Today, I had the privilege of touring sixteen LME parents around our kindergarten and first grade enrichment clusters. This was the third and final meeting of round one of our K/1 enrichment clusters. I was so proud to show our parents all of the amazing learning opportunities taking place during the enrichment clusters. The students were excited, engaged and energized. It is so impressive to see what our youngest learners at LME can accomplish. Below you will find summaries of what each of the enrichment clusters accomplished in three weeks.
But do not worry! Enrichment clusters are not over for our K and 1 students. Next Friday, they will all be placed in a second enrichment cluster, which lasts for three weeks as well. Our goal with our kinder and 1st grade students is to give them lots of opportunities to explore and learn more about areas of interest. And that is exactly what our enrichment clusters accomplish for these two grade levels.
One more thing! I have started to tweet. So to see and read more about SEM at LME, please follow me @SEMatLME.
Giving our youngest students time to explore areas of interest...another thing that sets LME apart.
Hocus Pocus: The first meeting of the Hocus Pocus enrichment cluster was a huge hit! We learned how to make something disappear, how to levitate an ordinary object and how to confuse our audience with a seemingly simple cup trick. Remember, magic is just an illusion...or is it? Hmmm? See you next week as we learn some more great magic tricks!
Football Around The World: During this enrichment cluster we will learn how to create a football playbook and using teamwork to make us better soccer players.
Dinotopia: During this enrichment cluster we will be traveling back in time to discover dinosaurs. The children will explore this enrichment cluster through games, puzzles, books, and experiments. Fossils will be created and discovered on the LME property. A surprise activity awaits all paleontologists during the last Dinotopia class!
Puppet Pals: During this enrichment cluster we will make a variety of puppets, learn puppet manipulation skills and make a puppet stage. Students will also have a chance to try their hand at performing with an assortment of hand puppets and various types of puppet stages.
Just Dance: In the “Just Dance” enrichment cluster, we had lots of visitors and helpers for our first week. Madison Neely and Sophie Gray, from the Westwood Sundancers, came and taught us a dance to the song "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen. We learned about each other's dance experiences and the children expressed why they wanted to be in the dance cluster. The students brainstormed ideas of types of dance that they want to learn. These included Indian dance, tap, and contemporary styles. Fifth grade helpers will be helping with these dance style demonstrations and teaching. At the end of our first meeting several of the students performed dances for us all in a talent show type format.
Team LEGO: In this enrichment cluster the children will find out how LEGOS are made, design their own mini-figure, work as a team to build the tallest tower and even use an app to help us make our own LEGO movie!
Out of this World! During week one, we will explore and discover all kinds of interesting things about space. We will rotate through four stations with books, games, toys and puzzles to get ourselves into the outer atmosphere! During the second week, we will have a guest engineer, Mr. Hall, help us launch rockets from a rocket launcher outside. We will see how the different angles of the rockets can affect the distance they travel. Our final week we will make a rocket using a film canister to hold our fuel. We use water and Alka-Seltzer to power the engine and blast our rockets into the sky! We will take extra fuel home to blast off our rockets over the weekend!
Friendship Bracelets: At the “Friendship Bracelets” enrichment cluster, we talked about our experiences with jewelry making and watched an instructional video about using Rainbow Looms. Then we got started making bracelets! Our facilitators are Mrs. Miranda and Mrs. Webster. We also met our 5th grade helpers Shreya, Sarah, Adwita and Violet who are Rainbow Loom experts!
Chemistry Unleashed: During this enrichment cluster we will be discovering the different states of matter by mixing solutions that will turn into a solid and watching liquid dramatically turn into a gas. We will also see how one liquid can make another liquid “dance”.
Snappy Snapshots Cluster: During this enrichment cluster we will be exploring and learning the basics of good photography. Your child will even get to start their very own portfolio with their “snappy snapshots”!
Amazing Animals: In this enrichment cluster we will be exploring remarkable reptiles, brilliant birds, and our surprise mammal this year is a real show dog. What does it take to care for these cool pets and why are they so incredible? We hope to answer some questions and have fun learning some new things. In addition we will have activities that will help us celebrate our interest in animals.
Rock On! During this enrichment cluster we adopt “Pet Rocks”, excavate crystals, learn about rocks of the USA, and and whatever else the students are interested in learning! Let’s see where our imagination takes us!
Vets and Pets: During this enrichment cluster, we will be learning many exciting things about animals and careers with animals. We will survey our friends and graph our favorite animal. A real Veterinarian will teach us about pets and how vets help animals. We will explore how to care for and train pets with hands on activities. During our three weeks of exploring we will also have a chance to dig deeper into a specific interest in pets through a variety of activities. Your child’s passion for pets or a career with animals will be developed as we follow their interests and talents learning about vets and pets.
Amazing Airplanes: During this enrichment cluster we will be learning about the history and science of airplanes, making and testing paper airplanes, and designing and constructing our own airplane out of various materials.
Creative Card Making: During this enrichment cluster we will be learning different techniques to make pop up cards, origami cards, pull-tab cards, and many more. We’ll be using different craft supplies: stamps, markers, paint, glitter, yarn, ribbons, colorful cardstock and more. As a cluster we’ll be deciding on what type of cards we will be making: birthday cards, thank you notes, thinking of you cards, etc. We’re sure to brighten the days of others!
Computing Cubs: Our group of Computing Cubs had a great time exploring the world of computers. We started with a discussion of where we see computers in our day to day life and what jobs they perform. This led into a discussion of what a program is and spending time at the website
http://code.org/learn. This free website allows kids to write their first computer program with help from the Angry Birds. After completing an hour of code, all participants received a certificate with their name on it. In our two remaining meetings we will be looking inside a computer, learning some basic typing skills, and exploring how a Smart Board works. We're off to a great start!
Yummy! Yummy! To My Tummy! “Yummy! Yummy! To My Tummy!” is an amazing culinary experience that combines food and art. We will be using every day favorites such as pretzels, cheese sticks, pudding, and strawberries to create delicious edibles as well as pieces of art. We will be providing a service to our families as we learn new recipes and kitchen skills that we can use at home, and some treats will be taken home to share. Every lesson has a literary extension that promotes love of reading, even in the kitchen!
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