Saturday's Post...

Hello to my favorite families...sorry about the day delay...I'm ready to give you a full update...because we had a FULL week!

First of all, if you haven't seen the photostories, please visit the previous blog post...they're great! I still have a few to add, so sorry to those families that they're not up yet!

Language Arts
This week in LA we focused on Reading Functional Documents. The kids read and analyzed brochures, recipes, menus, craft directions, and a website...and each document served a different purpose. We discussed the text features that made each document easier to read, more "user-friendly" and discussed what text features could have been added to make it even better. Your kids have LOTS of opinions! :-) On Monday they will be using a functional document to make a craft. Before they construct the craft they will have to decide which set of directions they are given is better and why...our work from last week should enable them to do this with ease. On Tuesday the kids will be planning their own functional document...I'm looking forward to their creations!

In Writing this week we finished our math stories and poems and published them in the computer lab. These pieces are hanging on the walls of the hallway near the media center...we had some wonderful pieces!

Math
We did a lot more work with fractions this week...I was running two to three different groups at a time in order to meet the needs of the kids...we had everyone working on converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa, we were adding and subtracting mixed numbers with unlike denominators...other kids had mastered these indicators already and they were working on extension activities...and others were still working to master simplifying fractions...a quiz was given Friday and we now move into DECIMALS...

Science
We set up an experiment with the daphnia...each triad put 3-5 daphnia in a vial and will be observing the daphnia every other day and counting them...daphnia produce 10-20 eggs every other day (although often our data does not support this fact!) We have discussed that the biotic potential for daphnia is greater when they are in their natural environment, not a small vial...the kids seem to understand that this variable can affect the outcome.

We spent most of Thursday celebrating Earth Day...this also happened to be "Take Your Child to Work" day, so we had only 14 kids in class...but if you ask one of the 14 what their favorite activity was that day, my guess is they'd tell you the time we spent in the UES Wetlands. We spent our entire afternoon there...we first got our pencils and Learning Logs, walked to the Wetlands, and found a quiet place to observe...the kids were allowed to make lists, pictures, write sentences, or poems as they sat and observed...the idea was that it would be a quiet time...well, let me tell you...right after the first of MANY toads was spotted, the quiet was gone...but the kids were having so much fun looking for predators, prey, counting organisms, hunting toads that noise was totally appropriate...we then went over to the Fossil Wall and sat on the rocks and took time to record our facts/findings/thoughts. Once we had some true quiet writing time, we went over and sat at the science tables and shared what we had written...it was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed being right smack in the middle of nature!

Social Studies
We head into a new social studies unit this week...ECONOMY...I love this unit and am looking forward to working with your children as they learn about making choices, opportunity cost, using resources to make a product, etc...stay tuned for more about this unit!

I hope you all are having a great weekend...it was nice the rain kind of held off today...wonder what's in store tomorrow? Whatever you do, enjoy your families!