Week in Review: September 8-12

Whew! We survived our first 5 day week!

In science, we have been learning about 4 major forms of energy (heat, light, mechanical and sound). The students have examined objects to determine what kind of energy they release,  made music with water in glasses, and worked with reflecting light beams from flashlights.

Playing Hot Cross Buns!

Learning how light reflects off of some objects

Next week, we will take a closer look at heat energy, and then we will use the knowledge we have learned about heat and light energy to design solar ovens for a little cooking experiment. S'mores anyone? The kids are really excited about this activity, but I will need your help with donations. Please see the email I sent on Friday for a list of items we need! And thanks so much for sending the flashlights this week, especially with such short notice!

We are continuing to learn various strategies to make us better readers in Reading Workshop, such as Back Up and Reread, Stop and Jot, and Check for Understanding. During Writing Workshop, we are still generating ideas and learning to distinguish between big "watermelon" ideas versus tiny "seed stories." Ask your child to describe the difference.

In math, we learned how to use an open number line to solve multiplication equations. We also spent a couple of days reviewing pictographs and using data from them to answer questions. On Friday, we used the laptops to log onto IXL Math, so they are now able to do that from home. Please encourage them to use this great online tool to work on their math skills. You can find a link for IXL on my websites page on this blog. Specifically, I would love to see them work through all of the place value units, and the first addition and multiplication units.

For fun this week, I introduced the kids to Go Noodle, which is a website with lots of active "brain breaks" for students. We will try one of these out whenever I see they need a chance to get some energy out. There are also calming brain breaks for when we need a moment to wind down. Below are a couple of pictures of the kids running hurdles. Hopefully, the classroom underneath us did not mind!

I hope you all have a great weekend. I am looking forward to some cooler temperatures, and possibly some rain!