We kicked off the week by celebrating Earth Day. The class parents created a phenomenal opportunity for the students to clean up rocks and weeds in the area around the Cherry Hill sign on the front lawn. Then, the students planted some flowers to finish it off. They did a great job and had a lot of fun. (They especially liked getting caught in the rain!)
Later in the week, a 1-Bu Nana came in and celebrated Poetry Month with the students. The students heard a couple of poems/books related to the rain and then illustrated their own! After that, the students got to decorate their own rainsticks. It was such a great lesson and craft. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We also visited the book fair to browse and to buy, had two visits from our Adopt a Cop, a lesson from NJ CAP (child assault prevention), and celebrated Arbor Day on Friday.
Even with all of that going on, we still managed to get in some basics. Here's what we've been working on in the classroom. (I'm including the week before break, too.) :
Reading : Before break, we were talking about asking questions before, during, and after reading. Good readers ask questions, for many different reasons, while they read text. Adults often aren't aware that they're even asking questions to themselves as they read, but it is an important skill for students to add to their repertoires. Asking questions while you read helps you understand the text more deeply and remember it better. When you read with your child at home, make sure to model this skill.
Last week, we start our unit on characters. So far, we've talked about characters' external traits, or what you can tell about a character by looking at him/her/it.
Writing : The students have almost finished up their all about books. They worked on the final sections of their books before break, one about their animals' life cycles and then one that included fun facts. Last week, the students wrote their tables of contents, glossaries, and made their covers. This week, the students will edit, revise, and publish their pieces. They've put a lot of work into them!
Math : We're deep into unit 8, which is focused on geometry. The students have investigated halves and fourths, composite shapes, 3-d shapes, and learned time to the half hour.
Programming : The students got to use Ozobots, mini robots, for the first time last week. Ozobots read color, so in order for them to go, the students must use color to create paths for the Ozobots to travel. We'll use the Ozobots a lot more this year, and use codes to create many different programs that will tell the Ozobots where to go and how to get there. The students had a great time exploring them last week.
Here are pictures of the students before and after break :