Community Street: How to Help Edit

How To Help Edit from Andrea Pierotti on Vimeo.

This skit was developed and edited by these two third graders. This is their advice about how to edit in a supportive way. Stay tuned for more small episodes developed by the other children in the class. This is our work for an hour each Friday when we revisit the topic of being a caring community.

Forest Research

Forest Research from Andrea Pierotti on Vimeo.

Take a peek at our time in the forest on Fridays. I can already see them talking spontaneously about the changes they are observing. I'm excited for the representations of their data. Which things changed the most? Which did not change much at all? Why?

First Snowfall

Measuring the depth on our snowboard

Core sample

Melting the snow and measuring the mass
to find out how wet the snow was

MLK Day: A Day of Community Service

Children from many grades kicking off our
Togetherness Project with Anna in Founders Hall

 

Writing messages of togetherness.

 

Weaving the messages together as a symbol of our hopes for the future.

 

Making bookmarks to accompany the books we donated to children in need.
We filled our designs with messages of love and hope. Some people even used the words of Dr. King

 

Cooperative games with the 4th and 5th grade and Renee.


We did a kindness project with 4th grade that involved some "guerrilla goodness."
Check out the project here (you may find other fun ideas to spread kindness at home).
We also snuck around campus leaving similar messages for the people around us to find. Sneaking around is fun!

 

 

 

We finished off the day with a circle.
We shared our ideas about the important changes Dr. King brought about, sang songs of hope and listened to Dr. Carney read some of the famous "I have a dream..." speech.

It was a great day to put all of our attention towards doing good,
 being kind, fighting for the changes we want to see in the world around us.
As I watched the kindness of these children I couldn't help but think
 that the future looks very bright!

Historians Hunt For Clues

Inspired by the book Ain't Nothing but a Man: My Quest to find the Real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson, our class has started to investigate how to be historians.We are following Nelson through his journey, paying close attention to how he finds his way through his research. We notice the types of documents he looks at, where he gets new information and the type of thinking he does to piece it all together. And to add to the excitement, Richmond is a key place in his research.

   

 

To put our new understandings of the work of historians to practice, the children look over copies of documents from a certain time period in American history. The period remains a mystery. The children are looking for any information that will help them to identify the time and significant events. They are also trying to figure out what life was like for the people contained in these documents. But first, we need to figure out what the documents are. 

"Why does this one say the same words over an over?"

"I think these typed parts at the top are the question and these words are the answers"

"This has a date of 16/9/25! There is no 16th month!"

"This cursive is hard to read."

"I think this one is from someone who is going to Italy."

"No, I think it is the other way around. Someone is leaving Italy and coming to America."

 

"These names are weird, Carr William?"

"I think they are listing them with the last name first."

"These two were probably married because, look, 

they have the same last name."

"I think these strange letters are a different language."

Newscast: Shadow Science

Shadows News Cast from Andrea Pierotti on Vimeo.

Community Street: Dealing with Insincere Compliments

Community Street: Insincere Compliments from Andrea Pierotti on Vimeo.

Self-Assessment

 

We used rubrics for the first time this year. The children worked with a partner to assess their personal narratives. They evaluated their mechanics, their use of narrative language and their planning. I was surprised by how accurate the children were and how honestly they identified their strengths and areas to improve.

Glass

Local glass artist, Ryan Gothrup, came to Sabot to demonstrate his craft. His visit was funded by a grant through the VMFA that promotes exposing children to the arts. We enjoyed a 45 minute demonstration. The children were full of curiosity. Thanks to Kerry and Pippin for making this happen.