Dear Howe Hall AIMS Families,
Here we are in the month of December! The school year is almost half of the way through and shortly after we return from the holiday break we will be entering the third quarter! Holiday decorations are sprouting up everywhere as families in our area begin thinking about holiday shopping, vacation plans, and dinner menus. Many of our evenings and weekends will be spent getting ready for holiday celebrations. While visions of sugar plums, reindeer and peppermint mocha come to mind, our Howe Hall Chameleons still continue to have math facts, essays, favorite books and infusion lessons dancing through their heads. Please help us encourage our students to stay as focused as possible and include homework and study time in your holiday plans....at least until December 21st! Looking for a few gift ideas, especially ones that don’t cost a lot of money? This holiday season give your child and family the gift of time. Relax at a park for a day and have a picnic. Take a nature walk at a local historical site. Visit the local library. Enjoy a meal together as a family. Have a night in with the family and play a favorite board game. The most important things in life are family and friends, so this holiday season spend quality time with both this holiday season. As parents, you are extremely important to your children. This month, make it a goal to spend an evening, day or weekend with them. Remember, bigger is not necessarily better. The time you spend with them does not have to be at a theme park or fancy resort!! It can be reading a book together, playing catch, decorating cookies, or telling stories together. This is the time to provide your child with the memories he/she will never forget. The holiday season is all about giving, and the quality time you spend together can be better than anything wrapped up in a bow under the tree! Please remember that students should continue to read, write and practice their math facts over winter vacation! Reading and writing can be about topics they enjoy and shared with parents and siblings alike. Students can also write some resolutions to ring into 2024! To all of our Howe Hall AIMS families, I wish you the warmest holiday and a happy new year!
Art Chameleons designed and painted the 4x8 foot Christmas Card to be displayed at the "Celebrate the Season" Event in Moncks Corner. You can attend the event to see the card Dec. 8-9, 15-16, 22-23 from 6-9 p.m.
Holiday In The Park
Old Santee Canal Park
900 Stoney Landing Rd, Moncks Corner, SC 29461
Holiday In The Park offers families and friends a place to gather and celebrate the holidays. Enjoy free visits with Santa Claus, crafts, food, and festive activities. Entry is included with paid admission to Holiday Lights Driving Tour.
From the Desk of Kelli Rodriguez
Research Using SC Discus
In November, our 5th grade students began working on researching one of the U.S. states. To help get them started on their research, they visited the library during their ELA class time to discover the resources available to them through SC Discus Kids (https://scdiscus.org/discus-kids). SC Discus is a collection of subscription databases. The South Carolina State Library provides free access to an extensive digital library for residents of South Carolina 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Before coming to the library, Mrs. Ainsworth provided students with their research expectations, taught them how to take relevant notes on note cards, and how to keep track of their sources through a Google Doc. Three different research databases were then shared in the library through SC Discus as solid sources of information to help students get started on answering their questions, including Britannica School Elementary and Middle, Gale in Context: Elementary, and the World Almanac for Kids: Intermediate. Each of the resources that students explored through SC Discus are up-to-date, age-appropriate, paid subscriptions that provide accurate information and also allow students to quickly and easily cite their sources through their “Cite Sources” button.
Students can access SC Discus for any research needs from school or from home on their district-provided Chromebooks. All residents of the state of South Carolina have access to these rich resources, even on personal devices, by using the SC Discus username and password. If you would like more information about SC Discus or if you would like to get the username and password for this database of resources, please email Mrs. Rodriguez at rodriguezkelli@bcsdschools.net , or visit our school library to pick up a Discus bookmark that provides information about these resources.
Art Infusion with Mrs. Irimescu
Students collectively created an artistic representation of a map of the Earth that will become a set piece for the 3rd and 4th grade Musical on December 1st.
Standards
Social Studies: 3.1.2.AG Locate the world’s four hemispheres (i.e., northern, southern, eastern, and western) by using the major components of latitude and longitude (i.e., the Equator, the Prime Meridian, lines of latitude (i.e., parallels), lines of longitude (i.e., meridians), and the International Date Line).
Art Standards:AS#1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork
AS#2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.
AS#7: I can relate visual arts ideas to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers
Dance Infusion with Mrs. Steele
During a recent reading infusion, 4th grade dancers created choreography that was both implied and explicit that related to a specific Brave themed song that they were able to choose.
Standards
ELA: AOR 2.1: Identify and explain an explicit or implied theme and how it is developed by key details in a literary text.
Dance: D.CR. IL.2: I can organize and develop a dance that communicates an idea with a specific choreographic structure.
Key Evidence of Learning
ELA:
Students should be able to provide a movement that represents the theme of bravery that are both explicit and implied. When asked, students are able to support why the movement represents the explicit and implied.
Dance:
Design and create choreography that has 3 different movements that demonstrate Bravery: Beginning shape, 3 Bravery movements (1 implied brave movement and 2 explicit brave movements) and evidence of level changes and then an ending shape or exit.
PE Infusion with Mrs. Pond
The students performed various physical education skills that they learned in PE class while practicing their addition, subtraction, and place value math skills. They enjoyed the five stations which included bowling, rolling dice, throwing bean bags, and matching.
Standards
Math standard: 2.ATO.2 Demonstrate fluency with addition and related subtraction facts through 20.
PE standard:1.4 Toss an object underhand using mature form with force towards a target.
1.6 Throw an object with mature form to a target with reasonable accuracy in modified game play.
1.1 Travel with control forward and sideways by identifying a variety of locomotor skills (walk, run, jump, hop, gallop, slide, skip, leap) in general space while avoiding contact with others
