Classroom Peek Week of 11/18 - 11/22

Take a peek inside to see what vibrant lessons were happening inside of TCS classrooms this week!

In this issue:

  • Our preschoolers are practicing their balancing skills and other gross motor skills including jumping on our new Alligator balance beam on the playground! It came to us without a name, so each student submitted their name suggestions and we are happy to announce that her name is: Chompers!

  • Red Room students explored food and culture from around the world and discussed how different families eat, culminating in an art project pasting different foods onto plates!

  • Yellow Room students celebrated Kindness and Compassion Week by reading stories and sharing ideas about how to be kind to one another. They also worked on addition and subtraction with various games!

  • First Grade used the Native American symbols they learned in Social Studies to create sentences using them as nouns!

  • Fourth Grade worked on a fun California mapping project. It was a question/answer game called, “Where in California is it located?”

Classroom Peek Week of 11/11 - 11/15

Take a peek inside to see what vibrant lessons were happening inside of TCS classrooms this week!

In this issue:

  • Yellow room worked on the 5 senses this week, using a sensory touch and taste table
    The children touched soft and hard items and then tasted a variety of sweet/soft items and savory and salty items, including sweet strawberries, grapes, sweet and salty chewy bagels and savory+ salty items such as Cheez-its and Chex mix.

  • Kindergarten studies leaves in their Science unit, studying the anatomy of a leaf and then making leaf rubbings in art!

  • Third Grade culminated their second Language Arts unit by reading the play, The Case of the Three Bear's Breakfast. The students enjoyed taking on their role by reading their script aloud in a different voice. In Science unit, they played a game in which students got to move up spaces along the board if they correctly identified which simple machine was described in the clue card.

  • Seventh Grade continued their studies on accomplishments in the Islamic World.

Classroom Peek Week of 11/4 - 11/8

Take a peek inside to see what vibrant lessons were happening inside of TCS classrooms this week!

In this issue:

  • Blue Room has been learning about fall and all the wonderful things that come with it. They sorted leaves and created some seasonal inspired artwork.

  • Green Room continued the fall theme, by learning about the fall harvest. They made scarecrows complete with corn and crows!

  • First Grade social studies lesson discussed maps. They started with the basics: the compass, North, East, West, South (Never Eat Soggy Waffles), and focusing on the change of directions depending on where we face. Then they mapped the classrooms and the entire school campus!

  • Fourth Grade worked on compound words throughout the week, in stories and on the Smartboard!

  • Sixth Grade students were captivated by the new clues they received while reading “The Westing Game”. They worked collaboratively and discovered a key clue hidden within the lyrics of the song, “America the Beautiful”.

  • Our Middle Schoolers rode the Metro on Wednesday to experience the California Science Center in downtown LA. We are so lucky to have so many amazing resources in our very own backyard!

Classroom Peek Week of 10/28 - 11/1

Take a peek inside to see what vibrant lessons were happening inside of TCS classrooms this week!

In this issue:

  • Red Room centers this week included a balancing game, a one-to-one correspondence game involving shapes and colors, stamping, and a rubber band and peg board game that is a wonderful prewriting exercise that further develops finger movement and concentration.

  • Yellow Room learned a new game in P.E. called “Piggy Bank” taught by Coach Jeremy. Each child practiced kicking a soccer ball at an orange cone in order to knock off the red ball that sat on top of it. If a red ball was knocked off, the child would bring it back and put it in the middle of a little hoop which acted as the "bank." At the end of P.E., the children helped collect the balls, hoops and cones, some turning the cones into orange witch hats in honor of the upcoming holiday!

  • The 2nd Grade was in Halloween mode all week! In language arts they worked on A-B-C order and filling in alpha boxes with Halloween words. They read Halloween books and completed a book report with a beginning, middle, and end. They worked on critical thinking and had to problem solve by reading the clues to help Winifred the witch pick out the best costume to wear to the Halloween Ball. Then the students had to recreate her in the costume. We also used the word HALLOWEEN and did an acrostic lesson using the letters in that word to create the moods, sights, and sounds of the season. The three most popular words were eat, night, and happy.

  • The 4th Grade completed the last stage of their Hero Project by creating pumpkins that represented a person that is a hero to them. Two Einstein’s, Jesse Owens, and J.K. Rowling came to visit. They also paired up and designed their own map, as part of the completion of their map unit. The “Final Destination,” had our students writing directions on how to find a treasure they buried in their map. As a whole class, we listened to each team give their directions and walk us through them to find their treasure.

  • Our 6th Grade spent time this week collaborating with their classmates about the new clues that they have gleaned from reading our mystery novel, "The Westing Game".

  • To celebrate Halloween, the 8th Grade enjoyed their own "Happy Hallo-Read" where they had the opportunity to relax and spend uninterrupted time independently reading with a novel of their choice.

Classroom Peek Week of 10/21-10/25

Take a peek inside to see what vibrant lessons were happening inside of TCS classrooms this week!

In this issue:

  • The Red Room showcased an optometry center for dramatic play to help our students learn why glasses are necessary for some of us. To keep in the spirit of Halloween, they also looked at brooms from around the world and created large paintings using broomsticks as brushes, and performed a mindfulness activity that practiced keeping quiet and calm on their pretend witch broomsticks.

  • The Blue Room got into the Halloween spirit by painting paper plate spider webs and ghosts as well as creating spooky sensory bins.

  • The Green Room spent the week preparing for Halloween by painting spooky ghosts saying Boo! They made "magical" Halloween pictures by coloring with white crayons and painting over their picture with watercolors to make it "magically" appear. In addition, they helped paint boxes for our Halloween festival booth.

  • First Grade continued learning about contractions, especially “n’t”, and made a special trip to the Science Lab to learn about geology and volcanic rocks!

  • Second Grade is studying world geography and visited Holly’s office to see the world map on her wall!

  • Seventh Grader English students continued to focus their attention on the class novel, “The Giver.” They discussed the plot of the novel and worked collaboratively to answer text dependent questions based on their reading. The students brought the novel to life, by by creating their own class “Ceremony of Twelve” where each student was given an assignment and offered the opportunity to either journal about how that assignment aligned with their interests, or apply for a new assignment.

TCS 7th & 8th Graders meet with Oakwood School

TCS students were able to meet with representatives from Oakwood School to learn more about what their high school program has to offer.

Classroom Peek Week of 10/14-10/18

Take a peek inside to see what vibrant lessons were happening inside of TCS classrooms this week!

In this issue:

  • Blue Room learned a little math and science by creating sculptures using found objects in the classroom and magnets. They created bats using coffee filters, and learned how to spray their painted creations with water to create special effects, as the ink bled.

  • Yellow Room studied the color wheel through the works of German-born American artist, Josef Albers.They then read the book “Press Here”, by Herve Tullet to explore primary colors, secondary colors, and color combinations.

  • Kindergarten worked on number recognition by playing dominoes and card games.

  • Second Grade visited the Tree People on Thursday to learn about recycling, reducing, and reusing. They also learned about the negative effects of pollution and how they could make a difference.

  • Third Grade learned about Synonyms and Antonyms by playing a hands-on memory matching game.

  • Fourth Graders became Cartographer in Social Studies and discussed map grids; an important tool for map making. They also created an art project in which each student was given a small paper pumpkin and was asked to transform it into a drawing. They were encouraged to think outside the box and visualize just about anything to create.

  • Fifth Grade continued their lesson on multiplying multiple digits.

  • Eighth Grade scholars participated in their first Socratic Seminar. They used evidence from our focus short story, “The Necklace”, to support their interpretations and responses to key discussion questions.

Classroom Peek Week of 10/7-10/11

Take a peek inside to see what vibrant lessons were happening inside of TCS classrooms this week!

In this issue:

  • Blue Room continued their exploration of the five senses, learning about hearing. They worked with different musical instruments and listened to different songs on a record player, and named sounds associated with movements.

  • Yellow Room created a special art project called the Fall Friendship Tree, in which the entire preschool came together to create leaves for the tree, representing the friendships among the classrooms. They also studied the lifecycle of apples, and expanded the apple theme into their math, writing, and art centers.

  • First Grade science studied geology, and learned about volcanos and volcanic rocks.

  • Second Grade made ceramic leaf bowls in Art, learned about a kiln, and how to glaze their creations.

  • Fifth Grade began their study of our solar system, and expanded their writing skills using a graphic organizer to organize their thoughts.

  • Seventh Grade Science expanded their learning space to the great outdoors, transforming the garden boxes into future science experiments by planting fruit, vegetables, flowers, and succulents.

Classroom Peek Week of 10/7-10/11

Take a peek inside to see what vibrant lessons were happening inside of TCS classrooms this week!

In this issue:


Blue and Red Room went to the Pumpkin Patch this week, and then created their own pumpkins out of dough in their Art Center!

  • Yellow Room enjoyed Halloween songs as well as story time with Teacher Courtney.

  • Third Grade began their unit on cursive, practicing the four pillar strokes, and used their base ten blocks to visualize regrouping in Math.

  • Fourth Grade expanded their dictionary skills in Language Arts and used story starters to brainstorm ideas, continuing to create stories with a beginning, middle, and end that was ultimately edited and proofread for proper grammar and punctuation. In Math, they began learning the basics of Algebra!

  • This year, our Middle School students have joined clubs that meet for an hour each Friday. The Fall opportunities are: Tinkering with Mark, Speech and Debate, Library Council, and our Running Club!

  • Over the past few weeks, our budding debaters honed their speech and public speaking skills. They researched, selected, and practiced a poem or short speech of their choice, then presented it to their classmates at our official Country School podium!

Classroom Peek Week of 9/23-9/27

Take a peek inside to see what vibrant lessons were happening inside of TCS classrooms this week!

In this issue:

  • Red Roomers studied rocks this week. They made rock collages, participated in an outdoor rock/fossil expedition, and created "geodes" with playdough and jewels. They also observed a volcano "explosion" of vinegar and baking soda to learn about how lava rocks are formed.

  • Yellow Room students studied Fall, and went on a nature walk to discover the changes in the season and weather. They read Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf and created their own leaf art to celebrate!

  • First and Fifth Grade buddies interviewed one another, and completed a questionnaire about each other, and then introduced their new buddy to the class.

  • Second Graders wrote letters to their friends, and worked out double digit math on our dry-erase tablets.

  • Seventh Grade Math students studied tesselations in nature, art, and architecture and used ratios to create their own tesselations in class.

Emergency Preparedness WEEK at TCS

Student's safety is high priority at TCS. The students, Faculty and Staff all took part in fire and earthquake drills this week to keep everyone educated and prepared in the event of an emergency.

All TCS staff have been trained for first aid and CPR assistance. Along with thorough training, the Faculty and Staff have also taken measures to ensure each classroom is outfitted with an emergency preparedness flip book, evacuation procedures and supply backpacks.

Our students did a great job during our drills this week!