Hello Panther Families!
“Brain Building Time” happens for your child around once per month or 6 times per year from August till March. Your child rotates through four sessions. Guidance lessons with Mrs. McLeod, Media Center lessons with Ms. Spitzner, Creative Thinking with Mrs. Anderson or Mrs. Share and Health with Mrs. Friedman.
One of the reasons we started and continued Brain Building is to allow dedicated time for the subjects above without interrupting a normal school day. This time is not a loss of instructional time for students, but rather compiled instructional time they need plus enrichment help prepare them for our creative and innovative future. Additionally, it provides our teachers with a block of time to really dive in and plan units targeted to their students’ individual areas of need. This time is SO important for teachers, as typically they only have about 35 mins a day to go to the restroom, respond to emails, plan with their teams, grade and assess student work, and more!
We have had Brain Building already for 1st and 4th on August 11th, 2nd & 3rd on August 18th and Kindergarten & 5th grade yesterday. Here is what your child has been doing in their sessions. Please ask about it to reinforce the learning!
Guidance with Mrs. McLeod- This month during Brain Building, students learned about the role of a school counselor and when & how to get help when they need it.
Kindergarten, first, and second grade students identified various feelings and when they might need to talk to a counselor, while older students in grades 2-5 discussed “sizes of problems” and counselor confidentiality.
Media Center with Ms. Spitzner-In the Media Center, Grades 1-2 read The Bakery Dragon and got excited to meet the author/illustrator, Devin Elle Kurtz! First graders imagined what items they would "hoard" like the main character, Ember. They illustrated their ideas and created class posters. Second graders were inspired by Ember to imagine their own dragon characters, then named them and imagined what they would hoard. The result: Books filled with pizza dragons, book dragons, rainbow dragons, butterfly dragons, and more! All of these projects will be on display when Devin Elle Kurtz arrives at NPE to meet those grade levels on September 3rd!
Third and Fourth Graders oriented themselves to the library, learned about new routines, and checked out their first books! Finally, Kindergarten and fifth graders started their lessons on digital citizenship. Kindergarteners met the "Digital Citizens," a group of characters who represent how to stay safe and smart when using media, then discussed why it's important to put devices down sometimes. Fifth graders learned how to identify clickbait when browsing the internet and social media, and why it's risky. We had great class discussions about how avoiding it helps you stay safe online.
We're off to a great start!
Creative Thinking with Mrs. Anderson or Mrs. Share-In grades kindergarten through fourth grade, we ready a book called, Maybe by Kobi Yamada. This story focused on exploring all of the possibilities and gifts we all have and keeping our eyes open to new talents we may not even know about yet. Students brainstormed things they may want to learn how to do, jobs they may want to have, or places they may want to go. In an activity differentiated by grade, students answered the question, “Maybe someday I will….” One kindergarten student may want to be a Lego developer, a first grader wants to live on Mars, and a second grader may want to be a dancing veterinarian.
Fifth graders learned that there are four parts of creative thinking: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. To help practice these tenets of creativity, students engaged in a "Caption This" activity. We discussed tips and tricks for creating a strong caption, such as keeping it short, considering the context of the image, being descriptive, and utilizing humor. We had so much fun coming up with captions that go with some simple sketch images and really explored the idea that possibilities are endless!
Throughout the year, we will focus on activities that inspire:
• Fluency: Brainstorming multiple ideas
• Flexibility: Making new connections or thinking about concepts in a different way
• Originality: Creating unique or unusual ideas
• Elaboration: Adding details or embellishing ideas
Health with Mrs. Friedman-During the introductory BrainBuilding health lesson, students were provided with an overview of what health is, and given a sneak peek of the topics that will be covered throughout the school year.
You may have heard the exciting news that New Prospect Elementary has been selected by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to be a Strong4Life school! Students have been introduced to the following Stong4Life core topics:
To learn more about Strong4Life, visit https://www.strong4life.com/en/schools-and-community/strong4life-challenge-program-hub
Additionally, during this first health lesson, students learned about germs and how they can make us feel unhealthy. A demonstration using glitter to represent germs was presented to help students understand how easily and quickly germs spread. To fight the germs, students demonstrated proper handwashing techniques and strategies to help keep germs from spreading.
As always, I am here if you have any questions. Thank you for your support!
Amy Lemons
Principal
