Norpoint Center's new play and spray ground for the afternoon. We will leave campus about 12:00, having lunch there. Please remember to pack a cold lunch for your student, no microwave will be available. Students may wear a bathing suit to go into the water park, but must also bring a towel and extra set of clothes and shoes. We will play and have organized activities for the afternoon and be back by 3. I have 5 parents who have volunteered, but we can always use more. Please let me know if you are also available.

June 10th is the last day of school. We will have Gathering at 9:00 this day. This will be the awards gathering, and as always, parents are invited to attend. At 11:00 we will have our class party. For our party, we will have a game of Kids vs Parents Washington Jeopardy. There will also be an ice cream bar and prizes for the winning team. Please join us for this fun event! The kids are so excited to take on the parents. School dismisses at 12:00 with no After Care on this day.

We have been plugging away with lessons and activities. The kids will be tested on Washington State Geography and multiplication of multi-digit numbers on Thursday of this week. The murals of the biomes for science turned out wonderfully. Below are some pictures, but you will be able to see for yourselves the biomes and our art gallery if you are able to join us on Monday at the Publishers' Picnic.

The Rainforest

The Grasslands

The Ocean

The Desert

The Tundra

I have enjoyed the camaraderie of the students in working on various projects this year. As we are writing the Jeopardy game, the students are giving each other ideas of questions to write in various categories. It is great to see!

As the scool year closes, please spend some time looking for library and classroom books your student has brought home. We would appreciate these being returned in the next week. Thank you for your help with this.

Last, please send a large sturdy bag with your student on Monday. We will be cleaning out all of our materials on Tuesday and Wednesday, so students will need more than a backpack to get everything home.

Wednesday afternoon the kids helped one of the moms cut her hair to donate to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children who have cancer. Thank you to all of the families that donated money. I was especially proud of the children who came with $3, $4, $5 from their allowance willing to give it to the organization. The class raised over $200.

Week of May 25th

2011-05-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

The students all did a great job at the music performance last night. We have very creative students here!

There are a few upcoming events I would like to emphasize.

Grandparents and Special Friends Day is this Thursday from 1:30-3:00. We will have an art show and other activities for the event.

There will be no school on Friday, May 27th and Monday, May 30th. Enjoy the long weekend!

Friday, June 3rd is Beach Day! We will be going to Dash Point State Park all day. Students should be prepared for all kinds of weather. Please make sure they have on sunscreen before coming to school that day. They will be able to wade in the water, so appropriate clothes AND shoes are necessary. Please send your student will an extra set of clothes and shoes, a towel, and a snack. The PBC will be providing a sub sandwich for the students for lunch. Parents are needed for the trip. You can follow the bus or meet us there. Please let me know if you are available to go.

Monday, June 6th is our Publisher's Picnic. The students have worked hard this year in writing, so we are showing it off on this day. Please bring a lunch for you and your student and a blanket to sit on. We will sit outside (hopefully) and allow the students to share all of their hard work with you. Lunch will begin at 12:30. The students will be going to recess at 12:00 if you would like to join them early for this.

Thursday, June 9th is our Field Day. We believe we will be taking the children to the Norpoint Center's new play ground and water park. I have some parent volunteers for the event, but if you would also like to help, please let me know. We will have more details about the day soon.

Friday, June 10th is our last day of school. For our party, we will have a kids vs parents match of Jeopardy. This will take place at 11:15. We hope you can join us for this fun event!

The students have been working hard and have had a great week. Check out these pictures of the last few days with our Artist in Residence, Joanie Joachim, who did lots of great projects with us. These will be in our art show and will be coming home in the next week or two.

May 18th

2011-05-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Events:

May 26-Grandparents and Special Friends Day 1:30-3:00

May 27-May 30-No School

June 3-Beach Day

June 6 (tentatively)-Publishers' Picnic

June 9-Field Day

June 10-Last Day of School, noon dismissal

A Horse's Tale has us visiting Mason City and the Grand Coulee Dam in the 1930s. Next we will head to Puyallup and the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s. This should make for an engaging conversation. The kids are working really hard on synonyms and antonyms with the word of the day.

In math, we have begun working on two and three digit numbers multiplied by a one digit number. The children learned the partial products method, which leads nicely into multiplying binomials in algebra (how many of you remember FOIL?). Basically, they will look at a problem like 46 x 6, write 46 in expanded notation (40 + 6), then multiply each of those parts by 6 and add the answers together. The kids are quite excited about this, so be sure to ask your Beacon about it. We will learn the traditional method for multiplying in the next week.

In writing, the students are peer and teacher conferencing with their persuasion paper. They had to write a 5 paragraph paper on why others should move to Washington state. There are some very good arguments for it. We will be typing these in the next week.

Has your student told you about their biome in science yet? Be sure to ask. They are creating and mapping their biome, making sure the scale of things is appropriate. We will be ready to unveil them the last week of school.

In social studies, the kids are making up questions for Jeopardy. It will be done on the computer, so it has taken some figuring on how to make it work. Once the questions (or should I say answers) are written out, it will look fabulous. The kids are very excited about it.

Check out these pictures from our pajama day. It was a great day to lounge around and read on our new bean bag chairs (thank you to everyone who donated them)!

Week of May 11th

2011-05-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Events:

May 12-Field Trip to the Washington State History Museum - Wear Seabury shirt and bring a cold lunch!

May 13-Pajama and Pancake Day

May 26-Grandparents and Special Friends Day

May 27-May 30-No School

June 3-Beach Day

June 6 (tentatively)-Publishers' Picnic

June 9-Field Day

June 10-Last Day of School, noon dismissal

Our Horse's Tale book continued into the 1910s and 20s this past week. The students visited Roslyn and Darrington, WA. they did some comparisons of different eras, as well as comparing towns. The students are enjoying reading this great book.

In math, we began a unit on multiplication of larger numbers. The students have been multiplying multiples of 10 and estimating products of larger numbers. We want to make sure they can understand whether their answer makes sense by estimating answers first. In the next week, the students will be learning a few different ways to multiply multi-digit numbers.

Our writers' workshop time finds us trying to persuade someone to move to Washington. The students are writing a 5 paragraph paper, complete with opening, 3 supporting, and concluding paragraphs, topic sentences, good details, and concluding sentences. I think these papers would convince me!

In science, the children began working on their murals for their biome. They must show plants, animals, the climate, and human impact on their biome mural. We are also talking about how to make things in the appropriate scale. It is hard for the kids to understand that if your grass is 1 foot tall, the bison wouldn't be less than that!

Social Studies continues with research for the Jeopardy game. Our field trip to the Washington State History Museum will tie in nicely with our study. Students will explore the museum and write notes of questions to include in our game.

This week and next, we have Joanie Joachim working with the students as our Artist in Residence. The students are working on making sculptures. Our first project was to use a birdhouse, clay pot, stick, and other materials to create a fun and funky sculpture. Enjoy these pictures from this week and be sure to check back for more pictures next week.

Week of May 4th

2011-05-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Events:

May 12-Field Trip to the Washington State History Museum

May 13-Pajama and Pancake Day

May 26-Grandparents and Special Friends Day

May 27-May 30-No School

June 3-Beach Day

June 6 (tentatively)-Publishers' Picnic

June 9-Field Day

June 10-Last Day of School, noon dismissal

As you can see, there are many things happening in the last 5 1/2 weeks of school. There are some fabulous things happening in the classroom as well.

In language arts, students are really enjoying The Horse's Tale. They are enjoying reading about different times and locations. They must mark the location of each chapter on a map, so they eagerly jump up from reading to do that. They also love creating their Venn diagrams. One of the things I am enjoying is watching the kids when they encounter a word that is unfamiliar to them. This book has a glossary in the back, so they look any unfamiliar words, discussing with each other the meaning. What responsible students!

In math, we are testing on decimals on Thursday and will begin a chapter on multiplying multi-digit numbers next. I will be presenting the students with the opportunity to "invent" their own method for multiplying, and we will find a strategy that works best for each student. They are eager to multiply larger numbers!

Much to the disappointment of the students, we have concluded our month of poetry. They were eager learners of all kinds of poems and created some fantastic work. We will conclude our year with a persuasive paper. The students will be writing a multiple paragraph argument about why others should move to Washington State. We will begin brainstorming on Friday and begin the writing on Monday. Please note on the calendar that I have tentatively scheduled the Publishers' Picnic for June 6th. This is a great opportunity for you and others to join your Beacon for a picnic lunch and a look at all of the writing your student has done this year.

Has your student told you about their jar ecosystem? Students are watching water levels, aquatic plants, and seeds sprouting in their jars with their partners. It is interesting to hear them make some conclusions about why certain things are happening and how everything works together in that ecosystem. Students are also researching their biomes, as next week we will begin to recreate that biome. Students will be able to show the web of life from their ecosystem and how human impact effects it.

In Social Studies, students are finishing up their information packets so they can begin creating questions for our Jeopardy game. Care to play kids vs parents??? Stay tuned for details!

Thank you to all families for making this a great Teacher Appreciation Week. All of the plants, flowers, goodies, classroom enhancements, brunch items, etc. are very appreciated.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms. Have a wonderful week!

Week of April 27th

2011-04-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Events:

May 12th - Field Trip to Washington State History Museum

May 13th - Pajama Day and pancake snack

The Beacons have had a great week. Here are some of the highlights!

We had a great Earth Day. The students wore their hats and walked around the neighborhood picking up trash.

Those are some fabulous looking newspaper hats!

The students began reading A Horse's Tale. This fabulous book looks back through 100 years of Washington state history and geography. We visited Ritzville, WA in the 1890s this week. The kids compared the 1890s with 2011, creating a Venn diagram to illustrate the similarities and differences. We will travel to many other places and times in the week to come.

In Writers' Workshop, our poetry unit continues for National Poetry month. The children have written haikus, tankas, free verse, and cinquains this week. The expectation is that students will complete a poem each day. Once they finish, they can write another poem of their choice. We have some very prolific writers of poetry!

In math, the students are moving into decimals. They are looking at the place value after a decimal point, converting fractions and decimals, and applying this work to money. The kids are very excited about decimals, and are making some good connections with the place value.

In Science, we have been hard at work on ecosystems. On one of our sunny days, we went outside and dug in the dirt to see what lives in the ecosystem in our garden. There were many kids who were excited about the words and other insects they found. We also saw roots of plants and discussed why each of these things was important to that ecosystem. We also created terrariums with a partner. We began with 2 inches of soil, added 3 inches of water, then added a plant to the jar. We have begun dropping seeds into the jar. The students are making observations every few days about the water level, what happens to the seeds, and how the plant is growing. The goal is to watch as the water level drops, what happens to the seeds and plants. Hopefully we will see how this ecosystem needs certain things to survive and what those are.

In Social Studies, the students are learning about the history of Washington state. We read some information, worked on highlighting properly the important facts, and are now answering questions about what we read. Soon the students will be gathering facts and writing questions for our Jeopardy game.

Only 6 weeks left of school!

Week of April 20th

2011-04-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

The children did a great job showing off their organs and bones at Gathering on Friday. Congratulations on a job well done to all the Beacons.

We are beginning our last book of the year on Thursday. A Horse's Tale edited by Nancy Luenn will take the children through 100 years of adventure in Washington state. This ties nicely with our Social Studies unit on Washington and Puget Sound. The children will be comparing and contrasting different decades from the book.

If you haven't heard about our poetry writing, please ask your Beacon! The kids are very excited about writing different types of poems. Even the most reluctant writers are finding great success with this. In the last week, we have written color poems, poems about rules, a nonsense rhyming poem, shape poems, and couplets. We will be putting all of the poems together in a booklet once April is finished and will have a publishers' picnic at the end of the year to share all of our great work. Be sure to check out the pictures and poems below.

In math, our fraction unit is coming to a close. We will be testing on Friday. The students are having great discussions when coming up with strategies for comparing and ordering fractions, as well as finding equivalent fractions.

In Science, we are beginning our study of ecosystems. After a discussion about what an ecosystem is and how it works, the students will be creating their own ecosystem. They will need to create a food web and be able to discuss how the ecosystem works.

In Social Studies, we have begun looking at the history of Washington state. The students are reading information booklets and learning how to highlight the important information (without highlighting the entire sentence or paragraph). They are preparing topics for our Jeopardy game.

The students will be wearing some lovely newspaper hats for Earth Day on Friday. We will also be picking up trash around the school and neighborhood on Friday afternoon. The Beacons are excellent stewards of the Earth.

We made inkblot pictures with paint, then wrote a couplet poem that went with our pictures. What do you see? This is what we see, written in couplet form.

I have a paper body.

It has a brain and something dotty.

It has a tongue.

And something dumb.

I see nothing,

And I see something.

I know you are confused,

But I asked to be excused.

I found this but I don't know what it is.

I see the name and now I surely know it's his.

It is very colorful.

It is very wonderful.

I was watching the gliders,

When some galactic fighters

Zoomed through the sky!!!

Fly! Fly! Fly!

I saw some colorful rain.

Then they went into the drain.

But then the rain changed.

It was so strange.

I see something.

But I know it's nothing.

I know it's puffy.

I don't think it's a toughie.

I'm sorry this picture is really nothing.

Although I think it's something.

I really don't know what it is.

A mishmash, a hodgepodge, some sort of paintish fizz.

Smiley faces always looking at you.

And then it says boo.

It says it's sorry.

Then it goes on a safari.

The boxer fights for his sight.

The boxer fights for his right.

The boxer is going to kick.

It is going to be quick!

The gate is made out of a wall,

It will not fall,

It has ferns,

And it turns.

I see lots of colors in front of me.

A lot of colors I see.

I see yellow.

And it is mellow.

I see a butterfly in front of me.

I see it's with a honeybee!

A butterfly is on a flower.

It's so dirty it needs a shower!

Some wrestlers went to confess who is best,

They are wearing the same clothes and are really dressed.

They are really hairy on their chests,

They love the word crest.

I see the joker.

He is playing poker.

He's wearing brass

In a class.

Have a wonderful week!

Week of April 13

2011-04-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome back from Spring Break! The kids all returned enthused and rested for the last 9 weeks of school.

In language arts, the children are finishing up their second trimester books this week. They are having to connect some pieces all throughout the book. We have discussed foreshadowing, so the children are now thinking of at least 2 instances of foreshadowing in their book. It has been quite impressive to see the kids thinking hard about this.

In math, we have begun a chapter on fractions. We will explore fractions of a whole, fractions of a set, and equivalent fractions over the next week. The children have made fraction sticks to help understand these concepts and we will be playing some fraction games in the next week.

In writing, we are finishing up our hard backed books. The students have all finished typing their stories, and are now illustrating and putting them together. We will be working on the covers, including the summary, author information and comments in the next week. Since April is National Poetry month, we will be writing a variety of poems this month.

In science we are finishing up the human body and beginning the study of ecosystems. There are many fun and interesting topics on the agenda for ecosystems, including the recreation of different biomes. More details to come about this!

Social Studies has us looking at Washington State. We will do lots of exploring of the geography, history and current economy throughout our study. The students will be writing and creating a Washington version of Jepoardy on the computer. They are very excited about researching this and making the game.

Have a wonderful week!

Week of March 30

2011-03-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

The kids did a wonderful job with the Living History Museum on Friday. Here are some great pictures from the event.

If you didn't get a chance to see it, here is the quilt the students made for the Seabury Auction. Thanks to Cathy Moeller and her friends for helping with the sewing!

Just a reminder that next week is Spring Break. Hopefully you and your Beacon will have a wonderful and restful time off of school to recharge.

Seabury Science Fair, Thursday, March 17, 2011

2011-03-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

Seabury Science Fair

March 17, 2011

My science fair project wanted to see if heat makes air rise

Look what I discovered ! The yellow light made the plants grow!!

Nothing like a special grandfather to come and see the science fair projects!(and his granddaughter!)

Here's my Taste vrs. Smell experiment.

I love Science!

A special grandmother for a special Beacon

Hard work on the solar system really paid off! Great job!

Moms love their son's Science Fair projects

Mrs. Wollom made a guest appearance in our Beacons' Room!

Dads love their Beacon's science Fair projects, too

Smiling Science Fair faces!

Amazing!

We had a "ball" at the Science Fair night!

Very exciting experiment!

I love my Grandmother!

This photo says it all...What a Great Science Fair!

Week in Review March 23, 2011

2011-03-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Living History Museum Day in Colonial America!

1:20-2:40 in the multi-purpose room

Saturday, March 26th

SEABURY AUCTION!

See you there!

April 2nd-April 10th

Spring Break!

Classes resume at 8:10 am on

Monday,April 11th

In Language Arts, students continue with their reading groups. They are working on their Bloom's taxonomy higher learning skills of synthesizing by writing their chapter summaries and answering questions concerning character motivation. We have also started our weekly Wordly Wise packets which they work on during Language Arts and spelling.

In Math, all students are half way through Chapter 9! We are learning about area and perimeter. Tuesday, we went outside to measure the perimeter of the playground. We live for those sunny days!

We are working in Writer's Workshop in the computer lab each day. Everyone is on the "publishing" portion of their amazing story. Just wait until you read it! Your Beacon's story will blow your socks off. Students are learning how to change the font and font size (no more than 24), and put in page breaks where they want to add a picture. Students are also deciding if they want the words to be on the top of the page or bottom and make those adjustments. We are including a title page, copyright page, and dedication page.

In Science we are finishing up the bones and organs on our black clothes or paper!They look amazing!

Social Studies has focused on our culminating event of this Friday's Living History Museum Day on Colonial America. Please come to experience your Beacon's hard work, on display in the multipurpose room from 1:15-2:40. It will be an interactive experience! One student will be playing Yankee Doodle Dandy on the piano and singing all the verses as well. You will not want to miss this!

Week in Review March 16th

2011-03-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Happy

Saint Patrick's Day!!!

May the Luck of the Irish

be with you today!

Upcoming Events:

Science Fair

Thursday, March 17th

6-7pm

Science: Big News! The Science Fair is tomorrow evening,

6-7 p.m. We will have a Bake Sale from 7-7:30 in the multi-purpose . All proceeds will go to the Japan Relief Fund. We hope to see you tomorrow evening.

               Living History Museum Day on Colonial America!
                                       Friday, March 25th
                            Multi-purpose room 1:15-2:40
Please have your Beacon boy wear a white shirt, black pants and white tube socks to put over their pant legs. (Soccer socks are fine!)
Your Beacon girl should wear a white shirt or blouse, a long skirt (please do not go out and buy one if you do not have one), and an apron.

                                      Spring Break!
               Saturday April 2nd -Sunday, April 10th

Week in Review March 10, 2011

2011-03-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

SEABURY SCIENCE FAIR

This Thursday, March 17th

                                               6-7p.m.
Come visit classrooms to see projects and talk to young scientists!

                                                                7-7:30p.m.
                 Stay for refreshments in the multi-purpose room!

If you are unable to attend the evening Science Fair then please come in during the morning and join in the presentations. The schedule is as follows as to the time each class will be giving their presentations:

8:45-9:25 Sharks; Superstars

9:30-10:15 Navigators; Explorers

11-11:30 Beacons

1:30-2 MS in LS downstairs

UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 18th
Morning coffee with Sandi Wollum
7:30 am

March 25th Living History Museum Day
A Day in the Life of a Colonial American Child
1:15-2:30

March 26th
Seabury Auction
See you there!!

Spring Break
Begins at 3:00 p.m.on April 1st
and school resumes on Monday, April 10th

Week in Review Wednesday, March 2nd

2011-03-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

                                     READ ACROSS AMERICA
                              "You are never too old, too wacky, too wild,
                        To pick up a book and read to a child."
                                  ~Dr. Seuss a.k.a.Theodor Seuss Geisel~
                                                               4-9-1904~~9-24-1991

               Happy 107th Birthday to Dr. Seuss!
        In honor of this famed America, Seabury celebrated our annual Crazy Hat Day. You'll find some great photos of our Beacons in their craziest hats ! We have also worked hard in class in all subjects; but today we spent extra time during silent reading to do just that...read, read, read!We also participated in the Read Across America Jeopardy Game! So be sure to view all the photos at the bottom of this blog entry.

                           UPCOMING EVENTS:

~This Friday, March 4th~

Special Gathering

Life After Seabury!

9:00~10:00 am

You don't want to miss this!

                              ~March 10 and March 11~
                                      No School
                                            Parent-Teacher Conferences

                                       ~March 17th~
                                         Science Fair
                         During the day presentation times t.b.a.
                           Evening viewing 6:00p.m.-8:00p.m.

                                                          ~March 18~
                          Beacons' Parent Coffee with Sandi, 7:30 a.m.

                                    ~March 25th~
                           Living History Museum Day:
                A Day in the Life of a Colonial American Kid
                                       1:30-2:45p.m.

                                                     ~March 26~

                                          Our Seabury Auction!
                           See you there!

       ~Saturday, April 2th-Sunday, April 10th ~
                           Spring Break!

                      Here's What's Been Going On
                      In the Beacons' World:
Writers' Workshop continues with our action stories for the hard backed books. Many of the students have finished writing their stories and are peer conferencing, editing, or teacher conferencing. We will be publishing these books on the computer in the next few weeks and will have a publisher's picnic once we get them finished.
Reading: Students are busily working on their respective reading books. They are all improving on their higher level thinking skills of writing summaries of their chapters.
Math: Students in both the Math Magicians and Math Magicals are wrapping up their chapters and will have a test on their chapters next week.
Science:
      The Beacons are on their way to completing the Science Fair projects. All Science Fair projects are due on Monday, March 7th. Please help your Beacon remember to bring it in on time!

Social Studies: Students have selected their Colonial "persona" and are researching their respective crafts. It will be an exciting presentation on March 25th in the afternoon 1:30-2:50. We hope to see you there. More information will be going home in this week's Friday Folder.
          Here are our Crazy Hat day photos as we celebrate
                 Read Across America and Dr. Seuss Day!

Our 4 Beacons' team members preparing for
the big competition

Hmmmmm, what is the correct answer?

We WON!!! 1st Prize 

February 23rd Week in Review

2011-03-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

~March 2nd~

Read Across America and Crazy Hat Day

~March 10 and March 11~

No School

Parent-Teacher Conferences

~March 18~

Parent Coffee with Sandi, 7:30 a.m.

~March 26~

Our Seabury Auction!

     Wow, has this ever been another wild weather week with no school on Monday due to President's Day, a very snowy Wednesday afternoon where many students left early, a no school snow day on Thursday and then a 2 hour late start day due to icy conditions on Friday. You just don't know what kind of day it will be until you get up in the morning! It's a wonder that we're able to keep it all straight!

     We love teaching your wonderful Beacons! Unfortunately, mother nature's snowy and icy blast this week (and a federal holiday) prevented us from having another full week of school. Having said that, we worked very hard in the hours that we were at school!

     One of the highlights of this short week was going into Mrs. Head's room where we saw the Explorers dissecting lambs' hearts! Two of our Beacon parents are noted surgeons and they have a child in Mrs. Head's class as well. They facilitated the dissection and really helped make our science unit of learning about the human body come alive. One of the coolest things about this dissection is that the lamb's heart is approximately the same size as that of an elementary school child's heart. This led to a great discussion once we returned to the classroom! As many of your Beacons said, "Seabury is sooooooooooooo cool! We get to dissect in schooooooooooooool!"

           Enjoy your budding surgeon's "heart felt" photos below:

Week in Review, February 16th

2011-02-17T15:02:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Events:

February 16 - Presentation Linda Silverman,

Director of the Gifted Development Center in Denver, Colorado

No School on February 17-21 for Teacher In-service and Presidents' Day

March 2nd-Read Across America and Crazy Hat Day!

March 10-11 - Teacher Conferences

March 18 - Parent Coffee with Sandi, 7:30 am

March 26 - Seabury Auction!

This has been a fun filled, busy week in the Beacon classroom! With Valentine's Day and the 100th Day of School occurring within 2 days of each other, the classroom has been filled with LOTS of excitement in the air. The kids enjoyed giving and receiving valentines and especially working on our 100th day writing and math activites. You'll enjoy the following pictures of the Beacons' 100th day of school glasses, working on their bookreports and receiving a $100.00.

100th day of school Pajama Day!Yeah!!

I'm working on my book report!

If I had a hundred dollars, this is what I'd do.....

Week in Review-February 10

2011-02-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Events:

February 14 - Valentine's Day. Please see below.

February 16 - 100th Day of School! See below!

February 16 - Linda Silverman, Director of the Gifted Development Center in Denver, Colorado Presentation

No School on February 17-21 for Teacher Inservice and
Presidents' Day

March 10-11 - Teacher Conferences

March 18 - Parent Coffee with Sandi, 7:30 am

March 26 - Seabury Auction!

We will have a Valentine's Day celebration on Monday, February 14th at 2:15. We will have a snack and do a craft. Please email our room parent if you can help. Please have your child bring valentines for EVERY person in the class. We will have boxes or bags for the kids to use to store these valentines.

On Wednesday, February 16th we will celebrate the 100th day of school! It will be pajama day for the kids and we will make pancakes for snack that day. We want the kids to bring in a collection of 100 items to share with the class.

In Language Arts, we have been working on plural nouns and apostrophes. Many students confuse the use of apostrophes with plurals, so we have been working on changing these misconceptions. These are things you can reinforce at home when students are writing sentences or stories for homework. The students are also continuing in their novels. Be sure to ask your child what is happening in their book.

We have finished and tested the chapters in math. The Math Magicians are moving on to division, while the Math Magicals are beginning basic algebra concepts. Division is a hard concept for many of the students. They can draw a picture or use multiplication to solve division facts. These are good problems to practice when driving in the car.

Writers' Workshop continues with our action stories for the hard backed books. Many of the students have finished writing their stories and are peer conferencing, editing, or teacher conferencing. We will be publishing these books on the computer in the next few weeks and will have a publisher's picnic once we get them finished.

The Beacons are on their way with the science fair projects. They all have great ideas for their projects. We began our science fair journals this week. Now students should be completing multiple trials of their experiment at home. They should complete these trials in the next 2 weeks, writing about what they do and the results in their journal. Students should be finished with their data collecting and experiments by February 22nd, when they also need to bring in their trifold boards. We will begin the boards on February 22nd at school.

The students will also be starting their human body project on Monday. We discussed how to use the fabric markers and the kids brainstormed how to draw their bones. Be sure to ask about them next week!

In Social Studies, students have been rewriting the Mayflower Compact in their own words. They also are completing the creation of 3 dimensional maps of the voyage of the Mayflower. The maps even have floating ships!

February is upon us!

2011-02-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Events

February 14 - Valentine's Day. More details to come.

February 16th - Linda Silverman,

Director of the Gifted Development Center in Denver, Colorado Presentation

No School on February 17-21 for Teacher Inservice and Presidents' Day

March 10-11 - Teacher Conferences

March 18 - Parent Coffee with Sandi, 7:30 am

March 26 - Seabury Auction!

In Language Arts, students are continuing to read their novels. We are also talking about adjectives and the nouns they describe. The students are now looking up the Word of the Day in the dictionary to find the meaning and part of speech.

We will be finishing up our math chapters in the next week. Look for the practice test to come home on Monday or Tuesday to practice for the test. Keep working on multiplication facts!

The students took a short break from their hard backed books this week to write a few poems. As a class, we wrote 2 possible poems for our auction quilt. The students decided they like acrostic poems much more than rhyming poems. They each wrote an acrostic poem about their animal and then another using adjectives about themselves. We will be writing many poems during the month of April, National Poetry Month.

Science has brought us into the world of touch. We performed a touch test to find the part of the arm that is most sensitive. The kids went through the scientific method to test their predictions about which part would be most sensitive. This will help prepare the kids for the upcoming science fair. You should have found a set of guidelines in the homework folder on Monday. The brainstorming for the science fair project is due on Monday. Please let me know if you need any ideas.

In Social Studies, the students created 3-dimensional maps of the settlement of Roanoke and Jamestown. They are continuing to learn about the first settlements in America and the voyage of the Mayflower.

Next week Mrs. Gellert returns! She will have many interesting stories to share with the students, so be sure to ask on Wednesday! Here's to another wonderful week!

Week of January 27, 2011

2011-01-27T10:59:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Events

Annual Seabury Update-Thursday, January 27 at 7 pm in the MPR

Middle School Showcase-Friday, January 28 at 6:30 pm at the MS

February 17-21 No School

We had a fabulous and fun field trip to the Pacific Science Center this week. Students explored how the human body works by doing scent, strength,sight, reaction time, fitness, flexibility tests and much more. Check out these pictures!

Check out the brains. I remember that this is where this sense can be found from our brain hats!

How many calories am I burning?

Will this spinning wheel change my center of gravity?

I have a very slow reaction time!

These pulleys make our muscles work!

We are very excited about seeing the IMAX about beavers. Did you know that beavers can chew down 400 trees a year?

This butterfly landed on me!

We are working hard in all subject areas in the Beacon classroom. The kids are reading like crazy, enjoying their new books, writing their hard-backed books, working on multiplication and division facts, learning about the senses and the body, making maps for Roanoke and Jamestown and much more! Be sure to ask your Beacon how to play the games Multiplication Baseball and Multiplication Top-It.

Week in Review- January 19, 2011

2011-01-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Events:

January 24 - Field Trip to Pacific Science Center

February 17, 18, 21 - No School

Many of our Beacon friends have become very sick in the last week. We just want to let you know that we are encouraging hand washing at school and home. We hope everyone is feeling better soon.

In Language Arts, students have chosen and have begun reading their next novel. We talked about foreshadowing and how books will sometimes give hints about things that will be happening later in the book. Students are looking for foreshadowing as they read and will be asked to describe at least 2 times in their respective books that they found this.

In Math, we are beginning new chapters. The next chapters work on harder multiplication or harder division facts. Be sure to play games, work with flash cards, and quiz your Beacons about the multiplication facts. Fact automaticity is to math what sight words are to reading. We want all students to be successful with harder math concepts, and basic fact knowledge will help with those. If students don't remember certain facts, ask them about a strategy for solving. Also, if your student hasn't told you about the game Baseball Multiplication, be sure to ask!

Writing continues on the hard-backed books the students are writing. Many of the students have multiple pages of details and action. Some are working with peers to make their stories better and are editing their own work. We will have a big party once these books are finished!

In Science, students looked at features of the eye. They were able to see how the pupil changes based on the amount of light coming into their eyes. They were also amazed by the fact that pictures are upside down on our retinas and that the brain is once again an amazing part of our bodies! Next up is the ear and skin.

In Social Studies, students are writing newspaper articles about the Colonial Times and the Lost Colony of Roanoke. They are also learning fun facts about the first settlements. Be sure to ask your Beacon about this at the end of the week!

Have a wonderful week!

Week in Review - January 13, 2011

2011-01-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

The Beacons have been hard at work this second week back in school!

In Language Arts, the students have been reading about Martin Luther King, Jr. We have had some really good discussions about what he stood for and how things have changed since his death. We also read his I Had a Dream speech to the students. The students will begin reading new novels next week. They can choose from 3 titles, The Cabin Faced West, A Lion to Guard Us, and Sees Behind Trees. The first 2 of these books are stories about life for children in the Colonial Times. The last book is about a Native American boy who has very poor eyesight and must rely on his other senses to live. The students will once again be working on vocabulary building, writing summaries, and answering comprehension questions.

The Beacons have been working hard in math. The Math Magicians group is learning the basics of multiplication and some tricks for solving basic facts. The Math Magicals group is delving into division, with an emphasis on how it relates to multiplication. We are finishing up the chapters this week and will be testing next week. Look for a study guide to come home on Tuesday.

The new year has brought us to a huge project in Writers' Workshop. Students worked for a few days last week on how to create a picture in the reader's mind using words. They are now applying this idea to writing stories that we will turn into hard backed books. We have lots of great story ideas out there, so be sure to ask your Beacon about his or her story.

In Science, we have begun our new theme of the human body. We brainstormed what we knew and what we were hoping to learn. We are currently working our way through the senses and how they work. The students have made a brain hat that shows what part of the brain is responsible for each sense. Favorite quote about the brain hat..."I know why I am having trouble thinking of something to write. My brain is on the outside of my skull, instead of the inside!" We used our sense of smell to try to differentiate between different aromas and discussed how amazing the nerves in the nose are, telling our brains what we think of a smell. Cayenne pepper was the best one, everyone's brain told them to stay away from it! We also conducted an experiement to see how the taste buds on the tongue work. We predicted what would happen if we put different foods on different parts of our tongues. We certainly have a few kids who can taste sweet in anything! More fun experiements and models to come in the next few months!

In Social Studies, the students are learning about life in Colonial Times. They read about the lost colony at Roanoke, discussing what could have happened to the settlers there. They are creating a book of information about these times and will be creating 3-D maps soon to show what life was like in Roanoke and Jamestown.

As always, we love having your Beacons in our classroom. Here's to another great week!

Week in Review January 5th,2011

2011-01-11T10:33:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2011!
Your Beacon returned to school on Monday, January 3, 2011 ready and raring to work. On this posting, I thought it would be great fun for you to see your Beacon hard at work on creating the Living History Museum Day's tri folds. Their presentations reflected their diligent work. They not only had their tri folds to present, but their explorer's shoulder to head "bust" made out of a pliable material which hardens similar to clay called Model Magic and their laminated Explorer trading cards! As if that isn't enough, the Beacons did an amazing job on their Science animal power points in Mrs. Price's science class. Both Mrs. Price and I are so proud of your Beacon! We know 2011 will be filled with even more productive and exciting experiences in learning!

We are all hard at work researching our explorers and
creating our tri folds for our Living History Museum Day!

I'm ALMOST done!!

Alexander the Great's tri-fold is done and it sure looks great!

The Birthday Boy!

Here's what I like about YOU!!!

Alexander the Great and company!

Alexander the Great's Family and Special Friend above
Neil Armstrong below

Neil Armstrong above and
Hernando Cortez below

Hernando Cortez above
and John Cabot below

John Cabot above
and Leif Ericson below

Leif Ericson above and
Marco Polo below

Marco Polo above
and Captain James Cook below

Captain James Cook above with his ExplorerTrading Cards
and Ferdinand Magellan below

Ferdinand Magellan above
and Henry Hudson below

Henry Hudson above
and Sir Francis Drake below

Marco Polo above
and John Cabot below

John Cabot above
and Leif Ericson below

Leif Ericson above
and Amerigo Vespucci below

Amerigo Vespucci above and
Leif Ericson below

Leif Ericson above and
Neil Armstrong and Family below

Neil Armstrong and Family above and
Hernando Cortez below

Hernando Cortez above and
Neil Armstrong and his full family

                                                         Captain Cook above
                                            and below an important member of Captain Cook's crew
                                                   Captain Cook and 1st mate above and
                                                Christopher Columbus and first mate below

Christopher Columbus and mom above

Marco Polo and his folks below

Marco Polo and his parents above and
Christopher Columbus and family below

Christopher Columbus and members of the crew above
and Sir Francis Drake and important crew member below

Sir Francis Drake above and
Amerigo Vespucci and crew below

                                        Amerigo Vespucci and mom above
                                            and our fearless leader Mrs. Wollum below
                        viewing Neil Armstrong's animal research PowerPoint on the Orca whale.

What a wonderful educational experience!

Thank you Beacons for all of your hard work.

Week in Review December 8, 2010

2010-12-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Upcoming Events:

Cancelled! No Winter Program tomorrow

Thursday evening, Dec. 9th
New date to be announced soon

Friday December 17th

1/2 day of school

School dismissed at NOON

NO Extended Care

Friday, December 17th

9:15-11:30

The Beacons Present:

Living History Museum Day

and

Science Power points and 3-D animals

It is an Open House format so drop in any time!

School Resumes Monday, January 3rd, 2011

Happy New Year!

Yummy! I love Seabury!

Good Friends, Good Times!

Mmmm, I LOVE math!

Hey, Look what I just wrote, a MANUscript! That's one of

this week's spelling words. "Manu" means "hand" and

"script" means "write". Get it?

I'm working my hardest to do my best!

Reading groups

The Browns Point Fire Department visited us for

a Fire Prevention Gathering Program

and I couldn't resist taking each

Beacon's "hot" photos!

Deep in thought, writing away

Serious Peer Editing

Serious self-editing!

We LOVE Seabury!!

Putting the finishing touches on my writing before I go to publish it!

                                                        HEY LOOK MOM! I have a paper mache hand!
                                                    It's really the start of my cool 3-D animal!

What a trouper Ms. Cathy is...

lending a "hand" when she only has one to share!

This is going to be a great 3-D animal!

Week in Review, Wednesday, December 1, 2010

2010-11-30T19:43:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Events

Thursday, December 9th

Annual Seabury Winter Program

Urban Grace Church

7:00 p.m.

Friday, December 17th

Social Studies Living History Museum Day

Science Powerpoint Presentation

Friday, December 17th

Winter Break begins

NOON dismissal

NO extended care

Winter Break

Noon, Friday, December 17th

until

Monday, January 3, 2011

Happy New Year 2011!

Here's What's Happening

In the

Beacons' World

Be sure to look in this week's Friday folder for a sealed envelop with your child's name on it. Inside it you will find your Beacon's first trimester report card. The rubric rating system on the report card is called the Evaluation Key. We thought we'd take a moment to help further explain it.

At the top of each report card there is an Evaluation Key which states the following:

Evaluation Key:

4 = Consistently does this / exceeds developmental expectations

3 = Usually does this / meets developmental expectations

2 = Working to learn this / needs more time to acquire skills

1 = Area of Concern

N/A = Does not apply / not assessed at this time

     Please keep in mind that an evaluation of a "3" is not synonymous with a "B". All a "3" means is that the child "usually does this". By the same token a "2" does not equate to a "C". It means that your second grader is "working to learn this/ needs more time to acquire skills". If a student receives a "4", it merely means that the child "CONSISTENTLY" does it. We hope this will help you as you read your Beacon's report card.

     Next Tuesday, Dec. 7th, we will have our winter program rehearsal at the Urban Grace Auditorium. Please make sure your Beacon arrives at school on time at 8:10, for we will be taking the school bus down to Urban Grace promptly at 8:30. We will then rehearse and return to school before 11:00.
     The actual Winter Program Performance will be Thursday, Dec. 9th. Just in case you missed the e-mail from the music teacher, Jessica Blackwood, I've included it below.
                LOWER SCHOOL WINTER PROGRAM

                                          Date: Thursday, December 9th

                                          When: 6:30p students backstage,
                                                            7:00p performance begins

                                         Where: Urban Grace Auditorium,
                                           9th & Market Street

                                         What (to wear): Students are welcome to "dress up" as much as they choose, but keep in mind that most of the students will be sitting on the floor at some point (to play instruments). As I told the kids - we're not going to the prom, but we're not camping, either.

All families are invited (yes, the middle school families that don’t have students in the lower school are invited too!) Hope you can make it to enjoy the talents of the kids.

~~From Jessica Blackwood, Music Teacher

      On the morning of Friday, December 17th, the Beacons will give a presentation to parents and the school. You don't want to miss it!
     In Social Studies, we have been learning about the Explorers. Students are researching their explorer and are creating their presentation in class. On Friday, Dec. 17th, they will become the persona of the explorer and will wow you with their presentation!
     Science will also wow you that day for the Beacons have worked hard in class on researching animals.They then created excellent reports on their computers. These PowerPoints are awesome and you will greatly enjoy them!
     If you are planning on starting your winter vacation early prior to December 17th, please let us know.

Here's to another great week with your Beacon!
Betsy and Tiffany

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Week in Review, Nov. 23rd

2010-11-23T19:24:00.000-08:00

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue,

but the parent of all the other virtues. ~Cicero

With the recent 48 hour heavy snowfall, the hazardous icy streets, and the 35 mile per hour howling winds, we have all received an unexpected, extra long Thanksgiving Break. Please drive safely, bundle up and stay warm!

As Thursday is fast approaching, we'd like to take this opportunity to tell you how very grateful and thankful we are to have the privilege of teaching your child this year. Thank you for sharing your amazing Beacon with us each school day. See you back in the classroom on Monday, November 29th.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

We're looking forward to another exciting week with your Beacon!
Betsy and Tiffany

Weekly Update November 17th, 2010

2010-11-16T20:16:00.001-08:00

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, Novemeber 23rd

Early Dismissal NOON

No Extended Care

No School November 24th and 25th

THANKSGIVING BREAK

DECEMBER:

Thursday, December 9th

Winter Performance

Urban Grace Church

Friday, December 17th

Early Dismissal NOON

No Extended Care

Winter Break

HERE'S WHAT'S GOING ON

BEACONS' WORLD

In Reading, both groups are working hard on their higher level thinking skills of writing chapter summaries. Synthesizing information is a challenging portion of our reading curriculum.

Below you will see your Beacon hard at work reading the chapter in small groups and then rereading and finding the answer to the critical thinking chapter questions.

As a part of Seabury's Service Club's winter activity, all Beacons made holiday cards for members of Toby Jones Senior Center. These handmade cards were beautiful and each Beacon made it with a lot of love.

I'm a Beacon alumnus. Now my brother is a Beacon and next year my sister will be too!

We LOVE learning new math strategies by playing our Math Games! Here's a tough one that makes us really think hard. We work cooperatively in groups of twos and have to use our math skills to solve the problems.

Hey, I won! I love math!

Look at all my hard work! I love math!

Bailey the Wonderdog

visited our classroom on Wednesday and the Beacons loved how sweet and affectionate she was. Bailey loves to read and students spent their silent reading time reading with Bailey!

Hey Beacons.
I love that book! That's my favorite part!

I did such a good job reading to Bailey that I put her to sleep!

Weekly Update November 10, 2010

2010-11-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Events

No School~Thursday, November 11th

Thanksgiving Break:

EARLY DISMISSAL~NOON~ Wednesday, Nov. 24th

No Extended Care

No School~Thursday, Nov. 25th and Friday, Nov.26th

Here's What's Going On

In The Beacons' World:
We need your help! These supplies are desperately needed for an upcoming science project. We need them by Friday, Nov.19th!
Newspaper
wall paper paste
empty toilet paper rolls
empty paper towel rolls

Thank you so very much!

Reading: These next few weeks are very exciting for our novel groups as we are nearing completion of our classics: Charlotte's Web and Mr. Poppers Penguins. In the Charlotte's Web reading group, Beacons have finished their challenging vocabulary words and are ready to begin chapter 13! The Mr. Popper's Penguins' group is all primed to complete their higher level thinking skills of answering the next set of chapter questions for chapters 14-17. Once completed, they will then start their vocabulary for chapters 18-20. Please ask your Beacon about the plot of these respective stories. Each group has worked diligently on their critical thinking skills by completing the chapter summaries.All Beacons are excited to see how their novels end.
Writer's Workshop:We've been in the computer lab last Friday, Monday and Tuesday typing up our awesome Newspaper Discovery stories. The Beacons are all working hard with the Writing Process and they are so excited about their stories! The finished product should be completed very soon.
Math:Both groups took their respective unit assessment tests earlier this week and every Beacon did quite well. We are very proud of the success each Beacon is experiencing in Math. Students are learning the importance of reading the directions for each problem and taking their time to work on computation. Rechecking is a key skill in math and students are learning about its importance, especially when taking tests.
The Math Magicians have started Chapter 3 and the Math Magicals are beginning Chapter 5. Both groups are in the accelerated Math Connects 3rd grade book.
Please talk to your Beacon about the exciting new Math game he/she learned this week called "Array Bingo". It is a great way to learn multiplication!

Spelling: Learning Greek and Latin prefixes is an excellent way for a child to improve his/her word attack skills not to mention enabling the child to improve his/her reading comprehension skills as well. All Beacons did very well on last week's spelling test and I have no doubt that everyone will try their hardest on this week's words as well. Please do review your Beacon's spelling words each night with him/her. Thank you. We greatly appreciate your skills reinforcement at home. As a side note, one mother told me this week that she is so thrilled that her child is learning Greek and Latin prefixes and how valuable they are to learn at this age. She told me, "Why when I was in Second Grade, all I was given to learn to spell were words like "spot", "cat". "Barn" was an extra credit word! I love Seabury!"

Science:You saw the A.P.B. above in red as to what supplies we need for a culminating science project. We want to thank you in advance for your assistance. All Beacons are working away in the computer lab on their animal research paper power point. We are very excited, as are they, with their progress!

Social Studies:Last week we began leaning about Ferdinand Magellan. We will continue learning about this courageous explorer and how he was able to be the first to circumnavigate the globe.

As we take time to pause from our hectic lives to reflect on tomorrow's federal holiday of Veterans Day, we thought you'd enjoy reading this poem:

In thankful ways we embrace this day

And often think of loved ones away

Those serving us proud are often gone

But their spirit remains, closely drawn

Our Nation should praise each special one

For all we have is through what they’ve done

Looking forward to another exciting week with your Beacon,

Betsy and Tiffany

Weekly Update: November 3, 2010

2010-11-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 7th~Daylight Savings Time Ends~

Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour!

No School~ Thursday, November 11th~Veterans' Day

Thanksgiving Break:

EARLY DISMISSAL~NOON~ Wednesday, Nov. 24th

No Extended Care

No School~Thursday, Nov. 25th and Friday, Nov.26th

HERE'S WHAT'S GOING ON IN

THE BEACONS' WORLD:

Language Arts: After the long Halloween Break, students were asked to write in their journals about their weekend experiences. Then, Beacons made "tail feathers" for the turkey on our classroom door for what they are thankful and grateful. Please come in and "read" our door for you will greatly enjoy what your Beacon had to say.

Reading: Both the Charlotte's Web group and the Mr. Popper's Penguin group are making extraordinary headway through their respective classics. Those Beacons in the Charlotte's Web group have completed Chapter 11 and are headed to Chapter 12! Mr. Popper's Penguin's Beacons have just completed their vocabulary and are ready to go onto Chapter 14! All Beacons have greatly improved in their summary writing skills and we are very proud of their progress.

Writers' Workshop: On Monday, all Beacons went to the Computer Lab to start work on their Newspaper story! The Beacons are improving their keyboarding skills as they type in their personalized word document on the school's shared server. It is exciting to see how happy they are working.
Math:The exciting news is that both math groups will complete their respective chapters this week! By Friday the Math Magicians will have completed Chapter 2 and the Math Magicals will have completed chapter 4. They will be tested next week, so be sure to look for the Study Guide that will be coming home on Monday. Both groups are in our accelerated math curriculum of the 3rd grade Math Connects program. Great work for both groups!!

Spelling:This week the spelling list is comprised of both Greek and Latin prefixes. The spelling sheet has both the prefix with its meaning and then a sentence using the prefix in a word. For instance "cycle" means circle or round and "bi" means two. Therefore, a bicycle has two circles or wheels.

Science:On Tuesday, in science we had the Point Defiance Zoo specialists come to us. It was an "in school field trip". The zoo education specialist brought in a real screech owl and then played the sound of the screech owl on the computer. The real screech owl responded back with a screech! She said that she had never see that happen before. The kids have also begun work on their PowerPoint presentation on their animals. Be sure to look for the invitation to see their finished work soon.
Social Studies:Since we had the Beacons' Halloween party last Wednesday afternoon and then conference days Thursday and Friday, we didn't have Social Studies this past week. However, today we had a great discussion on yesterday's election. It is very impressive to hear how much your Beacon had gleaned from discussions at home.

Gratitude is the memory of the heart. ~Jean Baptiste Massieu, translated from French

Here's to another great week with your Beacon!

Betsy and Tiffany

      Tuesday was an especially exciting "in class field trip" when the Point Defiance Education Center came to visit.
    In the photos below, the zoo educator hands out film canisters to the students. The film canisters are filled with dried beans, coins etc.which, when shaken, make a unique sound.
    Students had to listen intently to each others' "shaking sound" and then form groups which they thought were making exactly the same sound. The students were mesmerized when the screech owl responded to the computer screech owl's "call".

Ghosts, Goblins and Beacons OH MY!!

2010-10-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

Halloween arrived early and in all its glory Wednesday afternoon at Seabury School. We know you'd love to see all the Beacons dressed up in their costumes of the century!!

Halloween with the 2010-2011 Beacons!

Hermione Granger and Harry Potter
visited us!

                                        Watch out for this Beacon Vampire!
                                                        He's hungry!
                                             "I vant to suck your blood!"

Who is that Masked Man??

Surprise!

Look who the alien captured! It's her wonderful friend!

So Pretty in Pink!

"Say Cheese!"

Now you're as "pretty as a peacock"!

Watch out for "My Favorite Martian!"

Here I am with my Grandpa. Look below at the great pumpkin I made at home!

I also brought in my Skeleton Bear! It's not scary.
It's "bear-y-cute!

A surprise visit from the Middle School office manager and her
redheaded pooch,"Grandma".

by Harry Allard Miss Viola Swamp

Queen Elizabeth and Viola Swamp. Yikes!
Mrs. Price is Missing! What happened to our teacher?

Where can she be? Ahh, here she is with her the world's cutest dragon!

P.S. If you haven't yet read about Ms. Viola Swamp, the incredible substitute teacher in the hilarious children's, Miss. Nelson is Missing! you are missing out. Once you see the picture of Ms. Viola Swamp, you'll see how terrific Mrs. Price's costume is! She met the Beacons at the door Wednesday morning with the sign, "Mrs. Price is Missing!" and then read them the story, Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard. We we were so surprised to learn that very few Beacons had never read this book! Ask your Beacon to tell you about it or enjoy reading this delightful and hilarious book with your Beacon over the long break. Have a safe and Happy Halloween! See you on Monday, November 1st!!

Weekly Update, Wednesday, October 27, 2010

2010-10-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

UPCOMING EVENTS

Halloween Parade 2:00~ Wed. Oct. 27th
Seabury Book Fair~Wed. Oct. 27th-Sat. Oct. 30th

NO SCHOOL:Thursday, Oct.28th and Friday, Oct. 29th

Parent Teacher Conferences

NOVEMBER'S UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 7th~Daylight Savings Time Ends~

Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour

No School~ Thursday, November 11th~Veterans' Day
EARLY DISMISSAL~NOON~ Wednesday, Nov. 24th
No Extended Care

No School~Thursday,Nov. 25th and Friday, Nov.26th
~Thanksgiving Break~

Here's What's Going On In
Beacons' World

Language Arts: Beacons are completing chapter 10 in Charlotte's Web and chapter 13 in Mr. Poppers' Penguins. They have all completed their respective chapter summaries and vocabulary words. Way to go, Beacons!
Last week we instituted a sentence homework sheet that incorporates our "Vocabulary Word of the Day" with sentence writing. Please feel free to review your Beacon's homework vocabulary sentences. Both the daily word of the day and its definition are on this homework sheet. These sheets are to be turned in each Friday, as they were last Friday. After going over them with each student, they were put in their respective Friday Folders. Also, please feel free to ask your Beacon to try and use that word at least once a day. It should be a fun way to help build and improve all the Beacons' vocabulary and writing skills.

Writers' Workshop:Wow!We are well on our way to completing our New Animal Discovery newspaper articles. Last week I was in a teacher/student editing session and the student had written about a new animal discovery: a blue tarantula. Believe it or not, in the Nation/World section, on page A6 of Tuesday's (Oct. 26th) Tacoma News Tribune, scientists searching the Amazon have discovered a new species of a blue-fanged tarantula! That's right, you heard it here first in the Beacons' classroom Writers' Workshop! Very exciting indeed.
Math:Both the Math Magicals and the Magicians have been working hard in math. Magicals are working on multiplication and Magicians are estimating and adding. They are working diligently in their math folders and in our small group lessons. We are very proud of their progress!

Science:Last Friday we had an "Enviro-challenger" educator come into our class and share with us how we can help our planet. Then on Tuesdsay, we had the Point Defiance Zoo come into our classroom and share with us exiting information and hands on activities with invertebrates. We have included a few photos for you at the end of this blog entry. We know you'll enjoy them!
Beacons also are working hard on their Science research report of the animal of their choice to get ready for their power point presentations.

Social Studies:Students are enjoying learning about Marco Polo this past week. They were amazed that he actually had a passport made out of medal that Kublai Khan had made for him. They were really excited to see a power point presentation about his travels and an interactive computer activity which incorporated social studies vocabulary and Marco Polo's travels. There is an excellent National Geographic website which you might be interested in viewing. I pulled a few items from it to share with the class. One quick vignette. When I asked the class what they knew about Marco Polo, they shared that he was the one who invented the Marco Polo game for the swimming pool.

It's Halloween! It's Halloween! /The moon is full and bright/ And we shall see what can't be seen/ On any other night/ Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls,/ Grinning goblins fighting duels,/ Werewolves rising from their tombs,/ Witches on their magic brooms./ In masks and gown we haunt the street /And knock on doors for trick or treat./ Tonight we are the king and queen,/
For oh tonight it's Halloween!
-Jack Prelutsky

"Halloween is when your grandmother pretends she doesn't know you" ~Erma Bombeck

Looking forward to another exciting week with your Beacon,

Betsy and Tiffany

Envirochallenger

Point Defiance Zoo Education of Invertibrates

Now this is some centipede!

Here's a millipede

Weekly Update, Wednesday, October 19, 2010

2010-10-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Events

Oct. 27th-30th Annual Seabury Book Fair

Monday, October 25th, School Picture "retakes"

All school Halloween Costume Parade

Wed. October 27th, 2:00 pm

No School~ Thurs.October 28th-Friday Oct.29th

Parent Teacher Conferences

NOVEMBER'S UPCOMING EVENTS:

EARLY DISMISSAL~NOON~ Wednesday, Nov. 24th

No School~Thursday,November 11th~ Veterans Day

No School~Thursday,Nov. 25th and Friday, Nov.26th

~Thanksgiving Break~

Here's What's Going On In

Beacons' World

Language Arts: Both Charlotte's Web and Mr. Popper's Penguins reading groups are hard at work completing their respective chapters and their vocabulary questions. Both groups have completed chapter 12 and are currently writing their summaries. We are very proud of the progress both groups have made.In addition, Beacons are enjoying reading chapter books during silent reading and will be creating a book report of their choice in the coming weeks.

Writer’s Workshop: All Beacons are progressing with their exciting animal newspaper articles. In their articles, students are required to label the essential newspaper article questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. It is wonderful to see how much their writing skills are maturing and how thrilled they are as they learn more information about their animal!

Math: Both the Math Magicians and the Math Magicals did an excellent job on their chapter assessments. On Monday, Beacons began working on their respective new math chapters full of advanced addition and multiplication. Both groups flew through their first lesson!

Science: We are finishing our research and will begin our reports next week. The students will work on writing paragraphs on paper before transferring this information to their Powerpoint presentations.

Social Studies: Students are learning about the motivating factors for early migration and exploration. We will soon begin researching explorers. Along the lines of Social Studies, and as part of our integrated curriculum on "Connections", this week we left school to learn about our community and the positive impact a few can make for the betterment of others. Below is a brief bit of information regarding our fieldtrip and the photos of your Beacon experiencing it. Enjoy!

Yesterday, Tuesday, October 19th, the Beacons and the Sharks had a fieldtrip to the Edgewood Community Food Bank. It was an enriching experience for both the students and the adults. Not only did the Beacons learn where the money they had collected for the Hunger Walk and the canned goods they had collected went; but they also learned the ins and outs of how a family of say 10 goes about getting enough food for the week. Students went around and saw how many packages of macaroni and cheese for instance they would need to put in their box or shopping cart to feed their family members for a week. It was heartwarming to see how empathetic and caring so many of our Seabury students were to the needs of the less fortunate. Then the students stocked a grocery item for the food bank. It was a wonderful, enriching and empowering event. Many thanks to Heide Calhoun who spearheaded this fieldtrip. Also, many thanks to the directors of the foodbank who took time from their busy day to help share their mission with us.

~ Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~

~Margaret Mead 

Looking forward to another exciting week with your Beacon,

Betsy and Tiffany

Week in Review October 12, 2010

2010-10-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Events

No School~ This Thursday and Friday, Oct. 13th and 14th

Field Trip~ Tuesday, Oct. 19th,
Edgewood Food Bank

October 27th-30th Annual Seabury Scholastic Book Fair

Wednesday, October 27th
Annual All School Halloween Costume Parade
(around 2:00ish. More to follow in next week's
Friday Folder)

No School~ Thursday, Oct. 28th and Fri. Oct. 29th
Parent-Teacher Conferences

Here's What's Happening in
the Beacons' World:

Reading:Beacons in both the Charlotte's Web reading group and the Mr. Popper's Penguins groups did an excellent job of cooperative small group learning by using their dictionary skills to complete the tough vocabulary lists. The Charlotte's Web group completed chapter 7 and the
Mr. Popper's Penguin group has completed chapter 9. They are all doing an excellent job of answering the critical thinking questions and especially writing their chapter summaries!

Writing: All Beacons are now on their exciting newspaper article of discovering a strange, new animal! Their imaginations are running wild and their writing is improving to convey their vision of what the animal looks like and the environment in which it lives. Be sure to ask your Beacon the essential questions (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?) about their newspaper story. Stay tuned for more breaking news on your Beacon's amazing animal discovery!

Math: Our two excelerated math groups are finishing up their respective chapters with an assessment today. They are off to new and intersting concepts starting next week. Be sure to ask your Beacon what the new topic of study will be.
Spelling:Last Friday, each Beacon did an amazing job on their spelling test. These were tough words and they really did an "A for effort" work. Since this week is such a short week, we are having the spelling test today, on Wednesday with only a few contractions. In reviewing the Beacon's respective writing logs it seemed pretty evident that they all needed additional help with these words. We will complete the contraction list on next Friday's spelling test.

Science:All Beacons are researching an animal for a research paper and PowerPoint. If you haven't asked your Beacon which animal he/she is researching in Science, please take a minute to do so because it really is quite remarkable how much information each Beacon has gleaned. The important categories students are researching include characteristics and basic facts, habitat, diet, behavior, interesting facts, and resources.

Social Studies: All Beacons have now taken home their edible globes. You'll have to let us know of which continent you took your first slice. Yummy! A parent told me that she doesn't even like cantaloupe; but she was going to make an exception because her Beacon wanted her to taste Africa! Now that we are sure where the continents are and the great bodies of water, we're off to exploring explorers next week! We'll soon be writing about our discoveries.

“Words are the voice of the heart”- Confucius

Looking forward to another exciting week with your Beacon,

Betsy and Tiffany