students in actionThe kindergarteners are at it again. They got caught doing something cute! They have a new cheer called The Zombie Cheer. While Mrs. Neufeld was not quite sure if it actually qualifies as a cheer, the children were quick to point out that "Mr. K. says it's a cheer!". Therefore, it must be one! |
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Kindergarten students also continue to demonstrate their ability to use Kagan engagement strategies to practice skills and learn content. Here you can see them using Quiz Quiz Trade to practice the identification of punctuation marks. |
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Students in actionDid you know that exercise releases chemicals in the brain that sharpen one’s ability to learn and think quickly? Also, exercising to increase mental processing is more effective if it is done immediately before taking a test. This week, teachers got students up and moving to alleviate some of the pressure that TCAP causes. Here is a great video of 4th grade students taking time to warm up their brains with some Zumba dancing before their first session of TCAP on Friday.
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First-grade is a crucial grade level when it comes to teaching students to read. In addition to whole-group reading instruction, delivered by all three first-grade teachers, Mrs. Gallegos, Mrs. Garcia, and Mrs. Vigil have also carefully divided students for small-group instruction. During first-grade "flooding" time, many adults descend on these classrooms in order to provide thirty minutes of instruction based on students' reading levels. This work is focused on vocabulary development, fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. This whole- and small-group instruction is helping our first-graders to become very competent readers who enjoy the books they read. Thanks for the effort everyone is putting into these youngsters, giving them the dual gifts of being able to read as well as loving to read.