Elementary School Newsletter - March 1st, 2021
Dearest PCS Families,
What a wonderful Spring-like weekend! Hope everyone was able to get outside and enjoy some sunshine and mild temperatures. Next week will bring us to the end of Quarter 3 (March 12) and offer an opportunity for teachers and families to sit down to discuss student progress during our Q3 conferences (March 8-11). These conferences will again be virtual as was the case in October. Please be on the lookout for conference sign ups that will be sent via your child’s teacher. We ask all families to sign up for a time for each of their children. Report cards and other progress reports will be given at that time as well.
Reminder that Thursday, March 11 is a half day with dismissal for our in person students at Noon. Virtual learners will end learning at home that day at Noon as well. Friday, March 12 is no school for all students. The following week is Spring Break so again all students will be off school March 15-19. School will resume for Quarter 4 on Monday, March 22.
Our Project Based Learning (PBL) project highlight this week zooms in on our first graders in Mrs. Rutan’s class. Their study of sound, light, and communication was worked through in the project titled “Boom, Boom, Flash!”
Boom, Boom, Flash!
In this project, students are working to communicate an emotion using light or sound (but no words!) We spent several weeks exploring light and sound through a variety of observations and experiments. As part of their investigations, students also deepened their understanding of common emotions (e.g., happiness, sadness, anger, fear, love, excitement, etc.) and looked at examples from tv, movies, music, and art to explore the ways that light and sound are used to convey emotions. Many of our explorations came through choice boards! Students had ownership over their learning as they were able to choose what aspects of light, sound and emotions they wanted to learn more about.
See below for a look into our exploration centers!
Student teams then focused on a different emotion and using what they have learned about feelings and sound they created a podcast where students interviewed each other about their different zones of regulation. All ideas for the podcast came from their previously written non-fiction books on their individual zone. Students are so excited to share their learning with our kindergarten friends!
Podcast Example #1 and Example #2
We use this rubric to reflect on teamwork!
Once our learning and exploring was complete we started to brainstorm and draft different ideas for a light or sound device. Many students have family and friends far away so they are very excited to create something they can put to use! Since students will be creating something meaningful to them it really adds a layer of personal authenticity since it is speaking to students' own lives. Some examples students have brainstormed are: creating a shadow puppet show, using Scratch Jr. to code a message, and scientific drawing of a light or sound device. Our next steps will focus reflection, critique and revision. Students will give peer to peer feedback and take their final products through multiple revisions. Stay tuned to see what public product our first graders will create!
Earlier in our unit we practiced giving feedback and revising our instruments!
Through projects such as this, one can really see the amount of learning from different content areas that get integrated into this one project. Cross-curricular learning is a major focus within PBL as that allows students to gain a deep understanding of how their learning can be applied in real life situations and work together rather than learning different skills separately.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or anything you would like to discuss. My door (well, virtual door this year!) is always open! Thanks for all you do for your children and working hard with us to help make this year the best it can be with all the challenges that have come with it!
Warmly,
Dana
Announcements:
Note from the School Counselors ~ Thursday, March 11th will be our schoolwide Career Day. All students both at school and at home are invited to dress up in attire representing what they would like to be when they grow up. If you are thinking, “Oh dear, one more thing for me to have to figure out,” no worries! Students are also welcome to wear any PCS spirit wear or college gear, as we will certainly be emphasizing that day the importance of education! Teachers will also be helping students discover the traits within themselves that may shine in certain professions. Throughout the morning students will be watching short videos from professionals in various roles throughout the community explaining their jobs, as well as, the steps they took to reach their chosen career. Students in Grades 4-8 will hear from presenters via zoom and have time for career exploration based on their interests. This should be a fun way to wrap up our frigid winter and head into spring break. Thank you in advance for your support!
Library News:
SLPL Virtual Summer Camps
Saint Louis Public Library will offer free camps on zoom from June 7th-August 6th. Sign up begins March 1st at noon. Click on the link to view camps and sign up for them!
https://slpl.jumbula.com/#/home
PCS Celebrates Read Across America Week (March 1st-5th) with Online Book Fair
Read Across America begins next week, the perfect time to kick-off our Follett Book efair! Our book fair will run from March 1st to March 15th. Every purchase made will benefit our school! Follett Book Fairs offer more profits for our school, free shipping on any purchase (delivered to the school), and have a larger selection of award winning and popular titles.
Everyone is welcome to participate! Simply visit our online fair page to purchase books for your child, yourself, school or help build classroom libraries. Once our online fair has ended, all books will be shipped to the school for pick up after Spring Break.
Books will be delivered to in person students and pick up dates for virtual students are coming!
Would you like to support a child who may not be able to participate? We encourage you to purchase a gift card which can be emailed to vramsey@premiercharterschool.org. We will then use your donated gift card to help a child in our school community.
You can find a Read Across America Choice Board with free ebooks, and a digital escape room from Breakout Edu here.