ROARING NEWS!

Dear Baldwin Community,

 

Our second annual March Mathness was a HUGE success! We had parents, grandparents, student teachers and community members teaching our children many different math concepts through real life experiences and fun. Our volunteers made math come alive at Baldwin! A second grade student in Ms. Brady's class said to me, "Dr. Peña, I don't know who thought of March Mathness, but this a great thing for us to have. Every station has been so much fun especially the one where I ordered the food I wanted with the money I was given." I heard these type of comments every in every class I visited yesterday. 

We had different lessons and math centers happening at all grade levels. Our PreK children played a variety of math games with parents and teachers in their classrooms. I peeked in their rooms and they didn't even notice me. They were so engaged in the activities and having such a great time. In Kindergarten, we had children working with fractions creating their own "Equal Willy" caterpillar. In another  class, I saw children working with money, measuring their heart rates and playing a doubles game. The third graders experienced the olympics through different math olympic games. The older students learned more math skills through a scavenger hunt, balancing a check book and measuring the circumference of different circles. I saw some fifth graders writing out checks, so parents beware!

 

This type of learning and fun makes Baldwin a special place to learn and grow. Thank you to our teachers for organizing this year's March Mathness and thank you to all of the volunteers who came out to celebrate Math learning with us! We appreciate everyone sharing their talents and expertise.

 

Have a restful and fun Spring Break. I will see everyone back on March 19th!

 

Roaring with Pride,
Dr. Peña

ROARING NEWS

Dear Baldwin Community,

It has been a few weeks since my last blog communication. Throughout the month of February, we were extremely busy at Baldwin!


As I walk through classrooms and see what children are learning and experiencing and review the work that is posted in the hallways, I can confidently tell you that all of our Bobcats have been focused on learning. The students' writing that is posted demonstrates their commitment to high levels of learning. They have been sharing math strategies and writing skills through research and creative writing. The students in 2nd grade presented some outstanding research projects on Presidents, which included creative presentation skills and knowledge. The students in 1st and 3rd grades shared their learning and love of poetry by creating some original poems that are displayed throughout the yellow, blue and orange hallways. Our Kindergarten students continue to build their math skills with new knowledge about fractions and 2 and 3 dimensional shapes. Our fourth graders are displaying some "smarty pants" writing. They wrote compositions about a time they felt smart. Stop by and read them; the compositions are hanging in the green wing.  I love going into classrooms and hearing your children share their learning and their ideas.


This past Friday, we celebrated Dr. Seuss' Birthday with pajama day and by having some of our students' fathers read to their children's classes. It was absolutely a beautiful experience to see and hear our dads reading to our children. We also had some classes cook up green eggs and ham, which were delicious. Thanks for helping us continue to develop the love of reading through these fun events. On Friday, in the third and fourth grade classes, we also celebrated Texas Independence Day. The fourth graders transformed themselves into cowboys and cowgirls to add to the learning fun. They also read and discussed the Texas Declaration of Independence, which was signed on March 2, 1836.


On February 24, a chicken showed up during morning assembly and led the chicken dance for the whole student body. The chicken went around the school cafeteria dancing with children, staff and parents. The chicken showed up to tell the children and parents thank you for contributing to the "Love Your School Campaign" and for helping the PTA meet this year's goal. It was an awesome celebration of great fun and dancing. I here the chicken had so much fun that it wants to come back!! Let's see how we can make that happen!  

I would like to invite all of you to stop by this Friday, March 9 to celebrate March "Mathness" with us. We will begin our math rotations at around 8:00 a.m. and continue until about 10:30-11:00 depending on the grade level. For most grade levels, we have parent volunteers that will be conducting math lessons with our students. If you are available, we still need a few volunteers for fourth and fifth grade. Please let the fourth or fifth grade teachers know if you can teach a math lesson on Friday. We are looking forward to a fun filled day of mathematics!



I want to thank everyone for their continuous support of the learning at Baldwin. Don't forget we will be off for spring break beginning March 10 and we will return for the last ten weeks of classes beginning March 19. Enjoy your spring break and I look forward to seeing everyone on March 19th.


Roaring with Pride,
Dr. Peña