Space Museum!

On Wednesday, March 3, our class visited the Middle School's annual Space Museum. The Middle School students did a stellar job of creating informative, interactive exhibits. Students were fully engaged in activities such as...painting planets, skateboarding through black holes, and concocting nebulas.

Jog-A-Thon! and Progress Reports

Jog-A-Thon is Thursday, March 4, during our PE time (9-9:30). Sponsor your student to exercise and help fund something cool at our school for next year!

Progress Reports are being written and will be released to students Monday, March 8! Check your student's backpack for the sealed envelopes detailing their most recent school journey.

Chinese Gardens and Beautiful Weather

We lucked out on our visit to the Chinese Gardens. The sun was shining and the plum blossoms were blooming. Our understanding of Chinese New Year Traditions came in handy as we learned about the harmonious symbols of plants animals hidden throughout the classical garden spaces.

Valentines Party

Our Valentines Party was a fun diversion from winter blahs. Thanks to Mrs. Weyhrich, Ms Francy, Mrs. Martinez and Taylor's Aunt for setting up snacks and helping kiddos read their Valentines!

Chinese New Year Homework

We are discussing the concept of traditions and how they are often unique to different groups of people. Please take a moment to let your child interview you about some traditions that you share as a family. We would especially like to know about traditions related to holidays and celebrations. (We are discussing traditions of Chinese New Year.) I am sending home a page for your child to draw a picture and write about their tradition. These drawings will be collected into a book for our class. Thank you for your help and cooperation.

PS. Please see our upcoming events about the Classical Chinese Gardens Field Trip February 22! Many children still need to turn in permission slips!

WEEK IN REVIEW

This week brought new mysterious tracks to our room. We investigated using our trackers guides, and found they belonged to a cougar and an elk. We recorded observations about cougar and elk. We examined pelts of different mammals, including skunk, mink, ermine, rabbit and badger.

In math, we explored algebra through organizing data and conducting experiments. We learned that crickets chirp more frequently when it is hot than when it is cold and observed and measured how the volume in a glass of water goes down when you drink it.

We explored our Learning in depth topics on the internet. Some of us found games and printed images to put in our notebooks

We began to discuss animals as symbols as an introduction to our unit on Asian New Year. I will be sending home a short note to request that you take the time to talk with your child about your family’s traditions.

Raptor Nest Party!

Last Wednesday we got to visit a forest at Buck Creek, where we built life sized raptor nests in small groups and learned how hard raptors have to work to make safe, strong nests. The weather was beautiful. We also had a squirrel snack of dried fruit and compared our raptor nests to the nests squirrels build. The very next day, the Rowena wildlife clinic brought a peregrine falcon and a great horned owl to visit our school! We began studying mammals, examining images of the tracks and scat of a red fox and Douglas squirrel.