May 11, 2018

May 11th Newsletter

Area, Capacity, and Weight

Our current chapter on measurement has shifted from units of length to hands-on learning experiences with area and perimeter. This concept was introduced by counting squares in rectangular figures to find area. Students have also used their skills with rulers to measure sides of shapes to find the total perimeter. Students created a “Gallon Man” consisting of four paper cut-out quarts, sixteen cups, and eight pints. Providing experiences among these different units of capacity is fun and useful for helping in the kitchen.

Feathery Friends

Second Grade is seriously soaring with excitement over our bird study. Research for our birds has almost finished, as now most of our efforts are being put into our books and presentation. We are still watching the Hawk Cam and making notes in our observation logs. Our weekly bird vocabulary included: waddle, extinct, nestling, clutch, plummet, and plumage. One of our read alouds that captured our attention was Sadako and the Thousand Paper Crane. We tried last week creating our first origami and this week’s paper bird seemed to come together quite nicely.

5th Grade Lunch Date

As we prepare to say goodbye to our Fifth Grade friends who are graduating to middle school, Second Grade decided to buddy up with their class for some high quality time. Each week until the end of school, we have different activities and lunch dates planned with our older friends. This week we invited them to our class to compare their arm span to that of our bird study birds. 5th Grade was so amazed that their arms are about as wide as a Great Blue Heron! After our lunch date, we concluded the day with a game of bird tag where students from each of the 4 groups were taken back to their nest after being tagged by hawks and falcons.