Sorry for the doubled up post. It has been a very busy week an a half together. With our chick hatching, me out for a sick day (which has only happened twice in the past 5 years of my career), and the shortened week with the Thanksgiving holiday, things have been a bit wild (and amazing) to say the least. This is a bit of a long one, but I have tried to document our learning pretty well with photos. With that in mind, I will try to keep the words to a minimum (which is hard for me), and let the pictures tell you all about our learning journey over the past two weeks. MathIn Math, we have been looking at linear measurement and data collection. Students have been working on ordering and comparing objects by length. The photos above are of us ordering objects from shortest to longest. I encourage you to try this at home. We are also learning how to measure things using non-standard units. Students used paper clips, tooth picks, and cubes to measure objects in the classroom. We learned that when you measure you need to start at the top or bottom/beginning and end of an object. We also learned that we need to measure things in a straight line, and that objects need to be touching. We learned that we can measure using just one object, by using our fingers and then laying the same object down again. We used a pencil to measure a variety of objects. Please practice this skill at home. I received an awesome email from Nina's mom Candice this week, or her collecting data at home with their baking. I love seeing how learning at school translates to home. How do your children collect data at home? Language ArtsIn Language Arts, we have been learning about the ow/ou and oi/oy digraphs. We have been watching the alphablocks and playing games to practice reading words with these sounds. Unit of Inquiry/Design TechnologyThis year the elementary school classes are taking turns hosting assemblies on half days. On Wednesday, the third grade class shared their learning about their rice unit of inquiry with us. It is so great to see the different learning that is happening in other classes, It's also great to see other students modelling presentation skills. Last week, we wrapped up our learning on the butterfly life cycle. Students used play dough to model the life cycle. In the makers space, we built several things for our butterflies. The students used information that we found on the internet to build a puddling pool for butterflies (pictured above). They also built butterfly feeders to draw butterflies to our gardens to pollinate our vegetable and fruit plants. Some students helped me follow instructions to make nectar with sugar and boiling water. There was a lot going on in our makers space. Right on time, one of our chicks hatched on day 21. It was so exciting! We had lots of visitors come to meet our new friend, and we named him Luno. We talked about how squished he must have been in that egg, and got a box and some bottles to make a home and feeders for him. We had a lot more questions once the chick came, and did lots of research to find answers. The chick had to stay in the incubator to dry off over night, and on the weekend, me and 'my helper' came to move him to his home that we created. We used a brooder to keep him warm like a mother would. We spent the remainder of the week taking great care of little Luno. We were sad that none of his brothers and sisters hatched. We learned that not all eggs are fertilized, and that like seeds, not all things grow. Students were sad that he was on his own, so they brought in mirrors and toys to keep him company. He (or she) is moving to Mr. Joe's house and will be friends with some of his little chicks there. Hatching our chick was a great provocation for exploring eggs. We hard boiled eggs and looked at all of the parts. We were amazed to find out that the embryo survives on the yolk for 21 days. We then cracked open an egg, and looked at all of the different parts. We were amazed to see the germinal disc, and how small it was. We couldn't believe that a chick began as such a little spec. Our egg-sploration concluded with a 'save the egg' design challenge. Students designed a contraption to keep an egg from breaking when dropped from off the balcony. We took a look at the design cycle and remembered that we need to begin with a plan. Students then brought their plans to life by designing their egg drop contraptions. Above are our finished egg drop contraptions. We learned that plans change as people build, make and produce projects. We ended by dropping our eggs off of the balcony. I am happy to say that even off of the high high school balcony none of our eggs broke. As I have mentioned before, we have some very talented engineers in our first grade class.
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March 2018
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