August 25, 2013

WEEK OF AUGUST 26- 30


Dear Kindergarten Parents,

 

Last week we had such a great time learning about the parts of the apple. We would like to give a BIG thank you to our two wonderful mothers: Mrs. Erika Paige and Mrs. Yudia Florentino for each sending us a delicious apple pie for the students to taste. The students loved them!

 

 

This week we are going to be focusing our study on the letter Tt. The vocabulary for this letter is tiger, turtle, tomato, teeth, telephone, telescope, table, tennis, ten, toaster, toys, tongue, t-shirt, toothbrush, toothpaste, tree, tire, ticket, tear

Our main focus will be learning about tigers. If you have any book, poster, video, or any other material that can be useful for us, we would really appreciate it if we can borrow it from you.

 

 

Some of the stories that we will be reading this week are:

 

Tilly Turtle, Tiger, and Toad are having a terrific time at the tea party until a tiny accident occurs. 

 

 

 

A little girl named Sophie is having tea with her mother in their kitchen. Soon they are joined for tea by a tiger who drinks all the tea, eats all the food in the house and drinks everything, even draining the water from the taps, so that Sophie cannot have her bath. Then he leaves. Sophie's father comes home and suggests that they all go out and have a lovely meal in a cafe. The following day Sophie and her mother go out to buy some more food, including a big tin of tiger food. But the tiger never returns.

 

The story From Head to Toe is a book all about comparing different body movements with humans and animals. Every time the animal asks the human if they can move something on their body the human says “I can do that!”. They go through twelve different body parts.

 

 

 

 

As you all know we have been working with the words and, the, of, to, a. This week we are going to be adding the words in, is, you, that, it. Please practice these words daily with your children.

 

Please remember that your son/daughter is taking homework Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. We place the homework in their folders. Help us at home with this important routine in your child’s life!!

 

In Social Studies, we will study about “Me and My Family.” We are requesting a family picture for TUESDAY. We will be keeping the picture for the following two weeks and returning it to you on Friday, September 6th. We will be discussing how families are alike and different. Each student will have the chance to talk to us about things they do together as a family. We will be discussing why families are important and why do we love our families. The students are allowed to bring a favorite toy to share with the class on FRIDAY. Help your child make a wise decision about which toy he/she should bring to school. Please avoid toys that can easily break and noisy toys that require a battery.

 

This week we are going to introduce the concept of syllables. One of the easiest ways to help children realize that words are made up of several sounds and syllables is to allow them to “break up” words by clapping out their syllables.

 

 

 

In Math, we are going to be reviewing various concepts from numbers 0-5. Some of these concepts are more, less, sequencing, making sets, etc.

 

 

 

 

We would like to thank Daniela Aguirre and Jay Soares for bringing the ingredients for our Kinder Kafe last week. The students enjoyed making an apple tree out of cookies, breadsticks, cream cheese and skittles. Yummy!!! This week the children in charge for donating the ingredients are Katina Alvarado and Valentin Mejia.

 

TIP OF THE WEEK: Encourage your child to share school experiences with you. Take an active interest in your children’s schooling. Ask specific questions about what happens at school each day and how your children feel about it.

 

GAME OF THE WEEK:

 

Clean-up Scavenger Hunt

What you need:

  • paper
  • markers
  • 1 old pillow case (or a fabric carry-all bag) 
  • 1 "treasure" item

This is a perfect way to get two things done at once: cleaning up and keeping the kids entertained. Choose an item to act as the ‘treasure’, such as a cookie, or some cardboard circles wrapped in tinfoil like silver coins. Find a place to hide the treasure in advance. Scan the house for items you want back in one place—a sweater left in the living room, a toy truck in the hallway—and using the markers, create a colourful ‘list’ of items that need to be found in order to get the location of the treasure. Once the kids have run around the house collecting all the items, you can share a clue to help them find the treasure!

Keeping the kids busy indoors can be a challenge, but a little creativity and imagination on your part as well as theirs, and you can transform a simple activity into hours of fun.

 

 

 




 
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WEDNESDAY – As stated in our school calendar, the last Wednesday of every month is assigned for Teacher Professional Development. This Wednesday, August 27 is an early dismissal day for students (11:45 a.m.). We appreciate parents picking their child(dren) up promptly so our teachers can attend the professional development that has been planned for that day.
 
ECOFRIENDLY LUNCH DAY - Discovery students are aiming to be more "green" by recycling and reducing our waste production.  To promote this effort, the 10th grade Environmental Science students will be hosting Ecofriendly Lunch Day on Thursday, August 29th.  During recess, there will be games, activities, and prizes that will encourage students to pack a waste-free lunch.  Previous to this, environmental science students will be visiting classrooms to promote waste reduction and recycling.  Parents, please join with us in this effort and help your student pack a waste-free lunch each day.  For more information about waste-free lunches, please see http://www.wastefreelunches.org/
 
 



August 18, 2013

WEEK OF AUGUST 19- 23


 

Dear Kindergarten Parents,

 
What are the parts of an apple?

 
If you answered that the parts of an apple are the skin, the flesh, the core, the seeds, the stem, and the leaves you are exactly right. These are the vocabulary words we are going to be focusing on during the week. We are going to be doing a lot of activities related to apples. If you have any books, or any other material that can be useful about apples we would really appreciate it if you can let us borrow them. We would really like for the kids to taste apple pies!!! Let us know if you can make a pie for the class!!

 

We are going to be working with the letter Aa. The vocabulary for this letter is: apple, astronaut, ax, alligator, alphabet, ant, armadillo, angry, ankle, and anteater.

 

 

 

Some of the books we are going to be reading this week are the following:

 

 

The author tells the tale of a little boy who is sure that there is an alligator under his bed. Getting no sympathy from his parents who ``never saw it,'' he forms a plan of attack. He leaves a trail of food from his bed through the house to the garage door. He then follows behind as the alligator gobbles up the goodies, fresh vegetables, fruit, and even ``the last piece of pie,'' making its way to the garage. The boy then locks the door.

 

 

 

 


What will Abby Alligator be? An artist, an astronaut, an actor? We will surely have lots of fun finding about this alligator’s adventure!!!

 

 

 

 

Learning to count has never been more fun than in this crazy tale of a dog, a lion and a tiger all showing off how many apples they can balance on their heads as they skip, walk the tightrope and roller skate their way through the book. We are going to be reviewing our numbers while reading this fun book.

 

 

 

Two young sisters watch in fascination as their apple tree changes, from bare in winter to bursting with pink blossoms in spring, and as robins build a nest. When autumn comes, the small green apples have grown big enough for picking and for pie! The words we are going to be discussing from this book are: branch, blossoms, chirp, brim, guarding and delicious.

 

 

This week we will be focusing on comparing number of words in a sentence.

 

 

 

 

In Math we will be discussing Shapes. We will be using the vocabulary same and different.

 

 

 

On Wednesday, August 21st we will be celebrating a birthday of one of our students. You only need to send a snack with your child on this day. Pizza and cake will be provided for lunch.

                              

 

 

We would like to remind you that there is a $ 120.00 or Lps. 2500.00 fee to buy all the supplies your child will be using throughout the school year. If you have not sent this fee, please do so as soon as possible.

 

 

Please remember to check your child’s folder every single day and send it back to school the next day. We are working on this special routine with the students. Remember that this is the best way for you to communicate with us.

 

 

 

As stated in our Open House, we will be sending homework every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesdays and Thursdays can either be Language or Math and on Wednesdays your child will be taking a Spanish homework.

 

 
Beginning readers use a lot of different ways to become more fluent readers. One of the most important ways to do that is to be able to read and recognize sight words. Sight words refer to the words that are most frequently used and repeated in books, which is why sight words are also sometimes referred to as “high-frequency” words. The same words are also sometimes called “popcorn words.” The phrase popcorn words refer to the fact that students should be able to just pop those words out every time they see them. We will continue with the same sight words from last week: the, of, and, a, to. Please  practice them at home with your child every day.

 

TIP OF THE WEEK: Make sure that your child has time to play after school and on weekends. Now that your child spends more time in a structured school environment, you should allow more free time at home for play. Kindergarten homework includes playtime!

 
A big THANK YOU goes to Alegria Aguirre and Ian Rodriguez for donating the ingredients for our Kinder Kafe last week. The children enjoyed decorating a muffin with marshmallows and M&M’s. This week Jay Soares Ben-Nassar and Daniela Victoria Aguirre will be in charge for donating the ingredients.


GAME OF THE WEEK:

Homemade Twister
What you need:
  • colored construction paper (at least 4 different colors)
  • scissors
  • tape
Let’s face it: kids have an amazing amount of energy. So tap into that and get them twisted up in knots. While the original game is fun, the homemade version can be even wilder, especially if you decide to use the wall as well as the floor. Cut out four circles of each color and tape them to the floor. No need for a spinner—you can choose Left Hand/Foot and Right Hand/Foot commands for the different colors to get them twisted up. Or if the kids want to be involved (and you want a turn to twist yourself), put some pieces of paper in a hat with the different commands on them. It’s a great way to expend some energy and get the giggles going.

 

 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY – Discovery School parents are invited to attend the General Assembly that will take place this Saturday, August 24 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the School Cafeteria. Important matters such as a suggested revision to our school calendar, budget information, an update on the status of the Concrete Plant, Board committees and school-wide implications of MAP data will be addressed. YOUR ATTENDANCE IS CRUCIAL—we need a quorum of 1/3 of our parents (55 parents) for the meeting to be considered a legal meeting of our school Association. Please mark your calendars and plan on attending.  **Believe and Achieve Sports will be at the school to work with the children while the parents are attending the meeting. **Coffee and juice will be provided.

CHOIR AUDITIONS – The Choir auditions will take place on Wednesday, August 21 and Thursday, August 22 during Snack Recess (9:45-10:10) in the music room.   Students from grades 1-12 who did not audition last year are invited to audition. The students may sing a song of their preference acapella. Students and parents are asked to commit to the whole year’s participation in Choir. Our Choir has been invited and has accepted the invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City next summer, and practices will be geared to prepare the students for that prestigious event. A schedule of practices will be provided this week. If you have questions, you can contact either Ms. Pamela (pcruz@discoveryschool.edu.hn) or Ms. Norma (nlopez@discoveryschool.edu.hn) for more information.

MATH REINFORCEMENT:  IXL ACCOUNTS (for grades Kinder through 5 only) – Last year our teachers piloted the IXL Math enrichment with our students. Because it was so successful and well received by parents and students, the school has acquired a

subscription to IXL for all students in Grades KG-5. This is an individualized on-line program that reinforces math skills across the curriculum and is aligned to our Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment that we administer to all students in Grades KG-10 three times during the school year. Teachers will post information in their weekly blogs indicating what areas and how much time students should work on IXL during the week. Parents are encouraged to support their children by checking the weekly blogs and having their child complete the practices assigned by each teacher. If you are unclear about any aspect of the IXL, please contact your child’s teacher or the Area Administrator (Nora for KG – Grade 1 nsierra@discoveryschool.edu.hn and Cristiana for Grades 2-5 cbanegas@discoveryschool.edu.hn.

SCHOOL CAFETERIA – for information on the school cafeteria menu and services please visit discoverycafeteria.blogspot.com 

AFTER-SCHOOL SPORTS PROGRAM – Our first session of After-School Activities with Believe and Achieve Sports started today. The sessions will run from 3:15 - 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon on Saturday for students from Kindergarten up. During the sessions, students will rotate through different sports, including soccer, basketball, frisbies, golf, American football, and others. Focus is on helping students learn skills, practice teamwork, and have fun, regardless of their current knowledge or skills!

·         TRANSPORTATION:  The school will follow the practice we have followed over the past several years and provide transportation for the students at the end of the Tuesday and Wednesday sessions in the main part of Tegucigalpa. We will not provide transportation to the outlying areas, such as El Hatillo, Santa Lucia, and the airport. As in the past, there will not be a nanny on the bus; however, the driver will make sure all students are buckled up. We will not provide transportation to any area on Saturday.

·         TRANSPORTATION FEE:  Parents are asked to pay Lmp.100 per month for the bus services if their children are planning to use it on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Lmp.60 per month if they are planning to use it for only one of those days. That can be given to Carolina (Receptionist) or anyone in the Finance Office.

·         SIGN-UP FOR SPORTS PROGRAM:  Sign-up for the sports program is with Mr. Eric Hamm directly. His phone number is 9599-2959. As this is a new program, we may need to make adjustments as we go along, and we will keep you informed of any changes. One thing that we will be considering is the traffic at 5:00 p.m. and how long it takes us to get the students home after the activities.

The school welcomes any suggestions parents may have. If you have not had a chance to sign up yet, please contact Ms. Paola Mena, Administrative Assistant, at dsoffice@discoveryschool.edu.hn, 2231-7790 or 9950-66924 to let us know of your interest.

·         At the current time we are not planning to offer other activities during the first quarter, with the exception of Choir. After we have assessed the Sports program, we will make a decision if we will offer other activities starting in the second quarter. Choir teachers will provide parents with a schedule of practices this week, but we will attempt to schedule the Choir practices so they don’t interfere with the Sports.

 

FROM THE COUNSELOR’S OFFICE – Ms. Marilis, our Guidance and Career Counselor, will begin working on group discussions/presentations with the sixth graders this week. The topic they will focus on will be "Reinforcing Organizational and Study Skills ".

 

ENROLLMENT DRIVE:   The Board of Directors elected to repeat the Enrollment Drive for the 2013-2014 school year, and the term will expire soon.

 

1.      PERIOD OF THE ENROLLMENT DRIVE:  This opportunity is available until August 31, 2013, and is not retroactive. 

 

2.      CONDITIONS:

A.    Discovery Parent must personally introduce a potential new student and parents to Ms. Giles at the beginning of the admission process (this must be someone who has not already requested information on admission)

B.     The school will follow the usual admission process in determining whether the student will be admitted

C.     The cash benefit will apply only if the new student is actually admitted for the 2013-2014 school year.

 

3.      CASH BENEFIT FOR DISCOVERY SCHOOL PARENTS AND TEACHERS:

During the enrollment drive period, for each new student that a family introduces to Ms. Giles and who is thereafter admitted after meeting all of our admission requirements, the sponsoring parent or teacher will receive a cash bonus in the amount of 5% of the tuition (not capital fee) that the new student actually pays during the 2013-2014 school year.

 

4.      ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:  All new students are required to meet the admission requirements that are already established. If a student applies and is not admitted, no bonus will be paid.

 

5.      ORGANIZATIONS:  This offer applies to individuals who pay their own tuition and does not apply to organizations.

 

6.      UNFORESEEN COMPLICATIONS:  The Board reserves the right to discontinue the Enrollment Drive at any time if there are any unforeseen complications for the school.

 

**NOTE:   If a class is or becomes full, Discovery School reserves the right to put a new applicant on a waiting list. In that case, the bonus would not be paid unless the child is admitted during the 2013-2014 school year.

 

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Paola Mena, Administrative Assistant, at 2221-7790 or dsoffice@discoveryschool.edu.hn.

 





Ms.Valencia and Ms.Nora
 

August 11, 2013

AUGUST 12-17, 2013


Welcome to Ms. Nora’s and Ms. Valencia’s Kindergarten at Discovery School! This will be an amazing year filled with wonderful learning adventures! We will update the blog every Monday. You will be able to read weekly classroom updates, and see so many other cool and amazing things that we enjoy in Kindergarten. Please join our classroom blog!

 

We will begin with the study of the letter Mm. We will be doing a variety of activities with this letter. The vocabulary words we are going to be focusing on are: magazine, mustache, mustard, meat, muscle, motorcycle, medicine, mud, mop, marbles, mirror, mushroom, microscope, magnifying glass, magnet, and money.

 

 

 

Phonemic Awareness: is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds-phonemes- in spoken words. Before children learn to read print, they need to become more aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of speech sounds, or phonemes (the smallest parts of sound in a spoken word that make a difference in a word’s meaning).

These first weeks of school we will be doing a lot of activities to identify a word, a letter and a sentence.

 

Some of the stories that we will be reading during the week are:

 

The Kissing Hand School is starting in the forest, but Chester Raccoon does not want to go. To help ease Chester's fears, Mrs. Raccoon shares a family secret called the Kissing Hand to give him the reassurance of her love any time his world feels a little scary.

Some of the words we will be discussing from this book are: raccoon, thoughts, thoughtful, nuzzled, scampered, promise, warmth, and nocturnal.

 

 

 


 

 

 


If you Give a Mouse a Cookie


If a hungry little traveler shows up at your house, you might want to give him a cookie. If you give him a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. He'll want to look in a mirror to make sure he doesn't have a milk mustache, and then he'll ask for a pair of scissors to give himself a trim....

Some of the words we will be discussing from this book are: finished, probably, napkin, thirst, straw, drawing, refrigerator, crayons, cookie, mirror, mustache, scissors, sweeping, washing, blanket, pillow, comfortable, trim and cookie

 

 

If you give a Moose a Muffin If a big hungry moose comes to visit, you might give him a muffin to make him feel at home. If you give him a muffin, he'll want some jam to go with it. When he's eaten all your muffins, he'll want to go to the store to get some more muffin mix. Some of the words we will be discussing from this book are: moose, muffin, sweater, needle, thread, antlers

 

In our first Social Studies unit we will be talking about MY SCHOOL. Some of the vocabulary words we will be introducing in this unit are: stapler, staple remover, tape dispenser, tacks, paper clips, desk, paintbrush, hole puncher, glue, markers, eraser, ruler, scissors.

 

The sight words we will be studying for the next two weeks are the, of, and, a, to. Please practice them daily with your child at home.

 

Kindergarten Kafe: As discussed in our Open House, every week two students will be in charge of bringing the ingredients for our Kinder Kafe on Fridays. The students in charge for this week are Alegria Aguirre and Ian Rodriguez

 

 

DPTO EVENT  Parents’ and Teachers’ Night Out! Mark your Calendars

The Discovery Parent Teacher Organization will host a fun get-together for parents and teachers (especially for those new to the school) next Friday, August 16 at Ibiza Restaurant in Col. San Ignacio, from 7:30 p.m. onwards. Ten percent (10%) of the proceeds will be donated to the school! Invitation and further details will be sent by the DPTO via email next week. We hope all our parents and teachers will be able to join us!

 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY Discovery School parents are invited to attend the General Assembly that will take place on Saturday, August 24 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the School Cafeteria. Important matters such as a suggested revision to our school calendar, budget information, an update on the status of the Concrete Plant, and school-wide implications of MAP data will be addressed. YOUR ATTENDANCE IS CRUCIAL—we need a quorum of 1/3 of our parents (55 parents) for the meeting to be considered a legal meeting of our school Association. Please mark your calendars and plan on attending.  Teachers who have students enrolled at Discovery are required to attend; other teachers are encouraged to attend to stay informed about school activities.

 

TIP OF THE WEEK: It is important when preparing our children for the first day of school to plan ahead. Children take their cue from their parents. If parents are calm, reassuring, optimistic and supportive, children will feel both confident and competent.

 

GAME OF THE WEEK: This is a fun game that you can play with your child at home.

 

Egg-Carton Memory

What you need:

1 egg carton

12 small items like a coin, shell, or small toy

 

Egg cartons are natural treasure boxes. They have a fabulous amount of uses when it comes to kids, such as paint containers, craft kits, and more! In this case, an egg carton becomes the perfect tool to use for this game, which can be played in a multitude of ways. Fill up each of the spaces with the 12 items, then have your child take a good look at the carton. When he’s ready, close the carton and have him write down what was inside. For a simpler version, simply close the carton, have him close his eyes, then take out one of the items. When he opens his eyes, see if he can guess what is missing. Make it even more of a challenge by switching two items. There are lots of ways to vary the game, making it a fun (and super easy) one to play.