Posts filed under ‘Harmony’
Physical Education at Allen Brook School by Parker
(Ms. Porter helps Parker with his golf swing.)
There were some cool stations in gym during Gymnastics. Do you want to hear about them?
The Ropes
In the rope station there are two crocodiles named Gertrude and Harold. There is a blue mat which is the water. We pretend that the crocodiles are in the water. The ropes are hanging from the ceiling. There is a knot at the bottom and that’s where you can put your foot or bottom to swing. When you get on the rope there is a hoola hoop in front of you and you try to land in it. It is an ‘island’ in the water. The crocodiles can’t get you when you are on the island.
If any body part touches the ‘water’ the crocodiles automatically eat that part. So, you have to go to Dr. Fix-it. You tell him the body part that you need and he will fix it. Ms. Porter makes jokes like he’s out of arms so you have to swing on the rope with just one arm.
Scoops
The scoop is an ice cream cone shape with a ball attached to a string. You hold the cone and you swing the ball and try to get it into the scoop. If you get it in, Ms. Porter might challenge you to get ten or more in a row.
Spring Board
You can have up to three jumps on the first try. There is a mat with an X on it. That is where you want to land. You want your feet to be glued to the spot where you land. That is called a ‘stuck landing.’
Putting
There is a target. The hole in the middle is the bull’s eye and it is worth ten points. Then there are holes worth five and the outside holes are worth two. To play you need a golf club. You get a grip and you want to make a ‘Y’ with your body (don’t put your hands up) and you try to keep the club on the ground. When you swing back, it is called a ‘brush.’ When you put it forward it is called a ‘tick.’ That’s when you hit the golf ball. When you bring it back, it’s called ‘tock.’ You hope you hit the bull’s eye.
Chipping
Chipping is a different stroke that golfers do. There is a target a foot away and it has a bull’s eye. Instead of facing you, the middle of it is facing the ceiling. The club is shaped upward. It’s a curve. There is a target on it and that’s where you hit the ball. You have to put a little bit of strength in it. You hope that it will hit the target.
The chipping, the putting, the spring board and the scoops were really fun. The ropes were my favorite because you got to swing and swinging is really exciting.
Enrichment at Allen Brook School by Montana
Here at Allen Brook School we have really challenging work in a room called Enrichment. Some of the challenging work is meeting for math. The math is like 5 x 8 or 56 ÷ 4 or 7 + 73.
We have one teacher. Her name is Mrs. Poirot. She is a good teacher and she is really nice. Other children and I get together in a group every Tuesday. We bring home challenging homework and sometimes extra homework.
My name is Montana. I am in first grade and I like Enrichment so next year I would love to be back.
Using Twitter in Mrs. McCormack’s Class Harmony House at Allen Brook School By Mrs. McCormack’s Class
First, we jot down our ideas to tweet on a special paper so we can all see the ideas. We write down ideas about what we did or what we learned in school We call these ideas “tweetable moments.” We also have a tweety bird that’s stuffed and a feather pen.
We vote on which idea we want to tweet. We tweet words, pictures, links to Voicethreads, and videos.
Mrs. McCormack writes the words on the computer and a student clicks to tweet. Then we all say “tweet, tweet” like birds. Then we look on the computer to see if someone tweeted us. We follow Ms. Davison, Ms. Powers, Ms. Rogers and a Kindergarten class in BC, Canada. Our parents follow us too, but we hope more people will follow us. You can follow us, too @McCormack Pals.
Finally, we would like to share that we like this because we get to communicate with other people anywhere in the world. Tweet, tweet!
Harmony Enrichment Math Students Explain Their Thinking
Meet the Mathematicians
About Math Class
‘Private Think Time’
‘Listening to Understand.’
Explaining ‘How.’
Justifying Why
Harmony House – Henry and Mudge at the Flynn Theatre
Harmony Reporters Jared, Lauren, Ellie and Hailey pose with pictures and writing about Henry and Mudge
By Jared, Ellie, Hailey and Lauren
All students in Harmony House went to the Flynn to see the play Henry and Mudge. Henry and Mudge are characters in many stories by Cynthia Rylant. Henry is a young boy and Mudge is dog who likes crackers and popcorn, likes to drool and likes to sleep.
We have been reading many Henry and Mudge stories in our classes. Hailey thought the play was funny and delightful to watch and it showed her how to be a better friend. Lauren thought they added a ton of feelings. Jared thought the acting was great and Ellie learned that you shouldn’t run away because you might get lost and your parents would be really scared and mad.
There was lots of talking, singing and dancing. This story was about not getting mad when a friend is better at something than you are. In the beginning of the story Henry moved away from his good friend and cousin, Annie. He didn’t want to move. Annie mailed him notes and he put them together to make a sentence and found out that Annie was coming. That meant they had to clean!
Annie is a better dog trainer than Henry. It seems like Mudge likes her more. Henry runs into the forest because he is mad and he doesn’t want Mudge to listen to Annie. He wants Mudge to listen to him. The whole point of getting Mudge was to have someone to play with since there were no children near where he lived.
Mudge found Henry in the woods because he smelled Henry’s shoe that smelled like gopher and smelled treats had fallen out of his backpack.
Henry’s Mom told him that Annie had a rough time in the woods and that he should be nice to her. Her fancy ‘dry-cleaning’ dress with sequins got ruined when she was looking for Henry. She wanted to go home.
In the end, Annie gave Henry a hug and she gave a hug to Mudge, too. Henry and Annie were best friends again.
We felt excited to go to the Flynn and everyone clapped at the end.
Technology Brings the World into the Classroom
- Sam Mathiowetz reads from Kuwait
Alexis’s dad, Sam Mathiowetz, was the guest reader in Mrs. McCormack’s class. BUT, he is in Kuwait, all the way around the world. How did he do this? He used a special camera, read the book Clifford and His Pals and make a DVD for the class. We all watched it.
Alexis was really surprised. “I was bouncing and clapping.” Tarik thought it was amazing that her Dad could talk to them from Kuwait. Jake thought it was cool because he doesn’t usually see soldiers.
Last year, the class used technology to skype with author, David Martin. We could talk to him. He read a scroll to us. It had pictures of animals on it and they were asking which animal was making the noise. The class had lots of questions.
What is a guest reader? We all try to guess who the reader will be. We ask questions like, “Is it a boy or a girl? Does s/he like to cook? paint? swim?
Mrs. McCormack gives us clues such as, “S/he wears glasses.” We write guesses on our whiteboard and keep adding or taking away names. Some of our guest readers have been Mrs. Wentz, Mrs. Benoit and Ms. Blaine.
When trying to guess we think who it might be. We wonder if s/he will be using technology to read to us or if the person will just come in and read!
