"Les douze jours de Noël"

We are so fortunate at Seabury École to have Mesdames Olliphant et Tulasne teach us français. At our all school Gathering last week, the Paons (the Peacocks) sang Madame Olliphant's French version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." It is impressive to hear so many students singing all the words to all the verses all the way through. Bravo, bravo! And even the teachers learn a bit of French--by osmosis and with un petite help from Google translator.

Here's a video of just the last verse of the song:

Joyeux Noël et une heureuse nouvelle année! 

"WRITE AN OUTLINE!" ~Rushton Howard, Local Author

On December 15, we had local author extraordinaire, Rushton Howard, make a personal visit to Seabury School. In a fun, energetic way, he encouraged our young writers to work hard and to WRITE AN OUTLINE! It was a perfect way to show our amazingly gifted and talented students the writing process in real life. And they are eager to go for it!

His website says it best:

"Hold onto your hat.  What you get is Rushton Howard coming into your classroom to tell your students about the mixture of fun and hard work that goes into the creation of a book.  Some of the things he likes to discuss...

Organize your thoughts!  Outline your book-to-be, and then outline your outline.  Nothing wonderful or worthwhile happens without a plan.

Rework it with several drafts!  The first time you touch your pen to the paper you are not writing your final version.  Get used to this idea before you begin!

Write what others can understand!  If someone reads it and says, “I don’t get it,” you are forbidden —absolutely forbidden! — to say anything other than “OK, I’ll go rewrite it.”  No other option.  No second scenario.  You will rewrite until total strangers can comprehend your words."

We were totally engaged. 

We hung onto every word. 

We smiled even when he YELLED at us. 

He showed us how he drew and re-drew his pictures to get the right angles and expressions. 

He had piles and piles of rough drafts. 

And now we have his autograph!

Thank you, Rushton Howard!

Sebastian Reckless, the first book of a series

A taste of what we experienced:

Buddy Reading and Researching With Our Middle School Friends

We love First Fridays when we get a chance to hang out with our fellow schoolmates from both campuses. The First Friday of December we got to buddy read with the middle schoolers. 

And then they helped us with a research project. We picked a topic from the Middle Ages that we hadn't covered in class and went to the internet....

Seattle Children's Theatre: Dick Whittington and His Cat

Perfect timing for our study of the Middle Ages, the Navigators and the Spirits attended the Seattle Children Theatre's Production of Dick Whittington and His Cat. Before we went we learned about the real Lord Mayor of London Richard Whittington (1354-1425) and his cat and we familiarized ourselves with the plot and characters by listening to a written version of the story. 

The play version was different (amongst other things--see Venn Diagrams below) in that it had music, pirates and a real/puppet cat (the Navigators are still debating!) It was a superb production with great acting, clever music and over-the-top sets. The children were totally engaged. 

 

 Afterwards we enjoyed having lunch at the Seattle Center on a cold, sunny day beneath the Space Needle with some very hungry and brave seagulls.

We then went back to school and had an insightful comparison/contrast discussion of the two versions of the story. We had paid close attention to both and were able to recall many details. We also were able to incorporate the literary elements we have been learning about into our conversation. 

The Navigators are learning how to show our gratitude and appreciation by writing thank you letters.

Thank you, Seattle Children's Theatre, for putting on the play,  Dick Whittington and His Cat!

A fun, eventful, tiring day was had by all!

The Water Cycle Goes Around and Around

We had a fun week of investigating an interesting phenomenon. We melted ice, we made a miniature world with a small lake and observed what happened when the sun (a heat lamp) warmed up the atmosphere, we cooled down the atmosphere by adding ice cubes and made rain drops and came up with a great conclusion—there is a WATER CYCLE! We then made large posters of the water cycle and learned the official scientific words: evaporation, condensation and precipitation. 

All this points to the way we DO science: we wonder, we observe, we try out different scenarios (what would happen if we took the plastic wrap off the miniature world?), we draw various conclusions, we record our findings, we share them with others PLUS we have fun. In other words, we DO the scientific method in an engaging, hands-on way. 

The following are videos of several Navigators describing the water cycle.