Summer 2012!

Dear Calvert Friends,


Have you been enjoying your summer? Have you traveled anywhere fun?


This summer has been very relaxing and exciting! Many of you may know that I am pregnant- Mr. Armstrong and I will welcome baby Armstrong in the early fall- so we have been busy planning out the nursery and getting in some last minute traveling.

We rang in the beginning of summer with a trip to the Greenbriar Resort.

Then, my mom and I hosted a bridal shower for my best friend, Katie, in early June.  Here I am tying on the "ribbon hat"/bouquet to be used at her rehearsal dinner.  Doesn't she look silly?

This past month we went to San Francisco. We had a great time!

We began our trip with a visit to Chinatown.

Later we visited the Ferry Building and ate a picnic lunch in Nob Hill.  Look at all of those mushrooms!

The Ferry Building had great views of the Bay Bridge.

Ferry Building from the outside.

Nob Hill is next to Russian Hill, which is home to the "crookedest street".  Could you imagine driving your car here?

We then toured Muir Woods and saw the Redwood Forest.  Here I am posing in front of one of the redwood trees.

Here is Mr. Armstrong, hugging a redwood tree! (Hehe)

We even got to drive under the Golden Gate Bridge- quite an experience!  It is usually under a thick veil of fog, so we took pictures looking up.  Dreamy, huh?

On our final day we toured Angel Island (notice the Golden Gate Bridge in the background)

And I got "locked up" in Alcatraz, home to a famous old prison.

Our summer vacations came to a close with an annual family vacation to Block Island, Rhode Island.  One of my favorite places to eat breakfast is Bethany's Airport Diner- this is me posing in front of one of the planes that fly in and out.  It is a very entertaining meal!

We always end with dinner at the Spring House- they have a great view of Block Island sound and the Newport Bridge in the distance.

Now that summer is coming to a close, I am anxiously awaiting news of my new students' names.  I am so excited to meet all of you at the end of August.  Good bye for now- soak up the last few days of sunshine!

xoxo, Mrs. Armstrong

Track and Field Day

Students celebrated an end-of-the-year rite-of-passage by enjoying field day festivities yesterday!  Luckily the rain held off and the sun even peeked out for a bit. The Sixth Age students received bright orange t-shirts and played in a variety of outdoor games.  What a great way to end a terrific year!

The whole school gathered for a faculty and staff challenge in the morning.

6D started at the parachute (this was a crowd pleaser)

before heading over to "Oscar's Garbage Can",

and, later on in the morning, an accuracy toss.

Thank you to Mr. Porter and Miss Krebs for planning such a wonderful day!

Contractions

I found a fun activity for contractions on a teaching blog which my students seemed to gobble right up!  After watching a BrainPop video which outlined  contractions, students became doctors about to perform an operation.  Their "patients" were written on the board- many came with first and last names (such as I (first name) am (last name) or should (first name) not (last name)).  Each doctor chose a patient for their operation.  We discussed how during an operation the person being operated upon changes in some way after the surgery.  This, too, would happen to their patients. 

Students took the the patient's name and changed it into a contraction.  They used scissors to perform the surgery and bandaged up their patient before sending them into the recovery room.  Take a look!

We miss you, Charlie!

A student has been out sick and missed Track and Field Day today! We missed him terribly and wanted to send him our thoughts. We hope you feel better, Charlie! Best wishes on a speedy recovery!

Flat Stanley Arrives in Switzerland!

Flat Stanley and his friend, Flat James, arrived in Zurich safely last week.  Take a look at Mr. Gilbert's blog post for more information!

http://siszuerichgrade-2.blogspot.com/2012/05/flat-stanley-returns.html

CARNIVAL!

The 6D students have been learning about the continent of South America throughout the year.  To conclude this unit, the class performed in a Geography show.  Each class represented a different continent:
6A: Europe
6B: Australia
6C: Africa
and 6E: Asia

One famous festival in South America is Carnival.  The biggest carnival celebration in this part of the world occurs in Brazil.  Students' costumes were modeled after the vibrant colors and exciting patterns displayed in many carnival parades.

Below is a photo of two students modeling their costumes:

The class did a superb job of reciting their individual lines and singing their Portuguese song "Ciranda Cirandina" in front of a lower school audience this morning.

Kudos to my students and best of luck tomorrow in our second (and last) show in front of parents!

Venn Diagrams

The readers learned about venn diagrams last week and completed a fun partner activity. 

We used two student portraits to illustrate two different people on our diagram.  Each student's portrait was positioned in one portion of the large "hula hoop" circle, with the middle area of each circle overlapping. Students worked in pairs to define how these students were both alike and different.  These describing words were then placed in appropriate areas on the diagram.  

Students then completed a personal venn diagram between themselves and a partner, modeled after the one done together.

Utilizing tangible items, such as hoola hoops, readily aided the students in their understanding of this important reading tool.