Last week, we did our first actual STEAM lesson in the STEAM lab. The students were given some supplies and the task of creating a chair that would hold each of the members of the three little bears (from Goldilocks and the Three Bears). First, the students had to make a plan for their chair designs. Then, they created their chairs and changed their plans as needed. Finally, they tested their chair designs by putting the three little bear figurines on their chairs. The students did an amazing job and worked very well together. Even though every chair looked a little different, they all found some success! Check out some pictures of their designs below.
On Friday, our Adopt-a-Cop, Officer Sanches, visited to read a book to the students about police officers.
Here's the rest of what was going on in the classroom last week:
Reading : We started learning about nonfiction last week. The students have had a great time going through nonfiction books. So far, we've talked about the differences between fiction and nonfiction and how to determine if a book is nonfiction.
Writing : We expanded our opinion writing unit last week by talking about persuasion. To start this unit off, the students were simply writing their opinions about various matters. Now, they're thinking about things that they want to change and are writing pieces to try to persuade others to agree with them. It's a lot of fun to see what sorts of things the students want to change. Ask your child what he/she has been writing about!
Math : We wrapped up Unit 5 last week and will be moving on to Unit 6 this week. By now, your child should be able to successfully use a number grid and base-ten blocks to add double-digit numbers. I don't expect for your child to add double-digit numbers without these tools, however.
Science : We had a lot of fun talking about force this week. We started off by creating Venn Diagrams about things that you push and pull. Then, we talked about different ways that things move (due to pushes and pulls).
Here are some pictures of 1-Bu last week: