Horizons at Westminster

What a week! This Friday marks the end of the first two weeks of Horizons at Westminster. We did it all—we danced, we acted, we were artists, we told jokes, we learned—and everyday we grew and experienced new things. Most importantly, we enjoyed one anothers’ kind and respectful company. Have a safe holiday weekend, and we’ll see Horizons students again on Tuesday, July 6 to begin our third week of the program!

First grade spent the week finding creative ways to stay cool during the heatwave. We loved starting off each morning playing a game of POP. Our favorite activity with Mrs. Goodwin was reading “The Day the Crayons Quit,” and then writing a letter to our favorite colors. During math we continued to strengthen our addition and subtraction skills with Teacher Jayce. We learned about the artist, Henri Matisse, who used scissors to transform paper into art before creating our own abstract art. We are having so much fun every day especially when our guest readers come to our class! First grade is having a blast at Horizons and can’t wait to see what is planned for next week.

It has been great getting to know our 2nd graders! We have spent some time playing 4 corners in the shade each morning. Theater and dance continue to be a hit! We have been focusing on place value and learning that we can write numbers in different ways. We also went to the library to choose new books to read and enjoy. Small group reading practice has also started, and students are using their decoding strategies to figure out new words. We have also spent some time with Mr. G engaging in some STEM activities- we learned about capillary action by making some beautiful decorations for the classrooms. Lastly, we are continuing our book, The One and Only Ivan, and learning more about gorillas.

Our third graders are so excited to be back and collectively named themselves--The Inquisitive & Imaginative Learners! This week, we ventured to the physics lab on campus for some hands-on STEAM activities that included making watercolor butterflies, experimenting with rain clouds, and learning about inertia with Mr. de Kanter. We also had time to visit the gym and stretch before shooting some hoops! Math has been an area of great interest among third graders as they review multiplication and division while exploring word problems to show their critical thinking and reasoning skills. In social studies, third graders are beginning a project to learn more about the Amazon Rainforest and its importance to the world we live in.

The fourth graders are loving being the big kids and role models on campus and have proudly and enthusiastically dubbed themselves “Team OG!” We start and end each day with a team chant to get us excited for the day ahead! This week fourth graders didn’t let the rain stop us from engaging in our fun and learning. We built and tested robots, made watercolor butterflies, designed different structures, and got to explore the playground on campus. In reading we took a deeper dive to better understand characters, traits, and their motivations and reviewed some multiplication strategies and skills. This week we also took a virtual field trip to the deep sea to explore the coral reef habitat before making some ocean slime!