2023-24 LS Specialists Newsletter Page

List of 6 items.

• Kindergarten

  Art

  • The lower school student art show was a great success! It was such a joy to see everyone’s work on display and celebrate our artists/musicians at Art & Music Night. This year students have worked really hard, experimented with new styles, techniques, and media, and they’ve discovered their own creative voices. I hope they’re proud of themselves! 

  Cooking/Garden

  • Kindergarteners have been talking about transitions in the garden, and in their lives. We’ve read books about transitions and discussed what each of us need during transitional times to make us feel safe and connected. During this personal transition away from teaching at Redwood Day I want to extend a quick note of gratitude to the parent community for your support!

  DBi Lab

  • Kindergarten students sketched pictures about themselves and prepared Thank You cards in anticipation of meeting up with their 8th grade buddies during the Kinder carnival. 

  Library

  • In library, Kindergarteners are learning about APIDA Heritage Month and we read the story The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. The story features a young girl who moves from Korea to the United States and touches on themes of identity, friendship and self-acceptance. Many kindergarteners have also decided to participate in the library’s APIDA Bingo Board, a month-long literacy challenge that encourages students to read, research, create and share about APIDA heritage. As the school year draws to a close, we will soon focus on reviewing library skills and discussing summer reading goals.

  Mandarin

  • Kindergarten students will continue to practice classroom language in daily practice, such as “can I have/go…” “can I…”, etc. in mandarin. They will learn some most common sentence such as “你几岁了？How old are you?” “我…岁了. I am …years old.” Additionally, they will be learning about some names of family members in Mandarin. They will continue to practice with “I like… 我喜欢…”, “I don’t like…我不喜欢…”, “I love…我爱…” in different topics, such as animals, vegetables and fruits. They will be learning a new song (小兔子乖乖Little Bunny). Students will learn some new Chinese characters (天，车，开，火，门，口，月，羊) by digital game-based learning app on iPad. Besides, we have been practicing Station Rotation activities to practice writing numbers and characters, and our kindergarten students love it!

  Music

  • Kindergartners are participating in music-making with music technology as a group. We are currently exploring Songmaker, a free app through Chrome Music Lab. It’s been great getting to know your children and I wish them the best of luck in the upcoming school year!

  Physical Education

  • Get ready for a couple of action-packed weeks ahead in PE! We're gearing up for the final stretch with some thrilling activities designed to send us off in style. Along the way, we'll take a moment to look back on our progress throughout the year and share our favorite moments. Plus, we'll talk about what we're most excited about for the future. Let's make these weeks a celebration of all the fun we've had, the interesting things we've learned, and how much we've grown together!

  Science

  • Our kindergarteners are in their final unit, where they are learning about animals and their needs for survival. So far, we have explored the essentials of food, shelter, and safety. We've looked at various animals you might encounter on a hike or a walk in the park. Ask your child about the animals they notice while out on a walk and see if they can explain how each animal finds food, shelter, or safety.

• 1st Grade

  Art

  • The lower school student art show was a great success! It was such a joy to see everyone’s work on display and celebrate our artists/musicians at Art & Music Night. This year students have worked really hard, experimented with new styles, techniques, and media, and they’ve discovered their own creative voices. I hope they’re proud of themselves! 

  Cooking/Garden

  • First graders have been showing gratitude in the garden by writing thank you notes to our facilities team who keeps our space looking clean and watered throughout the year. During this personal transition away from teaching at Redwood Day I want to extend a quick note of gratitude to the parent community for your support!

  DBi Lab

  • 1st grade student groups continued work on their Ping pong ball roller coasters. They are using their problem solving skills to keep the ping pong ball on the tracks.

  Library

  • In library, first graders are learning about APIDA Heritage Month and we read the story The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. The story features a young girl who moves from Korea to the United States and touches on themes of identity, friendship and self-acceptance. Many first graders have also decided to participate in the library’s APIDA Bingo Board, a month-long literacy challenge that encourages students to read, research, create and share about APIDA heritage. As the school year draws to a close, we will soon focus on reviewing library skills and discussing summer reading goals.

  Mandarin

  • No Mandarin this semester.

  Music

  • First graders are learning about musical leaps and jumps through the book Jump Frog Jump. They will be closing out the semester music technology. It’s been great getting to know your children, and I wish them the best of luck in the upcoming school year!

  Physical Education

  • Get ready for a couple of action-packed weeks ahead in PE! We're gearing up for the final stretch with some thrilling activities designed to send us off in style. Along the way, we'll take a moment to look back on our progress throughout the year and share our favorite moments. Plus, we'll talk about what we're most excited about for the future. Let's make these weeks a celebration of all the fun we've had, the interesting things we've learned, and how much we've grown together!

  Science

  • Our first graders have been exploring the properties of light, including how it moves, and how it creates shadows and reflections. We played several games with mirrors and recently investigated what can be seen in the dark. Many students observed that even with a sliver of light, they can use their eyes and imagination to see in the dark.

  Spanish

  • During the past month, First Grade Spanish students had the opportunity to experience many more silly and creative Spanish stories. Students experienced these stories in a variety of formats. All of our stories included and emphasized the Super 7 verbs: hay (there is, there are), es (he/she is), está (he/she is), tiene (he/she has), quiere (he/she wants), le gusta (he/she likes) and va (he/she goes). Acquiring these most frequently used verbs takes time and lots of repetition. Students were given the opportunity to interact with the language through reading, acting, drawing, listening and speaking. While reading is not emphasized, I have continued to notice that so many of my First Grade students are giving it a try! I look forward to working with those students who will be continuing on with Spanish in Second Grade. Wishing you all a restful summer full of family time.

• 2nd Grade

  Art

  • The lower school student art show was a great success! It was such a joy to see everyone’s work on display and celebrate our artists/musicians at Art & Music Night. This year students have worked really hard, experimented with new styles, techniques, and media, and they’ve discovered their own creative voices. I hope they’re proud of themselves!  

  Cooking/Garden

  • Second graders have been showing gratitude in the garden by writing thank you notes to our facilities team who keeps our space looking clean and watered throughout the year. Second graders have also been working on garden Haiku’s in collaboration with their core classrooms. During this personal transition away from teaching at Redwood Day I want to extend a quick note of gratitude to the parent community for your support!

  DBi Lab

  • As a complement to their Geometry unit, second grade students built 3D shapes (pyramids, pentagonal prisms, etc.) out of marshmallows and toothpicks, identified the number of sides and corners of their shape, and measured the height, width, and depth of it. They then used the same materials to create a 3D model of playground equipment for a community playground.

  Library

  • In library, second graders are learning about APIDA Heritage Month and we read the story The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. The story features a young girl who moves from Korea to the United States and touches on themes of identity, friendship and self-acceptance.  Many second graders have also decided to participate in the library’s APIDA Bingo Board, a month-long literacy challenge that encourages students to read, research, create and share about APIDA heritage. As the school year draws to a close, we will soon focus on reviewing library skills and discussing summer reading goals.

  Mandarin

  • Second graders will be learning 24 stationery items in Mandarin with most common sentences: “这是什么？What is this? 这是…This is …那是什么？What is that? 那是…That is …” in daily practice. We will also be learning a song (上学歌 Go to School) and two nursery rhymes (怎么回家？How do we go home? 小羊要吃花儿Little sheep wants to eat flowers). Students will continue to work on their Pinyin of 9 compound finals by digital game-based learning apps on iPad. We will be learning some new characters (只，有，牛，水，中, ) in stroke order, and practice with flashcards and Chinese calligraphy brush. Besides, students will use flashcards to review all the characters they have learned and practice in their favorite Jeopardy game!

  Music

  • Second graders are working on beat-making through the app YuStudio, a music production software. Students are applying their knowledge of quarter notes, 8th notes, and 16th notes to a virtual beat machine. They are making progress in gaining skills in understanding simplicity in music compositions.

  Physical Education

  • Get ready for a couple of action-packed weeks ahead in PE! We're gearing up for the final stretch with some thrilling activities designed to send us off in style. Along the way, we'll take a moment to look back on our progress throughout the year and share our favorite moments. Plus, we'll talk about what we're most excited about for the future. Let's make these weeks a celebration of all the fun we've had, the interesting things we've learned, and how much we've grown together!

  Science

  • Our second graders wrapped up their solids and liquids unit by creating their very own tea. After observing the changes that occurred over time, we celebrated with a tea party in the science lab. It was a wonderful way to close the unit. Now, we are diving into our final unit, which focuses on life science and how insects impact ecosystems. Recently, we discussed why some people are scared of insects, and next, we will explore the life cycle of mealworms!

  Spanish

  • Since our last newsletter, Second Grade students proudly shared the Super 7 stories they recently completed writing with their classmates. We had a relaxing two days of reading the stories aloud and listening to each other’s creations. Since my Second Grade students have been acquiring a lot of Spanish this school year, I thought they would benefit from seeing their progress with a more formal assessment of their reading and listening comprehension. Hopefully you have had the opportunity to see their assessments that I recently sent home. They all proved that they are making great progress. Most recently, we have been doing an Ask-a-Story activity. In this activity, we collectively and orally create a story together while one classmate becomes our main character. We create the story in the third-person perspective while the main character responds to comprehension questions about their character from the second and first person perspectives. It has been a real joy watching students begin to navigate the different conjugations of these high-frequency verbs.  I have enjoyed watching my Second Grade students  acquire more Spanish! I look forward to working with them  in Third Grade. Wishing you all a restful summer full of family time.

• 3rd Grade

  Art

  • The lower school student art show was a great success! It was such a joy to see everyone’s work on display and celebrate our artists/musicians at Art & Music Night. This year students have worked really hard, experimented with new styles, techniques, and media, and they’ve discovered their own creative voices. I hope they’re proud of themselves! 

  Cooking/Garden

  • Third graders have been showing gratitude in the garden by writing thank you notes to our facilities team who keeps our space looking clean and watered throughout the year. During this personal transition away from teaching at Redwood Day I want to extend a quick note of gratitude to the parent community for your support!

  DBi Lab

  • Third-grade students were introduced to Scratch programming and independently chose a tutorial to practice coding their first program. 

  Library

  • This month in library class, students explored books that are part of our APIDA Heritage Month collection and had an opportunity to work on literacy challenges. During our more recent class, students also browsed our collection of books by LGBTQ+ authors or with LGBTQ+ characters and had the chance to create a digital book poster for their favorite books!

  Mandarin

  • Third graders will start to learn 24 stationery items in Mandarin with most common sentences: “这是什么？What is this? 这是…This is …那是什么？What is that? 那是…That is …” in daily practice. We will also be learning a song (上学歌 Go to School) and two nursery rhymes (怎么回家？How do we go home? 小羊要吃花儿Little sheep wants to eat flowers). Students will continue to work on their Pinyin of 9 compound finals by digital game-based learning apps on iPad. We will be learning some new characters (只，有，牛，水，中, ) in stroke order, and practice with flashcards and Chinese calligraphy brush. Besides, students will use flashcards to review all the characters they have learned and practice in their favorite Jeopardy game!

  Music

  • Third graders are moving into their music production unit using YuStudio, a digital audio workstation (DAW). During our last few classes together, students will work on individual songs using 3 tracks (audio, Piano, FX).

  Physical Education

  • Get ready for a couple of action-packed weeks ahead in PE! We're gearing up for the final stretch with some thrilling activities designed to send us off in style. Along the way, we'll take a moment to look back on our progress throughout the year and share our favorite moments. Plus, we'll talk about what we're most excited about for the future. Let's make these weeks a celebration of all the fun we've had, the interesting things we've learned, and how much we've grown together!

  Science

  • In third grade, we have been learning about the structures of life and what seeds need to grow. We've also been exploring flowers and how they reproduce. We discussed the crucial role bees play in moving pollen and what they are really after when they visit a flower. Students had the opportunity to build models of flowers and bees to simulate how pollination occurs in real life. Lastly, we dissected & labeled all the parts of a daylily. 

  Spanish

  • Since our last newsletter, Third Grade students have been working on another Movie Talk. Before jumping into our new film, students did a variety of activities to help reinforce the verbs and vocabulary from their first Movie Talk. The goal of using Movie Talk is to provide my students with additional Spanish input with engaging and compelling stories that also get them talking, writing and reading. I select stories that target high-frequency verbs. We are currently in the process of viewing and discussing the video clip, Ormie the Pig. It is a silly story that targets some of the Sweet 16 verbs that we will be working more closely with next year. As we conclude this unit, we will be doing a Write & Discuss and other reading and writing activities to help reinforce the targeted structures and vocabulary. We have had a fun year together. I have enjoyed watching them acquire more Spanish! I look forward to working with them in Fourth Grade. Wishing you all a restful summer full of family time.

• 4th Grade

  Art

  • The lower school student art show was a great success! It was such a joy to see everyone’s work on display and celebrate our artists/musicians at Art & Music Night. This year students have worked really hard, experimented with new styles, techniques, and media, and they’ve discovered their own creative voices. I hope they’re proud of themselves! 

  Cooking/Garden

  • Fourth graders have been showing gratitude in the garden by writing thank you notes to our facilities team who keeps our space looking clean and watered throughout the year. During this personal transition away from teaching at Redwood Day I want to extend a quick note of gratitude to the parent community for your support!

  DBi Lab

  • During their most recent DBi Session, fourth graders participated in Tinkercad’s monthly challenge. They had a choice to design a Mars habitat (the Tinkercad prompt was a desert habitat) or join the Space Challenge. These projects provided an object or a background as a jumping-off point. Each challenge project also had constraints and challenge ideas such as designing an alien or a planet with rings. If students wished to do so, they could submit their designs to the Tinkercad competitions.

  Library

  • This month in library class, students explored books that are part of our APIDA Heritage Month collection and had an opportunity to work on literacy challenges. During our more recent class, students also browsed our collection of books by LGBTQ+ authors or with LGBTQ+ characters and had the chance to create a digital book poster for their favorite books!

  Mandarin

  • Fourth graders will start to learn 24 stationery items in Mandarin with most common sentences: “这是什么？What is this? 这是…This is …那是什么？What is that? 那是…That is …” in daily practice. We will also be learning a nursery rhyme song (花园种花Plant flowers in the garden). Students will continue to work on their Pinyin of 9 compound finals and 9 nasal finals by digital game-based learning apps on iPad. We will be learning some new characters (只，有，牛，水，中, ) in stroke order, and practice with flashcards and Chinese calligraphy brush. Besides, students will use flashcards to review all the characters they have learned and practice in their favorite Jeopardy game!

  Music

  • Fourth graders just finished an exceptional school year by performing Low Rider by the legendary band WAR. Their performance showcased their understanding of multiple-part ensemble playing and their overall joy of music. Over the last few weeks of school, students will dive into music production through the use of YuStudio.

  Physical Education

  • Get ready for a couple of action-packed weeks ahead in PE! We're gearing up for the final stretch with some thrilling activities designed to send us off in style. Along the way, we'll take a moment to look back on our progress throughout the year and share our favorite moments. Plus, we'll talk about what we're most excited about for the future. Let's make these weeks a celebration of all the fun we've had, the interesting things we've learned, and how much we've grown together!

  Science

  • Our fourth graders finished their energy unit by experimenting with solar panels to see how they could generate and speed up a motor using multiple panels. The recent sunshine has been incredibly helpful for this experiment! For our final unit, the fourth graders will explore environments, focusing on the structures of organisms and how these structures enable survival in various environments.

  Spanish

  • I am so excited that the Fourth Grade students are regularly responding to my comprehension questions with beautiful full sentence answers! Since our last Specialist Newsletter, the class has been working on another Movie Talk on the video, Ian - Corto Animado. This video tells the story of a young boy who wants to play and wants to belong, but is seen as different and is therefore not included by the other children. We see the boy’s determination and observe the other children’s unkind behavior change to kindness and inclusion. As with each Movie Talk, I stop the video in order to ask lots of questions and discuss the images. These questions help us collectively tell the story that is unfolding while providing students additional input. After viewing and discussing the video, students will independently read a written version of the story and answer comprehension questions. The comprehension questions provide students the opportunity to practice their language output in written form. I am sad to see our school year come to the end. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Fourth Grade this year. They have all worked to create our fun and unique learning community. It has been such a joy watching their confidence grow! I look forward to working with them when they are in Fifth Grade! Wishing you all a restful summer full of family time.

• 5th Grade

  Art

  • The lower school student art show was a great success! It was such a joy to see everyone’s work on display and celebrate our artists/musicians at Art & Music Night. This year students have worked really hard, experimented with new styles, techniques, and media, and they’ve discovered their own creative voices. I hope they’re proud of themselves! 

  Cooking/Garden

  • Fifth graders have been showing gratitude in the garden by writing thank you notes to our facilities team who keeps our space looking clean and watered throughout the year. During this personal transition away from teaching at Redwood Day I want to extend a quick note of gratitude to the parent community for your support!

  DBi Lab

  • Fifth grade is putting the finishing touches on their automaton memory boxes. They constructed the laser-cut boxes they designed and applied the motion mechanisms they made during the prototype phase of the project. All that remains is building the scene depicting their 5th-grade memory on the top of the box.

  Library

  • This month in library class, students explored books that are part of our APIDA Heritage Month collection and had an opportunity to work on literacy challenges. During our more recent class, students also browsed our collection of books by LGBTQ+ authors or with LGBTQ+ characters and had the chance to create a digital book poster for their favorite books!

  Mandarin

  • Fifth graders will be learning 24 stationery items in Mandarin with most common sentences: “这是什么？What is this? 这是…This is …那是什么？What is that? 那是…That is …” in daily practice. We will also be learning a nursery rhyme song (花园种花 Plant flowers in the garden). We will be learning some new characters (只，有，牛，水，中, ) in stroke order, and practice with flashcards and Chinese calligraphy brush. Besides, students will use flashcards to review all the characters they have learned and practice in their favorite Jeopardy game! Moreover, Students will continue to work on their Pinyin of 9 compound finals and 9 nasal finals by digital game-based learning apps on iPad. Our goal is to complete learning all Pinyin syllables by the end of this semester.

  Music

  • Fifth graders just finished an exceptional school year by performing Oye Como Va by the legendary Tito Puente. Their performance showcased their understanding of syncopated rhythms, multiple-part ensemble playing, and the joy of music. Over the last few weeks of school, students will dive into music production using YuStudio.

  Physical Education

  • Get ready for a couple of action-packed weeks ahead in PE! We're gearing up for the final stretch with some thrilling activities designed to send us off in style. Along the way, we'll take a moment to look back on our progress throughout the year and share our favorite moments. Plus, we'll talk about what we're most excited about for the future. Let's make these weeks a celebration of all the fun we've had, the interesting things we've learned, and how much we've grown together!

  Science

  • The fifth graders are gearing up for the 5-8 STEAM Fair. Recently, we removed all the compost soil produced by our worms and revitalized their habitats with new bedding and kitchen scraps. The students have been working hard on their presentations, diligently collecting and documenting their learning from this semester. They are creating display boards and written presentations to showcase their work. We are looking forward to seeing their presentations on May 30th!

  Spanish

  • Since our last newsletter, Las Tormentas Negras spent the majority of their time playing verb conjugation games. The games were designed to help students learn the many details of verb conjugation while also giving them the opportunity to interact with and acquire a variety of regular AR, ER and IR verbs. Students were not expected to learn or memorize these verbs, but many students discovered that they were able to acquire many of them while practicing conjugation. As we finish up the end of the school year, Las Tormentas Negras will be shifting their focus back onto the Sweet 16 verbs. This time, however, they will be focusing on using the different conjugations of these irregular high-frequency verbs. It has been such a joy watching all of them acquire more Spanish this year. I am going to miss having this energetic group in my classroom next year. It is hard to believe they are off to Middle School! Wishing you all a restful summer full of family time.