Mrs. Neely’s 1st grade class: It rained in room 211 today! The first graders in Mrs. Neely's class got tired of waiting for this drought to end so we made our own rain. We learned how the sun heats the ocean as part of the water cycle and ultimately produces clouds in the sky that lead to rain storms. We learned about evaporation, condensation and water vapor. We also learned that the rain that rains on us may have once rained on the dinosaurs! Amazing! While we waited for our rain cloud to form we enjoyed using problem solving skills to solve pattern block puzzles, tan gram puzzles and floor puzzles. Those interested in art followed step by step directions to create sea creatures. All in all it was a great morning for the gnomes!
Ms. Lofaro’s 2nd grade class: Today, for E-slot, Miss Lofaro's Leapfrogs looked over our classroom top 11 interests. We noticed that Magic was our class' top interest so we watched some magic tricks and then searched for their own trick to perform in our upcoming magic show. We are hoping to even have a magician come and perform for 2nd grade!
Mrs. Donna Lee’s kindergarten class: Donna Lee's Lovebugs had fun with another Science Experiment: "Dancing Raisins". First, as good scientist do, we gathered all of the tools we needed: club soda, clear plastic cups, and raisins. We made predictions what would happen when we added raisins to the cup of club soda. Since we observed and heard the soda fizzing when we opened the soda bottle, we figured the gas inside might be a clue to "Dancing Raisins". We also wondered if we would need music to help the raisins dance! After combining the raisins and club soda we began our observations. Sure enough, in about a minute, the raisins DID begin to move and float to the top. They looked like they were "dancing"! We did try music to see if there would be a difference. But, we concluded that the music really didn't change our experiment. Wow...so much learning and high motivation involved when using a cup, a few raisins, and a bit of club soda!
Mrs. Wilson’s 1st grade class: Mrs. Wilson's wizards did a collection of ocean activities: made an ocean mural by painting under sea creatures, made ocean creatures out of play dough and worked on ocean puzzles with pattern blocks and tangrams. So many choices, so little time! But we had fun!
Mrs. Rung’s 2nd grade class: In my class one of our interests is science and we did an experiment mixing Epsom salts, baking soda, lemon juice, food color and fragrance. The end result: bath fizzes! Parents who helped: Mrs. Bell, Mrs. Bibikar, Ms. Roth and Mrs. Siddaveerappa.
Mrs. Clement’s 1st grade class: The first graders in Mrs. Clements' class dove into ocean exploration this week! Each student chose something they wanted to learn about the ocean. During our computer lab time, each student used great sites like Pebble Go, Renzulli and National Geographic Kids, along with books about the ocean, to research their chosen topic. The children made a list of materials they would need to make a presentation for the class. Clay became a very popular choice, so each child was able to make a clay representation of their topic. Then, during e-slot time on Friday, students painted their clay creations, wrote down fun facts about their topics, made posters, drawings, and 3-D representations as well. Each student was then given the opportunity to share what they had learned with the class. We all learned about a wide range of topics, from food webs, sea horses, whales, sharks, the ocean floor, seals, dolphins, sea horses, and what makes waves, just to name a few. We are becoming ocean experts!
Mrs. Hall’s 1st grade class: The Hoppers have been interested in learning more about specific ocean creatures that we have not discussed in our regular lessons. Today during e-slot the students started by looking through many types of ocean books to find the animal they were most interested in studying more about. The students spent time reading and examining pictures of their ocean creature. They decided what materials they needed to create their ocean creature. Many students made animals out of clay, some painted beautiful fish, while others tried to work with felt, needles and yarn. As I walked around the room playing the role of resource manager, I was excited to hear things like, "Mrs. Hall, did you know star fish have feet on the bottom of their points?" and "Cool, I didn't know that squid have blue blood!" The room was busy with learning that was completely created by the Hoppers and their interest.
Mrs. Smith’s 2nd grade class: The Smarties love magic...in fact, it was our number one interest on our Interest Survey! Today we watched several magic tricks and then decided we wanted to learn some tricks of our own. Working in partners we researched magic tricks on the computer and chose a trick to perform for the class. We wish we could wave our magic wand and make the week fly! We can hardly wait for next Friday's E-slot!
Mrs. Hieronymus’ 3rd grade class: The 3rd graders in Mrs. Hieronymus' class made stepping stones on Friday. We have been enjoying exploring matter in science, so we decided to make a mixture using quick setting cement and water. We learned we had to place our decorative stones in the cement quickly before the mixture hardened. After we finished our stones, we sat in the garden with our writing journals. There is always a story waiting to be told in our garden.
Mrs. Trejo’s 4th grade class: The Trejo Tree Frogs were interested in creating and building as well as conducting experiments. So we decided to create boats using only aluminum foil and tape. Then the students had to measure how many grams their boat could hold before sinking. The largest amount that one boat held was 320 grams. The students figured out that the boats surface area needed to be large in order to hold the maximum weight. The boats with large, flat bottoms held the most weight.
Continuing to develop the whole child....
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