Week of March 12th

This week we had Hands On Nature. The students learned about twigs. There was a puppet show. They played a game of I-Spy with a partner to show the importance of really examining things closely. Then they got to examine real twigs so as to understand their functions, including terminal buds, lenticils, leaf scars, lateral buds, bud scale scars,ring of lines marking how much it grew in a year. They then dressed up Haley as a twig and explained the parts again. Each child had the opportunity to make a twig with a pretzel and jelly beans. They chose between lateral and alternating buds to make their twigs. Hands on Nature then concluded with "Be A Tree Fantasy" where each child pretended to be little trees in the forest through the seasons. I'd like to thank Lynn Wilkinson, Cecelia Halliburton, and Lisa Warne for teaching this lesson.

In math we are continuing with our geometry unit. We worked on using pattern blocks to make various shapes and experimenting with different ways of making these shapes alternating various pattern blocks and coming up with three different ways to make the shape. A few students want to take one of the shapes and see how many different possibilities there are to make this one shape using hexagons, trapezoids, rhombuses and/or triangles. Stay tuned to see what happens. We also learned a couple of new games. One was "Last Shape in Wins" and the other was "Pattern Block Find and Fill". Ask your child about these games.

In writing we completed the On Demand Task and have started a new unit on Opinion Writing. This week we focused on talking through books that we really like and why and then finding evidence in the story to show why we really like the story. The students worked with a partner to share their thinking. Next week we will take what we have done orally and put it into writing. We will use a letter format to share these opinions. The class is off to a great start.

Next week I will be out of the classroom for 3 days. I will be attending a conference in Philadelphia on Differentiated Instruction. Ali will be subbing for me during these days. It will be nice for the class to have someone they are familiar with and great practice for her solo weeks ahead.