Dear Room 102 Parents,
It has been a wonderful week of talking about our favorite memories of this past school year, being grateful for our classroom community and the friendships we have, and discussing summer plans.
Of course, there was also colored hair, tattoos, and Popsicles!
Thank you for all that you have done to support me this year and for being partners in your child’s education.
Have a wonderful summer!
Bridget
Dear Room 102 Parents,
Our video recording session for the Virtual End-of-the-Year Program skit went smoothly, and Room 102 is definitely full of shining stars! I won’t give away any spoilers…stay tuned!
We are always looking for ways to help the Earth and save the environment, so all year we have been saving our dried-out markers, and this week we used them to make our own watercolor paints. First we sorted the markers by color, and then we soaked them overnight in cups of water. We experimented with painting on different kinds of paper and found that painting on paper towels gives a cool tie dye effect.
We read a book called Follow the Money by Loreen Leedy in which George, a newly minted quarter, spends his day going on different adventures. He is traded, spent, lost, found, donated, dropped into a vending machine, washed in a washing machine, and generally passed all around town. By the end of the story George finally ends up back at the bank and deposited into a savings account.
One of the kids asked me what a fraction is, so this led us to a discussing about what they are and how we use them every day. We defined fractions as “parts of a whole” and talked about recipes, pizzas, telling time, and other common places we see or find them. The kids connected the concept of fractions to the way we count money, pointing out that if a dollar is considered the “whole,” then quarters can be considered fourths, dimes could be considered tenths, nickels could be considered twentieths, and pennies could be considered hundredths. That’s pretty impressive, isn’t it?! The kids amaze me all of the time!
This week’s Multiplicity Lab’s Image of the Week was a shape constructed out of GeoStix, which have color-coded pieces of different lengths, with snaps at regular intervals. All I asked the students was, “What patterns do you see?” The color-coding helps decompose this shape into a host of component parts that can be compared or connected. The kids pointed out rectangles, triangles, pieces that looked like they formed letters and numbers, and lines that were symmetrical. We then explored looking for patterns in our own GeoStix shapes.
We celebrated Plato’s graduates by watching them receive their diplomas and cheering for them as they walked along the parking lot path. We also made cards for them, letting them know that we are proud of them and wishing them luck as they move on to high school.
When we first started the Tropical Rainforest exploration back in March, we organized the way we approached the study by making a K-W-L Chart. We listed what we already knew about the rainforest, and then we listed what we wanted to know about the rainforest. Now that the project has come to an end, we completed the last step by reflecting on what we have learned during the unit and adding it to our chart. We know so much about the rainforest that our list is almost two pages long…and we’ve already thought of more things we could add to it!
The Des Plaines Public Library has an interactive community art project, and the featured artist is Yayoi Kusama! You can stop by the Third Floor to check it out…be sure to ask a librarian for some stickers!
On Monday we will be watching FernGully: The Last Rainforest, which tells the story of fairies who have to save their home from loggers and pollution. I will be bringing individually wrapped popcorn for the kids to have as a snack. If you do not want your child to have popcorn, please let me know.
Have a great weekend!
Bridget
Dear Room 102 Parents,
We started the week by completing some on-going projects…we finished painting the backdrop for our skit, our costumes are ready, and we all made our Chapter Check-In books for Rainforest Rescue.
Since there isn’t enough time left in the year to finish another novel, we’ve been reading a variety of picture books. One we read was called The Leaf Detective: How Margaret Lowman uncovered secrets in the rainforest. This biography, of a groundbreaking female scientist nicknamed “Canopy Meg,” told the story of her determination to explore and investigate the undiscovered world of the rainforest treetops. Some scientists study the rainforest in a lab or from the Forest Floor, but not Meg. We followed up the read-aloud by watching Meg Lowman’s TedxYouth talk titled How I Climb Trees to Save Forests.
We also read a book called Lots and Lots of Coins by Margarette S. Reid. This story, about a boy and his coin-collecting Dad, was filled with fun facts and the history of coins and money we use today. The book also featured A Dime Game brian teaser. Since we’re always up for a challenge, of course we had to give it a try. Try it for yourself…place 10 dimes in the pattern pictured below. Make the triangle point up (instead of down) by moving only three dimes. If you’re stumped, ask your kiddo to show you how it’s done!
Two well-known and award-winning children’s picture book authors/illustrators passed away this week, Eric Carle and Lois Ehlert. We honored them and their dedication to early literacy by reading some of their stories and admiring their artwork. We are so fortunate to have many books written by them on classroom bookshelves and in our Plato library.
In addition to daily Math Journal challenges, we took a look at Multiplicity Lab’s Image of the Week which featured 4 playing cards and a pencil vertically placed in the middle. I asked the simple question, “Which is more?” We all agreed that the left side had more, but there were so many different ways of looking at the cards and coming to that conclusion. While some of the kids added the numbers on the cards and compared the sums, some of the kids used rational reasoning which doesn’t involve making any calculations.
As you know, we have been rehearsing a skit for the Virtual End-of-the-Year Program. We will be filming it on Tuesday, and your child can come out of uniform if he/she has something in mind for a costume.
Have a great weekend!
Bridget
