Horizons at Westminster

Today marks the end of week five (oh, how the time has flown!) and we are looking forward to our final five days of Horizons 2021! To celebrate the conclusion of the program, we are excited to present a Horizons dance, theatre, and arts showcase next Thursday, July 29 at 1:00 PM in Armour Atrium. 995 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT (map attached in email).

The program will last until dismissal so you may take your Horizons student home with you if you choose to. Otherwise, pick up will be at Moylan as usual! Masks are required on campus, and please contact me at 860-408-3006 with any questions.

Is it already week five? Time flies when you are having fun! Our morning meeting has been used to play games that practice our active listening skills. First grade has been learning about community helpers and different places around the community. We have been gaining confidence in our reading skills using strategies to break down challenging words. A few of our first graders were able to read aloud on Zoom to two guest readers. Wade was located in New Hampshire and Gabriela was located in Poland! We were so happy to meet some new people. In math, we worked on adding double digit numbers and continued using our pattern blocks to complete different designs. During our virtual field trip, Moana taught us about camouflage. We created our own fish to hide around the room using our new gained knowledge. In science we have been learning about how plants grow and even got to work with our very own seeds. We can’t wait to see how they grow over the next week!

Wow! Week five already! Our morning meetings this week have focused on team building activities to improve our communication skills. The class has worked together to move markers attached to strings to make letters and shapes and untied ourselves from a human knot. The class has learned that they should talk to each other and make a plan! We have continued our reading groups to improve our decoding skills. In math, we have worked on understanding the connections between addition and multiplication in preparation for third grade. Our field trip this week taught us about animals that use camouflage to protect themselves and we even created our own camouflaged fish to see if the first graders could find them!

Third grade has another great week in the books! We’ve spent a great deal of our days creating and experimenting in the physics lab with sensory activities and a cooking project. Math continues to focus on multiplication and division strategies as well as creating and solving our own word problems. Reading has best been spent in the cozy “nook” with Horizons volunteers and Westminster staff. This week, we had some extra time outside to enjoy with sun with a game of kickball, which has become a game of the season for recess and wellness breaks!

Week five has been full of smiles, energy, and fun! This week we have been spending as much time outdoors as we can to enjoy the return of the sun! Our days have been full of soccer games, outdoor painting sessions, and even testing out how to inflate a balloon using water bottles and a chemical reaction! 4th graders also buddied up with their pals in 3rd grade for a “MakerSpace” event where they worked together to design and construct different creations! In reading we have been exploring text features in informational books. In math we are exploring all things fractions- representing fractions, making equivalent fractions, and adding and subtract fractions!