SCHOOL CALENDAR Author, Kate Lund, Visits Prekindergarten ...€¦ · Principal – David Locke Assistant Principal – Russ Noble 21705 – 58th Ave. W. , Mountlake Terrace WA 98043

Principal – David Locke Assistant Principal – Russ Noble 21705 – 58th Ave. W., Mountlake Terrace WA 98043 Phone (425) 640-7067 Fax (425) 640-7445

To receive the Bulletin via email please contact [email protected] with the subject: “Add to Bulletin Email”

Submit articles for publication to [email protected]

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

ART NEWS Welcome back to school and another year of art. This year,

LOST & FOUND Are you missing your child’s sweater, jacket, etc? Please check the lost & found outside the gym doors. Reminder: Please put your child’s name on their clothing. Thank you. Note: Items will be donated at the end of each month.

PUTTER AND THE RED CAR

Author, Kate Lund, Visits Prekindergarten Class Author Kate Lund visited Mrs. Smith’s Prekindergarten class to share her newest children’s book, Putter and the Red Car. It is the true story of her family’s adventure traveling across America from Boston to Seattle through their dog Putter’s eyes. The children enjoyed listening to Kate read the story and they had lots of questions that Kate happily answered! As a follow up activity the children made a class book entitled Putter’s Adventures, Kate has two sons, William and Brady, in second grade. The book is called Putter and the Red Car. Kate is has donated copies of her book to the classes between preschool and second grade at Brighton.

SCHOOL CALENDAR February 26 5th Avenue Theater – PTO Enrichment Middle School Dance 7-10 pm 29 Preschool/PreK photos March 1 Preschool/PreK photos 2 PTO Auction project preview 8:00-4:00 5 DI Regionals 10 Open House 9:30-11:30 11 No School Teacher Inservice Day 14 ECE Conferences – No School for

PS/PreK only 15 T/Th PS Conference – No School for

T/Th PS only PTO Meeting 6:15 pm 16-18 Grade 4 to Naturebridge 16 Grade 2 Play – 19 PTO Auction

B r i g h t o n B u l l e t i n F e b r u a r y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Page 2

IMMUNITY COMMUITY Brighton School is excited to participate in the Immunity Community this year, a program that increases conversations about the positive aspects of vaccination and helps parents embrace vaccination as a community priority. We are looking for one to two parents or family members who are interested in participating. Volunteers will receive training, materials, and support. To learn more, please contact Sara Jaye Sanford at (206) 830-5175 or [email protected]. Immunity Community is a program a program of WithinReach that is supported by local partners including Verdant Health and Snohomish Health District. WithinReach is an independent nonprofit organization that makes the connections Washington families need to be healthy.

UW ROCKS The University of Washington came to visit our second graders. Renee, a geomorphologist, and Lauren, a geophysicists shared their expertise with rocks and their research projects. In addition, they brought a variety of rocks for students to explore. Students learned to identify the type of rocks as sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic by observing the rocks and their properties. The UW Rocks!

STEAM LAB Before break, 4th and 5th grade students worked on an earthquake unit in STEAM Lab by learning about the science behind earthquakes, building seismometers and taking seismographs, and designing and testing earthquake safe buildings. Students learned about three key concepts that scientists and architects have found help create strong architecture that could also be earthquake proof. These concepts include base isolation, bracing, and reinforcement. Students spent about three weeks using the engineering design process to creating their buildings. One class tested their buildings on a homemade shake table before break and the remaining will test their designs very soon!

B r i g h t o n B u l l e t i n F e b r u a r y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Page 3

GRADE 3 – SIMPLE MACHINES For the last few weeks, 3rd grade has been learning about simple machines. In this picture, Ellie, Casey, and Caleb are working on a pulley system to assist with Brighton's in-school Postal Service. In addition to pulleys, we have also been learning about levers, inclined planes, wheel and axels, wedges, and screws. Noticing where and how we use simple machines can help us create helpful tools on our own. Simple machines help us understand how to make every day work easier for people - from turning a door handle to pushing a box up a ramp.

6TH GRADE EARTH SCIENCE

In sixth grade earth science we have been studying earthquakes as well as how structures are built to withstand earthquakes. Students were then given the task of designing and building a structure that had two floors, each able to hold 250 grams of weight and able to withstand a “minor” and “major” earthquake. The building materials consisted of straws, paper clips, pins, and string. Students soon realized the importance of good planning and learned a great deal about teamwork and perseverance. Students had a variety of innovative approaches and architectural ideas, some more successful than others, but we learned a great deal from one another and planted the seeds for some budding engineers and architects!

CHINESE NEW YEAR Brighton’s 2nd graders had a great time learning more about Chinese New Year. We watched a video and read a newspaper article. Both of those helped us to understand the history of Chinese New Year and the meaning of many of the traditions. 2nd grade students Paris, Fiona, and Jordan taught us how to count to 10 in Chinese and how to say happy New Year. We then sampled Chinese treats that Fiona’s family brought in. Later that afternoon Ms. Karen helped us to make good luck banners with Chinese characters. Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!

B r i g h t o n B u l l e t i n F e b r u a r y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Page 4

4TH GRADE STUDIES INVENTORS & INVENTIONS Fourth Grade has been studying inventors and inventions in science. Each student has researched and made their own list of the inventions they feel are the most important in history. We have also been investigating the purpose of inventions. Inventions are created to make life easier, better, or more entertaining. They are created to solve a problem. To stretch our inventor’s muscles, we each designed an invention to help a storybook character solve a problem they faced in their story. In the example shown, Fourth Grade Inventor Hudson created a way for Snow White to remove the poison from the apple. Fourth grade students are working up to creating an invention to showcase at Knowledge Night.

MATH FITNESS In 5th grade we have been finding the mean, median, mode, and range by gathering our personal fitness data. Students in Ms. Gabriel’s math class recorded their results for the amount of push-ups, jumping jacks, and crunches that they completed in 1 minute increments. Once we shared our personal records with the rest of the class, we wore down the data and then used math to find the mean, median, mode and range. Students had a great time being active as well as practicing creating data on their own and reviewing for their Chapter 7 exam.

3RD GRADE PLAY

B r i g h t o n B u l l e t i n F e b r u a r y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Page 5

CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

PTO ENRICHMENT - ECE This week we were lucky to have Emerald City Creative Arts visit our Early Childhood Programs. We had an opportunity to put our large motor skills to work by balancing, jumping, skipping and crawling our way around obstacle courses. We also did some unique dancing and practiced following the leader in different musical activities/games. We are thankful to Brighton PTO for providing us with these wonderful and fun enrichment opportunities!

B r i g h t o n B u l l e t i n F e b r u a r y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Page 6

GOOGLE EXPEDITIONS Second to eighth grade students at Brighton visited the American Museum of Natural History, the Planetary Society, and the Palace of Versailles all in one day thanks to Google Expeditions.

Expeditions is a new product that allows teachers to take their classes on virtual field trips, immersing students in experiences that bring abstract concepts to life and giving students a deeper understanding of the world beyond the classroom.

Here's how it works: A box arrives with everything teachers and students need to travel: a tablet for the teacher, and Cardboard viewers and phones for every student. Next, the teacher selects a destination, and the entire classroom jumps there automatically.

The trips are collections of virtual reality panoramas — 360° photo spheres, 3D images and video, ambient sounds — annotated with details, points of interest, and questions that make them easy to integrate into curriculum already used in schools. While nothing replaces hopping on the bus for a field trip, Expeditions provide an unparalleled opportunity for supplemental learning and students had an amazing day.

B r i g h t o n B u l l e t i n F e b r u a r y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Page 7

PTO ENRICHMENT – AZTEC DANCE GROUP

Ce Atl Tonalli, an Aztec Dance Group from Seattle, visited Brighton before the break. The group was invited to our school to share about Aztec traditions. The group leader, Ismael, explained to us that they do not view themselves as performers, instead their songs and dances are a form of ceremony and prayer to their ancestors. Shells and other objects from nature were used as musical instruments during the dancing. Fourth grade students also had a chance to practice their Spanish by asking a few questions at the end of the performance. Thank you to our amazing PTO for bringing this captivating experience to our students and staff.

B r i g h t o n B u l l e t i n F e b r u a r y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Page 8

SPELLING BEE