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First and Second Grades
Introduction
Most children come to the first grade eager to learn. Along with the expectations of more academic work comes greater freedom. For example, they can go anywhere within the boundaries of the school, and they have more opportunities to make decisions regarding rules as they affect their class.
We know that they are still young children, growing and maturing, with strong needs for play, social life, and stimulating experiences. We allow these years to be a vibrant mixture of many elements:
- academic with a focus on learning to read, write, and comprehend basic math ideas.
- social with a focus on learning how to be an assertive and compassionate member of the Harmony community.
- physical through games, sports, music, and dance.
- artistic through exposure to many kinds of creative and expressive activities.
We believe in treating every child as an individual with respect to their individual needs, desires, interests, quirks, and learning styles. We nurture their development by modifying what we expect of them (both intellectually and socially) to suit their growing abilities and level of maturity
Classes
Bodyworks
Instead of holding "gym" classes, we play games and work on skills which will develop physical coordination, strength, flexibility, and good sportsmanship in our kids. The emphasis is on fun and cooperation. Bodyworks is held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Music and Storytelling
Claudio and Michele rotate telling stories and having music class every two weeks. Music includes singing songs, folkdancing, and playing rhythm instruments. Storytelling is just that-Michele shares fairy tales, folk tales and her own creations.
Journal Writing
Every student writes in his/her journal every day. Generally, kids write anything they want. This is a time when we can work on grammar, spelling, and punctuation on an individual basis. Once a week, we have "directed journal" where every kid writes about a topic we introduce. We sit together and share our responses.
Spanish
Spanish class is held 3-4 times a week for 20 minutes. Students learn words and expressions through games, songs, and other fun activities. Our main goal is for the kids to feel comfortable with a different language and to enjoy knowing and speaking the words and sounds of Spanish.
Math
Our math program covers the same material as most 1st and 2nd grades. Each student works with a textbook that allows them to learn basic number skills at their own pace. We do whole-group and small-group activities providing a more hands-on approach as such areas are explored as patterns, measurements, classification, and assorted kinds of problem-solving. We have a lot of manipulative games that involve math skills (card games, chess and checkers sets, and board games).
Reading
Reading is taught by assessing kids' reading styles and providing materials and guidance that will support that learning style. Although we generally begin with a variety of basal readers, our goal is to get kids to choose books from our own library as their "readers" as soon as possible. During reading time, we also have kids write creative stories.
Language Arts
This is a more formalized language arts period. During this time, the students learn about spelling patterns, punctuation, capitalization, parts of speech, etc. They also do silent reading and have some time for teachers to read to the kids.
Themes
When the students are "in program", they do "themes" which are social studies or science units that last from 3-6 weeks. These tend to be very experiential and usually involve trips to the community. Some examples of subject matter: plants, animals, physics, magnetism and electricity, Mexico, Canada, where doi things come from and where do they end up.
Family Meetings
This is the time when the kids and/or teachers can bring up new ideas, issues, concerns, or problems that they have at school. This is followed by a discussion with brainstorming about solutions resulting in a vote by everyone (students and teachers) to address the issue. We also have "golden shining moments" where each kid tells about a positive thing that happened to him/her at school since the last family meeting.
Special Day on Fridays
In-Program, 1:00 to 2:45-field trips, long theme activity days, or community service.
Out-of-Program, 1:00 to 2:45-Trips or activities with the rest of the Elementary School.
Every Other Week, 9:30 to 10:30-Long Family Meeting.
The first Friday of the month, Clubs, 1:00 to 2:24-Sponsored by parents and community members with the rest of the elementary and middle school.
Parent Involvement
A volunteer Parent Involvement Coordinator (PIP) is designated at the beginning of every year. This person helps to organize parents who work in our classroom by being substitute teachers, supplementing our classroom curriculum, helping to maintain and beautify the classrooms, tutoring kids one on one, or sharing any special talents or skills they may have. Please look for the sign-up sheet on our big calendar every month.
Books
There are two ways we add to our class library. One way is the Library Fund. Contributing to this fund allows us to buy high-quality books of our choice. Library Fund Drive forms are passed out at the beginning of the year.
The other way is through book orders. Every month we will send book order forms home with your child. These books are less expensive than the same books in a bookstore. For every book you purchase for your child, the class receives points. With these points, we are able to get free books for the classroom.
You are not obligated to participate in either of these programs, but we are genuinely grateful for any help that you can give us!
It is our policy to have kids check out their readers (textbooks) just as they would do a library book. If the readers are lost, we will ask you to replace the book. Most of these readers cost between $15 and $20.Evaluations
There are three evaluation times during the year. The first is during the week of Thanksgiving. A written evaluation is presented to parents during scheduled times during this week. Near the end of February, we send home a short note about how each child is doing in class. No conferences are scheduled at that time, but if the parents feel the need to set one, we are more than happy to schedule one. The last evaluation time is at the end of May. Again, we write up evaluations and set up times for parent conferences.
Feel free to arrange a meeting with us any time you have questions or want to talk about your child. You can always call us at any time. That's why we are here!Trips
Trips are an important part of Harmony School's curriculum. We try to post all trips on the large calendar in our big room, but some spontaneous trips do occur occasionally. Many trips happen on Friday afternoons. Some trips cost extra money, but we try to keep the expenses down as much as possible. We schedule a trip at the end of the school year that lasts 3 days and 2 nights. Transportation is always a challenge for us, so please let us know if you can help us out by driving!Clothes
Send your child to school in weather appropriate clothing. This is especially important when we go on trips. Note, too, that we have Bodyworks class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, so kids should be sent in clothing they can be active in those days. We ask that kids bring an extra pair of shoes to leave at school. This saves our carpet when kids come in with muddy feet!
Harmony Education Center
909 East 2nd Street, Bloomington, IN 47401
ph: 812/334.8349 fax: 812/333.3435
Comments? webmaster@harmonyschool.org
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