Class Update

New Faces on Campus

It is so great to be back at Ivanhoe and to get to see friends and teachers on a regular basis. As you may have noticed, there are some new teachers around campus. So you may be like me, wondering who they are and what their personality is. Here are the answers to some of the questions I had for them. • GRAY C.

Ms. Richards started teaching second grade at Ivanhoe last year. This year, she’s teaching third grade. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Richards)

MS. RICHARDS

What is your favorite hobby?

My favorite hobbies right now are spending time with my two pets—a cat and a tortoise. I also started practicing ceramics a little while ago. It's been a lot of fun learning.

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in San Diego.

What is you favorite food?

My favorite food is Thai yellow curry with rice.

What do you like about teaching?

My favorite thing about teaching is that I get to see students try and learn new things all the time. I love learning and sharing that with students.

Ms. Wait is teaching fourth grade at Ivanhoe. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Wait)

MS. WAIT

What is your favorite hobby?

My favorite hobby is swimming.

Where are you from?

I grew up in Gloucester, Mass.

What is your favorite food?

My favorite food is Lebanese food.

What do you like about teaching?

Teaching is the first job that I've ever had that I genuinely feel excited about doing every single day. I like so many things about it, especially collaborating with other teachers, learning new and different ways to teach my students, and learning from my students as well!

Mr. Wilson is teaching fifth grade at Ivanhoe. (Photo courtesy of Mr. Wilson)

MR. WILSON

What is your favorite hobby?

Swimming!

Where are you from?

I grew up in Long Island, N.Y.

What is your favorite food?

Any kind of pizza.

What do you like about teaching?

I love seeing students realize they can do more than they thought they were capable of. I love seeing them take pride in their work.

Update from Fourth Graders in Ms. Flynn's Class

The Bering Strait

Ms. Flynn is teaching fourth grade about the Native Americans and how they crossed the Bering Strait to get to America. When most of the sea froze, the sea level dropped, revealing a land bridge between Asia and Alaska. The animals that the Native Americans hunted, such as mammoths, migrated over the land bridge known as the Bering Strait to North America. The Native Americans followed the animals across the Bering Strait and down North and South America.

Turkey Art Pieces

For the month of November, Ms. Flynn’s homeroom made turkey
 paintings and frames. We made the turkeys by dipping the paint brushes in different colors. Then we drew Thanksgiving-related things on the frames.

Fun Facts About Turkeys

1 Ben Franklin wanted the state bird to be a turkey rather than an eagle. He said, “Turkeys are a bird of courage.”


2 Turkeys are allergic to dairy.

3 Turkeys can fly about 55 mph.

Absolute Location

During the month of October, Ms. Flynn led fourth graders as they made maps of California, pinpointing 15 different places using latitude and longitude coordinates to find the absolute location. The class also colored each of the four regions. The four regions are: desert, valley, coast, and mountain.

The 15 California landmarks are Mount Shasta, Los Angeles, Morro Bay, Redwood National Park, Mojave Desert, Salton Sea, Catalina Island, San Diego, Sequoia National Park, Yosemite National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lake Tahoe, Golden Gate Bridge, Eureka City, and Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Cricket Drawings

Ms. Flynn’s homeroom drew drawings of crickets. The crickets were Chester Cricket from “The Cricket in Times Square.” Most students chose to make the background Times Square, Chester’s stump in Connecticut, or the picnic basket Chester got stuck in. • HENRY F. AND TYLER T.

Update from Third Graders in Mrs. Chan's Class

The students in third grade are doing skull art for Día de los Muertos and everyone is enjoying it.

We all love the parade and Halloween is so fun. It was so fun because it was the first time in a long time.

We love art. We are working on a collage.

We love study buddies.

We are also working on healthiness. We are making posters. We are assigned partners to work together on the poster. We are all learning about health. We have to draw a picture to represent a type of health. Then we have to write a blurb.

We do council so we share stuff that not a lot of people know about and the stories do not leave the room. This time we shared stuff that scared us but you don’t need to share if you do not want to.

We all love read alouds.

We all love to hang out with our friends.

Sometimes we play kickball against other classes. This week we are playing against all of third grade and that is a treat. We all love third grade. Our room is one of the best kickball teams in third grade! • NICHOLAS Z. AND MADISON B.

Update from Fourth Graders in Ms. Wait's Class

The Battleship Iowa

Every Friday in fourth grade is a Friday based on one thing: fun. We have many subjects on Fun Friday, as seen below. We play games in our free time. I like playing Scrabble with my friends. There is chess, Chutes & Ladders, Monopoly and Scrabble. We are also allowed to draw whatever we want.

TECHNOLOGY: In technology, we’re learning how to use Google Maps. I got to see the Battleship Iowa and Missouri, and Dodger Stadium. We all get to explore the world digitally.

MUSIC: In music, we’re learning songs like “Walk Away Reneé” and “Erie Canal.” Each class gathers up at the black porch, and we sing with Mr. Dreyfuss playing the tune with a harmonica. 

ART: In art, we’re drawing trees and bushes, mostly vegetation. We also carve things in clay in art. Last week, we used toothpicks and other tools to carve on a clay plate.

P.E.: In physical education, we do two laps around the entire lower yard, then do warm-ups like stretching, push-ups, yoga and more. Then we get to the game of the class. Sometimes we do Supergagga, Capture the Flag, Drop the Bomb, etc. My favorite game is Supergagga. • AUREN K. AND GAVIN G.

We’re learning how to use Google Maps to see places like Dodger Stadium.

Update from Second Graders in Mrs. Safford's Class

We made coffee-filter bats in Room 15. We scribbled on the coffee filters with colored markers. We sprayed water on them and they looked like tie-dyed bat wings. Then we let them dry, scrunched them up and glued them to the inside of a clothespin that our teacher had painted black. We put googly eyes on and drew fangs with a white colored pencil. Voilá our bats were done! We took them home and used them as Halloween decorations. • AURA H. AND DYLAN Z.