Classroom Summary for May 27 - 30

Aditi and Tiarra showing turtle pride!

Here's what we did this week...

In Fundations we completed our fifteenth unit! We used the abbreviated week to review the syllable types and spelling strategies we've learned so far this year. We also had a visitor on Wednesday while Ms. Varrell was at a meeting. Mr. Lyons came and read to our class! He brought the books Sparky by Jenny Offill and Chris Appelhaus and Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say. We were very excited to listen to our principal read to us. Thank you, Mr. Lyons!

In Miss Varrell's reading group we began a unit in our Making Meaning program called 'Wondering.' We read a very unique book by John Agee called The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau. We had a great time 'wondering' our way through this mysterious picture book. We were so intrigued by the story that many of us couldn't wait to read it again! Jon Agee used very few words to tell the story and yet we had so much to talk about throughout the story. We made connections, visualized and did a lot of inferring and wondering which showed just how much our comprehension has advanced since the beginning of the year.

In Science we reviewed the three animal types we've been studying over the past couple of months. We used a cooperative learning activity called a Jigsaw to review the main characteristics and life cycles of these interesting animals. Below are some pictures of our animal 'experts' reviewing and reteaching their randomly assigned animal type:

Aditi reviews amphibians with her jigsaw group.

Shira teaches her group about insects.

Erin review reptiles with her group.

Here's a 'sweet' video that helps explain what a jigsaw activity looks like in action:

We also had a visit from Mr. Musselman of the Burlington Science Center. He presented a program about the sun and shadows. We had a chance to trace our own shadows, look at the sun using a very special glass filter (so that it wouldn't hurt our eyes) and witness the power of the solar energy. Mr. Musselman used a parabolic dish to collect the rays of the sun into one beam of light and pointed it at a piece of newspaper. Can you guess what happened to the newspaper?  (Unfortunately Miss V. did not have her camera for Mr. Musselman's presentation, but she located a Youtube video with a similar outcome to share.) Make your guess before clicking here.

In Math we completed our enVision topic about time-telling, data collection and graphing. We learned about bar graphs, line plots, pictographs and picture graphs. Pictographs usually have a use a symbol that stands for a discrete number and that symbol is used throughout the graph. A picture graph uses different pictures that represent each item being counted. While collecting information for our graphs we learned that data collection requires some organization and a little note-taking before it can be used in a graph. We used tables and charts to put our data in before we graphed our information. We also used this week to practice telling time using different digital and analog phrases. For example, 6:15 can also be stated as 15 minutes after 6 and quarter past 6.

Weekend Challenge Activity: With permission from your parents, write and illustrate a math story on your Google drive email account and share it with me! All stories shared will receive a reply. :)

F.Y.I.

• Congratulations to Mrs. Davidson and Mrs. Shortell on their 2014-2015 PTO election wins! Thank you for your service. :)
• Our last book order flyers of the year will be going home Monday. Book orders and payments will be due Friday, June 6.
• Please continue to work on math facts and reading corps slips at home. Whenever possible, please encourage your child to practice identifying and counting coins and telling time on both digital and analog clocks. Thank you!