Week 23: Learning Beyond the School Gates!

Dear Family, 

We hope you all had a wonderful week! Ours was filled with exciting experiences as learning beyond the school gate took place this week. Our children continue to grow each day, and with that growth, their imagination and curiosity are expanding more and more. Read on as we take you through the highlights of our week and the wonderful learning moments we shared together.


Large Group

As usual, our large group time was interactive, engaging, and full of meaningful learning as we connected everything together on one main board. Each day, our children share the date using our calendar chart and add one more number to our growing number caterpillar. We end our large group session by reading our large group book as a smooth transition into small group time. This week’s book was “The Old Steam Train”, which taught us about helping others in our daily routines. We also discovered new sight words from the story and proudly added them to our word wall. Along with this, we practiced reading using the five vowels and the new sight words, then challenged ourselves to build simple sentences so we could remember how the words are spelled. Our sessions are always filled with song breaks, thoughtful group discussions, and our children’s wonderful ideas and observations.

“At Liyat’s home there is the largest white paper in the world” -Leul

“Our planet earth is the best, and I want to draw myself inside cause I live inside earth” -Liyat

“But you can’t! Cause pencil doesn’t work on a paint” -Solomon

“I went home and told my mom and dad about the continents and the oceans and the landforms” -Lubono

“I also know some Amharic Phi, try me”

-Kian

“Train like the book” -Yemariam

Literacy

Our literacy sessions continue to focus on strengthening reading and writing skills in fun and engaging ways. This week, we revisited digraphs. During our first literacy session, we sat together on the mat and turned the practice into a playful card game. Our children took turns flipping over cards to reveal a digraph, then read it out loud and brainstormed two words that included that sound. This interactive game kept everyone excited, focused, and eager to participate.

In our second session, we made the learning even more hands on with a scissor activity. Our children cut out pictures of different objects and carefully sorted and pasted them under the correct digraph. This activity helped them connect sounds to real words while practicing fine motor skills.

“Sh, sheep” -Betselot

“I got ch” -Ismael

“What is this flower?” -Yemariam

“Chicken” -Nai

Math

This week, our math focus was all about number identification and number writing. During our first math session, we sat together at the tables and encouraged our children to write numbers starting from 1 and continuing as far as they could. This activity helped them understand number sequencing while also allowing us to see where each child is in their number development and where extra support may be needed. We were so proud to see that almost all of the children wrote confidently up to 20, and some even went well beyond that! In our second math session, we added a fun twist with a scissor activity. Our children snipped out numbers from 100 to 120 and worked carefully to paste them in the correct sequence. This activity was both exciting and challenging, keeping everyone focused, engaged, and motivated while strengthening their number recognition and sequencing skills.

“I’m writing the numbers correctly yeah?” -Yadon

“I can go on and on until 1 million. I know how to write my numbers” -Solomon

“There’s no 103 and 108, did you forget to print them” -Leul

“Also, 116” -Kian

Science

We usually plan our lessons with a clear flow and continuity from previous learning. This week, our original plan was to learn about the water cycle and explore how rain forms as we’ve been learning about the states of matter. However, due to our children’s strong interest in landforms; sparked during large group discussions about the layers of the Earth and our outdoor observation of a nearby construction site; their curiosity shifted toward volcanoes and how they work. Following the HighScope approach of honoring children’s choices and interests, we adjusted our plan to explore this topic further. In our first session, we discussed volcanoes and the science behind them and watched a Dr. Binocs video to support understanding. For our second session, we went outside to the sandpit to bring the learning to life. With great excitement and a love for science, our children worked in groups of 3 to build volcanoes using sand. They created a hole, placed a cup inside, added baking soda, and poured red-colored vinegar to observe the reaction. Their excitement, conversations, and shared discoveries made the experience both fun and meaningful for everyone.

Art

This week’s art sessions kept us busy, focused, and happily creative as we worked on two activities at once. Right after recess, we headed to the art room, where our children sat with plain paper to create self portraits. They were incredibly focused and thoughtful, carefully paying attention to their features and expressing themselves through their drawings. While they were working on their self portraits, we also rotated them in pairs to work on a canvas art project just outside the art room. Using a large plate, we traced a circle on a white canvas (prepared last week) to represent our planet Earth. This week, our children painted the background black to symbolize space and filled the circle with blue to represent the oceans. Next week, we will add green to paint the continents. These activities are helping our children strengthen their artistic skills, build focus, and prepare their hands for upcoming larger projects.

Exploring Construction Up Close

Under close adult supervision, small groups of students safely observed the digging, moving, and building taking place right in front of our school. Our children were fully engaged, sharing observations, asking questions, and connecting what they saw to what they already knew. Some were curious about the machines and how they worked, others noticed the depth of the soil, the loud sounds, and the teamwork involved. While a few children were cautious at first, they soon became comfortable and deeply attentive. Others were excited to explore the soil itself, enjoying its texture and appearance. This experience gave us a wonderful glimpse into their thinking and showed how real life experiences can bring classroom learning to life in the most joyful and memorable ways.

Next week’s schedule:

Monday – Math, Literacy

Tuesday – Literacy, Science

Wednesday -Library, Math

Thursday - Science, Music

Friday - Library

Specials:

Monday- Art

Tuesday - Gym

Thursday - Ethiopian center/ clay

Reminders and notes:

• Please make sure that our children are wearing suitable clothes on Monday as we have art class and activities get messy sometimes.


• Every Wednesday and Friday is library day. Our children will be bringing home a book of their choice in their library folder, so please make sure to read the book with them over the weekend. Please return the folder the following Wednesday so they can get a new one.


• Every Tuesday, we have gymnastics, so please ensure that our children come dressed in comfortable and loose-fitting sports attire to facilitate their exercise.


• Every Friday, we have football, so please make sure our children wear their football jerseys if they have them, or any comfortable shorts.

We love sharing our week with you. Stay tuned for more learning adventures!