Update, 5/9

Hello Fantastic Families,

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our ever-loving, ever-patient mothers! I hope your day was filled with hugs and giggles!

The Del Mar Schools Education Foundation does a great job funding the credentialed STEAM+ teachers that make school a well-rounded place to be a learner. Please consider giving what is comfortable. What Del Mar has is really rare. Most “specialty” teachers in other districts are not trained and credentialed in their field of expertise. They are often uncertificated aides. This matters. It matters in instruction and in articulation with classroom teachers to reach maximum learning outcomes. 

Speaking of a well-rounded education, thanks to the Del Mar Heights PTA for providing weekly music assemblies where each child was able to learn and perform on a simple instrument while being exposed to music theory. Take a look here to enjoy a little performance from our class! It’s unlisted so no public eyes can find it.

Our trip to visit Urban Plantation and Green Acre farm to table restaurant yielded quite a learning harvest. Students were treated to a tour of the sustainable farm while discussing issues of sustainability and agricultural practice. We also were invited to explore new healthy foods direct from the garden. Who knew pickled fennel and baby corn shoots were so delicious?

Our next trip is a docent-led hike through the North Extension of Torrey Pines Park. We are so very fortunate to have such wondrous natural beauty at our doorstep and it is incumbent upon us to use it as a classroom to at least some extent. The Natural History Museum generously sends us volunteer guides who tend to be both knowledgeable and enthusiastic. So far the weather report for hike day, this Friday, looks San Diego sensational so hike on we will!

Mr. Phillip’s fantastic first-through-third grade Dolphin games featured fun athletic enterprises such as The Chicken Toss and The Hula Hoop Roll. These non-standard games help introduce the timid to competitive games while helping Mr. Philip teach about physical skills. Coming on May 18th the more traditional Junior Olympics will be held. This event must be entered through registration. Forms came home a week and a bit ago and are also available in the office I would guess. Encourage your child to join in!

Our young scientists have enjoyed experimentation with plants and are just about to plant their sprouted corn and sunflowers in the school garden to allow their further growth. The garden has been full of activity lately and the addition of these second grade crops will make it all the more vibrant as the plants mature over the summer and into the fall. 

Bird Baylor is an author of signature style and focus. Her emphasis on poetic prose centered on the care and appreciation of nature fits perfectly with our recent studies of habitats and their inhabitants’ interconnectedness, plants, Earth Day, and upcoming studies of geology. Further, We are exploring her books as part of an author study that allows us to ask critical questions as readers- developing the ability to progress from concrete interpretations to synthesis and abstracted conclusions. For instance, in the book, “The Table Where Rich People Sit” we meet a girl who believes her “poor” family needs more money. But after assigning value to their relative freedom and ability to enjoy the natural world together, she arrives at a different understanding of what “rich” means. Our readers moved from gaining an understanding of this character’s growth to generalizing her learning to a greater cohort. Finally they were able to try to approach the question, “What do you think it means to be rich?”. Answers varied as widely as you might assume but generally had nothing to do with money. Evidently I am rich because I have a little, old, and friendly dachshund. 

I’d like to invite everyone to come celebrate the writers of our classroom on May the 26th from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. We will enjoy presentations from the students and a bit of time together to end the year right!

As May moves on please consider if you might like to have a meeting with me before the year concludes. There are no formal conferences in the district but I am more than happy to debrief and set new summer-and-beyond goals for our little ones. Please let me know if you’d like to meet.

Important dates

5/13 Torrey Pines Hike with the Natural History Museum Docents

5/18 Jr. Olympics 12:45-2:30 p.m.

5/20 Natural History Museum Geology mobile lab of discovery

5/20 Stuffed Animal Spirit Day

5/23 Natural History Museum Geology mobile lab of discovery

5/26 Celebration of writing, Parents invited!

5/27 Peter & the Wolf 12:40 p.m.

5/27 Next Grade level visit day (1 hour in third grade)

5/30 Memorial Day - No School

6/1 Countdown to Summer after school PTA celebration

6/6 summer birthday celebrations

6/7 Lifeguard presentations

6/8 Dancefest!

6/9 last day of school

Best,

 Andrew Smith

Teacher, Del Mar Heights School