LSK8 Elementary Updates

Update From Kirsten (K/1st Grade)

Hi K/1 Families

I hope you have been enjoying all that spring has to offer—both the sunny and rainy days! Every time it is a new month/season, we start our day with Calendar Time—so if you have anything exciting happening in May in your family or community, please connect with your child about it, so that they can share that excitement with us! Also, our school focused on learning about neurodiversity for this month’s assembly, but we didn’t do it in our typical format, as that format is challenging for many of our neurodiverse students, as it is lots of people and lots of movement! We had a great class conversation learning about what it means to be neurodivergent, and what that might mean in terms of the way we process information or communicate with others. We even gave each other suggestions of tools and strategies if you’re feeling like your needs aren’t being met. 😊

In reading, we have been continuing to build our foundational skills in whole-group phonemic awareness practice, reading groups, and using learning tools, like Lexia and Epic. This week I have stapled a report from Lexia about your child’s progress! Please let me know if you have any questions.

In writing, we have been slowly growing our word wall! They are less typical in Kindergarten but are more common when students begin to regularly recognize words in print. As students get older, they frequently align with vocabulary development around a specific topic (i.e., animals, space, countries, etc.).  Word walls are a classic in elementary classrooms, and there are ways they can be done that are useful, and ways that are not. One of the ways that has been popular in the past but has shown to not be highly effective is organizing alphabetically. This doesn’t help students connect their knowledge of the words by vocabulary, use, or even sound. If you google “word wall” that is basically what you will find. So, we have been co-designing ours, adding more with each new lesson, and offering a thematic organization. It helps our writing & social development in a few ways: 1) practice on getting ideas, 2) lowering the mental load for spelling more common words, 3) practicing how to use reference tools, 4) sorting and categorizing, and 5) how to help a friend without doing it for them. So far we have sections entitled: Who could I write about? (names of classmates, school adults, common home and family adults), Pronouns, Little Helpful Words, Asking Questions, Position Words, Helpers & Explainers (including contractions!), and Doing Words (action verbs). This week we will also be adding Names of Places, Things, and Beings (nouns) and Describing Words (adjectives).

For all our other words, we use the technique called “found spelling.” Found spelling is a common technique used in the early writing development because it involves blending phonemic awareness knowledge with letter-sound correspondence. It also grows on a continuum, so the same strategies can be used at different levels. Here is a think-aloud model of conversations we have in class: I might want to write the sentence “Giraffes are my favorite animal.” but if I focus on writing it perfectly, I’m going to stress myself out about the technical part of writing, and not the most important part, which is communicating what I’m thinking. Hmmmm, so let’s think about what I want to say. The first part is “Giraffes are my favorite animal.” I can count how many words that is on my fingers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! A five word sentence, that’s pretty helpful at showing what I know. I’m going to draw a line for each word I’m thinking of. Let’s think….how could I write giraffes? Do I have a book nearby that I could use? If I don’t, I can think about what I hear when I chop up the word– /jur/ /a/ /f/. What could make that first sound? Oh, I see by our letter “g” we have a picture of a guitar and also of a giraffe—that’s right, g can make two sounds! The soft sound of g is /j/, so I can start giraffe with “g.” Hmmmm, what comes next? (knowing what I know about our development, I know the vast majority of students are not ready for r-controlled vowels in writing) I hear /ur/, oh, r! Okay gr….what next? /a a a/—we know that short sound—a! Okay, gra…./fffff/, of course, f! Graf. Does that make sense to you? Here a first grader might say something like, I think it has a sneaky e, and if so we would add that on, but if not, we would leave it like that. Wait, and I talking about one giraffe or more than one? Ah, yes, add an s! Grafs. Okay, I wanted to say “giraffes are”… Oh, I can find “are” on the wall! It’s a helper and explainer. I see it here—a-r-e, are. Okay, now I have to think back. What was it I wanted to say? Giraffes are ____ _______ _______. Ah, my! Do I know how to spell that? If I’m not sure where could I check? I’m talking about me but not using my name….yes, pronouns! M-y, my. Grafs are my _______ _________. Ooh, favorite, that’s a juicy word! Lots of sounds, let’s see what we can hear. /f/ /a/ /vor/ /ut/. Yes, f, a, v, r, u, t! Beautiful. Grafs are my favrut /aaaaa/ a, n, m, l! Look at that gorgeous sentence! Grafs are my favrut anml— how do I want to end my sentence? Am I asking a question. Telling calmly? Telling excitedly? Ah, yes, an exclamation mark!” I wanted to go pretty in depth with this example to showcase how much work this is taking in their brains! All of the students are at a different place in their development, and we always focus on meaning making as the goal of writing. 😊

In math, Kindergarten is closing out their unit on composing and decomposing numbers to 20 and launching into their unit that extends the counting sequence beyond 20. We’ve taken a lot of extra time with this past unit because it is very fundamental and we are ahead of schedule… great problem to have! First graders have now closed out their unit on double digit subtraction, and that’s a pretty big deal! In first grade, the amount of standards that are covered in each of the four areas of math are not equally weighted in their complexity or expectations.

1. Operations & Algebraic Thinking—8 complex standards
2. Numbers & Operations in Base Ten—6 complex standards
3. Measurement & Data—4 straightforward standards
4. Geometry—3 straightforward standards

So, our next unit is short and specific, focused on measuring lengths. In first grade, the standards for length measurement are: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.A.1: Order three objects by length; compare the lengths of two objects indirectly by using a third object. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.A.2 : Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end; understand that the length measurement of an object is the number of same-size length units that span it with no gaps or overlaps.

In social studies, we tied in our conversation about Earth Day into the Since Time Immemorial curriculum, connecting the idea of taking care of our Earth and reducing, reusing, and recycling into Indigenous ways of knowing and being, specifically focusing on how different tribes have operated in the past and present in their land stewardship. We compared examples from different habitats, using the videos “Blackfoot Caretakers of the Land” from the Wilderness Sessions of BBC Earth Unplugged and “Since Time Immemorial: How Indigenous People Are Reviving Traditional Stewardship” from Nature Lab by The Nature Conservancy.

Update from Katherine (2/3rd Grade)

Update from Xena (4/5th Grade)

LSK8 Middle School Updates

Updates from Haley

Updates from Keith

Updates from Ms. Sharma

More Information from Mrs. Sharma FAQ, due dates, grading policy etc.

Specialist /Elective Updates

Update from Mx. Christa (LSK8 Academic Intervention)

SBA Testing has begun for grades 3-8! We have completed the ELA tests last week and will start Math this week. Katherine’s third graders will test with me AND Xena’s 4^th and 5^th graders will test on Tuesday and Wednesday. Middle School students will test during their Math classes on Thursday and Friday of this week. Please make sure your students get a good night’s sleep and have a full breakfast for testing days. 

Reminder that students are working toward their SuccessMaker goals for our party the first week of June. Please remind your student to complete at least an hour of SuccessMaker per week!

Please take a look at my Donor’s Choose and share this link if you can!

Update from Art

Kristen is taking a leave of absence. Carmen will be the sub for the next 2 weeks. and we will have another sub for the last 2 weeks of May through the end of the year.

Update from Ms. J (PE)

MLL Updates

Hello Licton Springs K-8 families! My name is Joanna Moore, and I am new to Licton Springs this year, although I have been teaching since 2007. My job is to support students who are multilingual and qualify for support from the district for English language development.
I am greatly enjoying this work and being at Licton Springs. I would love to meet more members of this wonderful community!
We will have a monthly get together in my classroom at Licton Springs where we will discuss topics, ask and answer questions and meet with other multilingual families. Even if your student does not receive support for English language services, it will still be a great opportunity to meet with other multilingual members of the Licton Springs community who come from diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Who: Students and families that speak any language other than English
What: Meet with multilingual support teacher (Mrs. Moore) and other multilingual families and students
Where: LSK8 Room 207
When: Tuesday, April 16 at 2:30-3
Why: to build community and get to know each other. I will have chosen some topics to discuss ahead of time, but please also bring any questions you have!
Future dates: Tuesdays after school. May 14 and June 11, 2024.
What to bring: Yourself, your student or students, and any other interested family member (siblings welcome!). I will have some tea and snacks available, if you would like to bring a snack or dessert to share with others, that would be nice but not required.

Do not worry about your English-speaking level, we can use technology to translate if needed. Having conversations to practice English speaking can be something we focus on in future sessions if you would like.

I hope to meet you there!

Counselor/Social Worker Updates

School Counselor – Mr. M can be reached at: mjdelamorena@seattleschools.org

School Social Worker – Elly can be reached at: elsprinkle@seattleschools.org

Information for your 8th grade students and families:

The Seattle Skills Center summer application is open now for all high school students and this year’s 8th graders.  

• Summer Skills Center classes are a great way for incoming 9^th graders to get an early start on high school credit, make new friends, and explore college and career pathways well before they finish high school.
• Students earn a .5 HS CTE credit (and Family Health counts towards their HS Health class requirement, but is not open to incoming 9th graders).                                    
• A Summer Skills Center class is a “real class” with “real grades” (I always remind students of this), so their grade goes on their high school transcript.            
• Students can only miss a maximum of 3 classes.                                                                
• Transportation is not provided.
• A translated email has gone out to all 8th-11th grade families, and classes fill fast.
• We have two Intro to Maritime Vessel Operations classes, and the class aboard the schooner Adventuress has a different schedule and other requirements (see application for details)

Here’s a link to more information about our summer program, including course descriptions

Find the link to the Skills Center summer application here.