Ms. Hartshorn’s Classroom News
March 19, 2011
Dear Families,
Happy Almost Spring! Thank you for attending parent/teacher conferences this past week. Sharing your perspective on your child as a learner is most valuable to me as a teacher, and allows us to work together to support your child's growth. There are a couple of families I haven't met with yet, but have scheduled to see this coming week.
After conferences yesterday, I stayed to do some classroom spring cleaning. What a great feeling to weed through and reorganize our materials so we can arrive back on Monday in a clutter-free environment.
We've begun our study of the moon and its phases. Thank you for all of the support at home helping your child observe and record the phases of the moon for the past month. We are using this data you helped your child collect, and it's been great to watch them compare their results with each other. If your child has not returned his/her moon homework packet (due March 14), please remind him/her to do so on Monday, March 21. Thanks!
We had many cloudy or snowy days and nights where the moon was not visible. This has led to a discussion about whether the moon is still there or not. In anticipation of this wonder, I had printed off the moon phases for the past month as viewed from Vermont, and displayed this for us to study. The new learning for some was that “the moon is always there, even if we can't see it.” We also discussed how the moon shapes caused by the shadowing of the earth is slightly different depending from where on the earth you are viewing the moon. A couple of children and myself were on vacation in Florida, and noticed the crescent moon was slightly tilted differently than we noticed when in Vermont. This led to the question, "Does the moon look different from my house than from my friend's house (both living in Moretown)?" This was tricky to explain, but we used the globe to show and talk about the distances between across town and to another part of North America.
We are learning some new terms, waxing, waning, crescent, gibbous, full, half, new (in relation to moon phases).
Waxing: Increasing; growing; from new to full Moon
Waning: Decreasing, lessening; from full to new Moon
Crescent: rounded and curved in shape; curved slice
Gibbous: bulging, humpbacked, hump
New Moon: The Sun and Moon are in the same place relative to the Earth; the Moon is between the Earth and Sun, so the Earth completely blocks the Sun's light from reflecting off the Earth's surface
Full Moon: The Moon and the Sun are opposite one another and the Earth is between them, and from our vantage point on Earth we can see the full reflection of the Sun's rays on the Moon.
The phase or image of the moon can be described as a waxing crescent, waning crescent, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous, half, full or new. We're also learning that it takes about 29 ½ days to repeat an entire moon cycle (hence, the word "month").
Now, for the really exciting part! The SUPER MOON that will be visible tonight (March 19th). I was unaware of this on Thursday, so the children have not heard about this event from me, but below is a news site for you to learn more about it and share with your child. Enjoy the full Super moon if you get a chance to see it! newsnews
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'Super moon' set to fill the night sky
By Kari Pugh
Published: March 19, 2011
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. --
Tonight, a rarity fills the sky.
For the first time in 18 years, the full moon rising from the east will be a perigee full moon, or "super moon." What that means, according to NASA, is that the lunar orb is much closer to the Earth than usual.
The last time the moon's slow spin brought it so near to us was March 1993. It's not expected to happen again for at least another 18 years.
NASA says the moon will appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter. But the key to getting the most out of this celestial event lies in looking to the sky at the right time. Peer at the moon as it rises over the horizon and it will likely appear "absolutely enormous," says NASA.
It's long been lore to blame a full moon for misfortune, and there's plenty of Internet speculation – some by actual scientists -- that this weekend's "super moon" triggered last week's mega-earthquake and tsunami that crushed the coast of Japan.
Though the catastrophic 9.0 temblor was so powerful it shifted the Earth's axis 6.5 inches, moved Japan's coast eight feet and slightly shortened the length of our planet's day, NASA says the super moon had absolutely nothing to do with it.
This full moon will, however, bring higher high tides to the Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River.
The National Weather Service in Sterling says tonight's weather should be just fine for viewing the rare super moon. Temperatures will be chilly but bearable and the only clouds in the sky will be high and thin.
Kids on the Block Presents "Healthy Bodies!"
Thanks to Karen Sharp Wolf (Sophia's Mom) and the generosity of Moretown's PTN, we were able to enjoy a fabulous presentation by the "big puppets" of Kids on the Block. "Jason" and "Michael" taught us about nutrition and healthy snacking. Their message was "moderation of all foods, including sugar," and gave us lots of ways to improve our meal and snacking habits in a way that captured the full attention of their young audience, sprinkled with a bit of humor and song. Dental health was also added to the mix, with "Jason" and "Michael" acting as dentist and patient. They shared that even healthy foods can turn to sugar, creating bacteria known as plaque, which can cause tooth decay. Another important message: brush and floss often—take care of those pearly whites now so that you won't have to deal with dental problems later.
Later in the morning we were treated to a special time with Karen and her puppeteer partner, Karen. First and second graders were able to hold the big puppets and learn how to make their puppets come alive. Karen and Karen showed the kids some techniques puppeteers use to make their puppets come alive. These techniques included: making eye contact, talking or lip synchronizing, head and hand gesturing, and "smiling." Children learned to show emotions, like sadness, surprise, and joy by moving the heads, hands/arms, and mouths of their over-sized puppets. This session was great fun, and so engaging. Thank you, Karen, for making this extra treat available to us.
REMINDER: Maple Sugaring field trip to Shelburne Farms has been rescheduled for March 30. A new field trip permission slip was sent home on Thursday, along with an attachment emailed home. That document is also posted on this Shutterfly site in case you need to print off a new one. Please note that the deadline for returning this permission slip and signing up (on the same slip) to be a parent chaperone is Thursday, March 24. We're so excited to be able to take the kids on this trip. Remember to help your child dress in layers for cold to warm weather, and to wear boots, warm socks, hat and mittens—we will spend most the day outside. Your child will need a cold lunch, a snack and a drink in a non-breakable container. The bus leaves at 8:15 and will return at approximately 2:15.
EARLY RELEASE is Wednesday, March 23rd—this week! Children are dismissed at 12:00.
Special Note: Sharon Stafford (Jack's Mom) will be leading us in a Four Winds lesson about Animal Tracks in the morning. Thank you, Sharon!
Snowshoeing/Cross-country skiing: Due to early release on March 23rd and our rescheduled field trip to Shelburne Farms on March 30, we will not be skiing or snowshoeing for a couple of weeks. We'll have to wait and see what happens with the weather the first week in April before making further plans for this. A special thanks to Dina (Ellie's Mom) for joining us so often to help get the kids outside for this winter activity. Thanks also to Kelly Collar and Susan Werntgen for all of their support and help in getting kids in their gear and on the snow!
Check out the photos Mrs. W. Took of our snowshoeing adventures a couple of weeks ago. Thank you, Susan! There are also some new photos of the Kids on the Block presentation and "puppet practice session," with Karen and Karen posted on Shutterfly . Happy viewing!!
That's it for now~
Hope you get a chance to enjoy the SUPER Full Moon this evening.
Brenda
