By: Carrie Sells
Last Friday, our first graders outdid themselves with their Leader in Me assembly program! They did a fabulous job teaching the entire school and hundreds of visitors about the Seven Habits for Healthy Kids through songs and posters. We are so proud of our awesome first graders and their teachers who helped them do such a great job!
Kindergarten learned about polar animals such as the polar bear, seals, walruses and penguins and wrote facts about these animals. They practiced writing and counting sets for teen numbers. They also learned to break apart the teen numbers into a group of ten and some extra ones.
First graders at East Chester learned to add three one-digit numbers. They learned more about Tennessee history, government and agriculture. They worked each day to become better writers and more independent readers. They will soon be planning a community service project.
Second graders learned about Sequoyah and westward expansion. They learned about job hunting skills and life in New York City, complete with public transportation. They also learned that big city life is much different than our quaint little town of Henderson! Second graders studied coin values in math and how to make change up to one dollar.
Third grade learned about bones and joints. They discussed how the skeletal system and muscle system work together to help our bodies move. Math classes worked on fractions. They also explored weather and climate in science. They did experiments that show evaporation, condensation and water vapor.
Desireé Dyson, Miss TN Teen Princess, visited a few of our classrooms to talk about her platform on bullying: Building Respect and Values for Everyone. She is our very own Lynnleigh Cooper’s sister Queen! Lynnleigh is a second grader at East Chester and the current Miss TN Elementary. Desireé will be visiting more classes in the near future.
In Fine Arts, Mrs. Becky taught our younger kids all of the musical instruments in the orchestra! They learned about the four instrument families which are woodwind, brass, strings and percussion instruments. In other grades, the students reviewed our Seven Elements of Art so we can become the best artists we can be. We have to know the basics of art and how to use them to let our creative outlets grow! Mrs. Becky does a terrific job teaching our kids at East Chester!
This winter in guidance classes, we are using Mind Yeti to learn about and practice mindfulness in our classroom. Mindfulness is being where your feet are. We will learn to be calm, focus, get along, reset and create. Research shows that children and adults who practice mindfulness experience a number of benefits, including improved well-being, increased emotional intelligence and empathy. Mind Yeti makes it easy to create a mindfulness practice in just a few minutes a day. The website is mindyeti.com. With all the social, emotional and academic demands of school, getting a young mind ready for learning can be challenging. We are using Mind Yeti to learn how to practice mindfulness in the hope that it will help us throughout the school year to calm down, stay focused and create a kinder, friendlier classroom environment. Through this work, we will be supporting your child’s social-emotional learning, a crucially important skill for all young people. We thank Missy Frasier for all she is doing for our students in guidance!
Remember parents, our parent teacher conferences will be next week. Please make an appointment to visit with your child’s teacher from 5-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, or from 9-11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 14. We look forward to sharing your child’s success with you!
At East Chester, we are very proud of our students, and we hope it shows in all that we do!
