Welcome from the Loving Lava!!

Greetings! It’s back! The ever popular OCS blog! For folks who are new, the goal of this blog/newsletter is to share with you some of the experiences that are happening in your children’s classroom. From math games we are playing and what we are reading and writing to what we are learning in theme, you’ll find it here. I hope these classroom updates help initiate colorful, detailed and meaningful conversations with your children about their experiences throughout the week.

This first entry is a bit overwhelming; we have done SO much this fall! So, I decided to do a photo entry that focus on some of our time spent learning together and a bit about our studies in geology.

Earlier this fall we began learning about different lifeskills, skills that we will always need in our life. Our first was friendship and what it means to make and keep a friend. It was fun playing getting to know you games and learning a bit more about each other. Some of us had to think pretty hard to come up with something that no one already knew! We discussed what it means to be a friend, how to show friendship, and how to make a friend. We learned how to make friendship bracelet and gave them to our younger buddies. And as most of you know, the kids put their great friendship bracelet making skills to use for a good cause by selling them to help raise money for our Cycle for Water fundraiser. Such an amazing group of kiddos!

This month we have focused on cooperation and helping others. We are so incredibly helpful and cooperative, every time I turn around someone has something to add to our poster of examples of us using cooperation in our classroom and lives or helping others. A few things that are on the list…”getting math supplies for a partner math game while another gets pencils,” helping to make breakfast for my family,” “cleaning up our classroom,””holding the heavy outside door open for our younger friends." The kids thought it would be fun using cooperation to build human pyramids!

SNOW DAY!! Now this snow creature took some serious teamwork (and a whole lot of FUN!). Making the three large snowballs together was not too difficult once there were 3 people rolling the ball. When it was time to assemble, that took some ingenuity! After the kids gathered up as many kids and adults they could fit around the giant snowball and discovering that we could not lift it high enough, the problem solving began. One kid mentioned building a ramp thus beginning a search of the playground for anything that could fill in for a ramp and ta da- top of the toy chest! And with lots of muscle, encouragement, and directing they got it done!

In geology, a few highlights have been learning about the types of volcanoes and then creating each kind…. We also learned a bit about Yellowstone and geysers, fumaroles, mud pots, and hot springs. The kids created their own experiments to model each one. They gave me the list of supplies they might need, I put them out and presto a bubbling mud pot made of coco powder, baking soda and vinegar and a geyser with baking soda and vinegar and a lid with a straw poking through that really let the geyser blow!

The trip to Burke Museum was really interesting! We saw uncut diamonds (!!) and many beautiful gems with many ooooohs, aaaaaahs and “Jeriann, you have to see this!!” It was a great kick off for us to learn about rock and minerals. This week we learned about the different types of rocks, how they are made, and the rock cycle.

We had our second trip to the food bank this last Friday. WOW! These kiddos get things done! Yeah! It was 45 minutes of nonstop work as kids opened boxes, took out the fruit bowls and put them in the crates. As they worked with their younger buddies they developed different systems to help each other out or to be more efficient. A couple of pairs joined up as one tore the packaging off, one snapped the fruit bowls apart and the two others put them in the crate - phew!

K. finally lost her other front tooth and I just couldn't resist taking this photo. CUTIE PIES!

News from the Shocking Sugar Gliders!

Wow! The end of our wonderful school year is just around the corner! There is so much happening in the coming days that I decided to post all important dates today so we can get them on our calendars. Phew! It's a full calendar packed with great learning experiences and fun!

Important Dates

Friday May 14th - Field Trip with Stream Team 9:00-1:00

Monday May 17th - Field Trip to McAllister Springs 12:00-3:00

Monday May 31st - No School

Friday June 4th - Field Trip

Saturday June 5th - OCS Alumni and Friends Spring Picnic

Thursday June 10th - All Day Field Trip to Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle)

Friday June 11th - Half Day (12:00)

Saturday/Sunday June 12/13 - OCS Camp-out

Week of June 14-18 - Crazy Week! (more details posted later)

Friday June 18th - Field Day

Monday June 21st - Last Day of School - Half Day (12:00)

Tuesday June 22nd - End of the Year Picnic/Ceremony

Final Friday Workshops Schedule!!!

May 14th

Sequoia

Kat

May 21st

Oliver

Maggi

May 28th
Owen

Cedar

It has been a couple of weeks since our last post and so much has happened, where to begin?! First, I hope you were able to see our children's beautiful rainforest shadow boxes on display at Traditions for Artswalk. We were all delighted with how they turned out. To prepare for our creations we learned a bit about Henry Rousseau and his jungle paintings. We took note of how his paintings are so full of plant life and colors (and laughed when we read that sometimes he frightened himself with his own paintings of tigers in the jungle!). We also looked at Haitian box art and then combined the two styles to create our own lovely rainforest shadow boxes.

Here are a few pictures of our work with Stream Team at Circle Hawk Farm. We carried buckets of mulch to the trees near the stream and some of us worked on clipping back the blackberries. It was fun spending time together outside and working together to help our trees and stream!

Math

We finished our work with fractions last week and are focusing our minds on subtraction. We are playing a few games this week to get us in the subtraction mode by finding the difference between numbers. Some of us like to use a number line and hop from number to number to help us find the difference and others like to add on to the smaller number to get to the higher number. We will continue to play games throughout our subtraction unit that help us practice math facts, understand the concept (especially when we do borrowing) and have fun while we are learning about it!

Language

Poetry has been our focus this last week and will be for several weeks. We first wrote poems that captured the rainforest. We put all our descriptive words, onomatopoeias, and similes to work to write incredibly powerful poems. We thought about line breaks and space to bring more music to our poem. We also played with the form of our poem and how it can bring more power to certain words. Some of us included word art or aspects of concrete poetry into our poems.

In the next few weeks, we will try out techniques poets use to write poems. This week we are creating poems about simple, ordinary things around us and to do this we are putting our "poetic eye" to work. We are looking at (and smelling, feeling, hearing, and tasting) ordinary things with a fresh, new perspective and writing about them in a totally new, imaginative way. We looked at staplers, swings, bird baths, pencils, etc. and wrote down phrases, descriptions, or comparisons that we may later piece together into a poem. We had to check our descriptions to see if we were using our "poetic eyes" or our "scientific eyes." Everyone had incredible descriptions and will create very powerful poems!

Theme

We all think the rainforest produces some of the tastiest food on Earth! We certainly have enjoyed tasting and preparing a few treats. We learned all about the process of making the chocolate we like to eat, from the cacao pod, to drying the beans, grinding, and then mixing the powder with sweetener and cacao butter. Yummmmmy! Gum from chicle was just as interesting to learn about and to make. Ask your child if s/he can tell you the process to make this kind of gum and why it may help the rainforest to buy gum with chicle as an ingredient (which is hard to find!).

Many body products are made from ingredients that may come from the rainforest. We made a delicious lip balm with cocoa butter. What a treat for our lips!

Today we had a wonderful guest, our very own Steve from Fungi Perfecti!! Wow, fungi is so amazing! We learned about how important their role is in the ecosystem and the rainforest, their life cycle, and different ways humans use fungi for health and environmental clean-up. And, we will get to watch mushrooms grow in the coming weeks in our classroom! How cool!

The Lucky Leaf Cafe is doing very well! The children have made over $80 and plan to sell popcorn, truffles, and maybe fruit salad next week. We are still deciding which organization we would like to donate the money we raise. We have a couple of ideas and may split the money between the two organizations. We will keep you posted! Through our research of organizations we are learning more about indigenous communities as well as products that come from cleared rainforests. The children are putting together an informative poster to share their concern as well as inspire others to help protect our beautiful rainforests. Thank you for all your support! The children are so inspired to raise money and love selling the juices!

****Last book shares are due May 28th! Also, we are back to our homework routine and homework is due this Thursday. ****

Reminders and Important Dates

ANIMAL/ PLANT PRESENTATIONS DUE THIS WEEK!

Council of Critters: Thursday April 22 @ 2:30~please join us and witness the pleas

of the rainforest critters!

View our rainforest art at Traditions this weekend for Arts Walk!

Saturday, April 24: Procession of the Species~ Come walk with us!

I am still collecting paper towel rolls! Please send in any you may have!

Math

How tall are you? How long is your foot? How many of your feet tall are you? These are some of the questions we’ve been exploring in our study of measurement! Interestingly, most of us were between 6 and 8 of our feet tall. We are wondering if this trend would continue if we were to measure more people…especially people that are taller than we are! We have a variety of predictions…so, if you’d like to figure out how many of your feet tall you are, we’d love to add your findings to our graph!

We have been measuring big things and little things, wide things and thin things. It has been fun learning to use and practicing using rulers, yardsticks and tape measures. We have also been measuring things using cubes, our hands, our feet, our pencils…because, as one student pointed out, you can use anything to measure with (just make sure you remember to include the units in your measurement!)! We’ve been comparing the lengths of many objects (including many of your feet!), and will soon be hunting for objects of particular lengths…fun, fun!

Coming soon…Our study of measurement will extend into our study of the rainforest as we learn the amount of rainfall in a tropical rain forest, as well as the sizes of the various animals we studied.

Language Arts

Spring is here! There are many exciting aspects of Spring…in fact we were able to think of many for each of the letters of Spring! After a group brainstorming session, we each wrote our own Spring Acrostic poems, and created a lovely piece of Spring art to accompany it! It was nice seeing everyone put so much thought into their creations! Check these out on a wall near you soon!

Writing workshop continues as a focused writing time. This week we spent time revising and finishing up our current stories as we prepare to move into a unit on poetry! The editing process varies from student to student. Students begin with rereading their pieces and checking that their writing makes sense and that no words or important details are missing. For some it involves circling words they are not sure of and revising the spelling with an adult. For others it means being sure to include capital letters and periods. Some may be adding an ending sound to a word or creating a space between words. One of the final steps in creating our writing workshop stories is stapling the pages together, and I must say there was LOTS stapling this week!

We read a fable about kindness this week. After reading it, we had a very interesting discussion about the story and also about kindness in our lives. A particularly interesting piece of the conversation was about times in our lives when we were feeling grumpy or just didn't think about what we were saying and said something unkind to somebody. It was really interesting hearing the kids' perspectives on this and how they felt when it happened and how the imagined the recipient felt. After this discussion, we created lists in groups of things we can do as kind friends...we compiled our ideas into one group list...check it out if you're interested!

Theme

We have been learning many fascinating facts about rainforest plants, including the many adaptations the trees have that enable them to live in such a moist environment! Rainforest trees often times have large buttresses or stilt roots to help provide support, drip tips on the leaves to prevent the collection of too much water, and smooth shiny bark to create a slippery surface for any vines trying to take root! Ask your child about the amazing walking trees…yes there are trees that can actually move! Each student created a lovely illustration of these adaptations.

Did you know that the flowers of the rainforest have evolved to attract particular pollinators? For instance, flowers pollinated by bats are typically white and bloom at night…flowers pollinated by flies typically have a moldy rotting smell…(yuck!)…We created little flip books of different flowers and the creatures that pollinate them. Each of us also sketched and water colored a unique rainforest flowers!

A rainforest would not be a rainforest without rain! Water plays such an important role in the rainforest, as well as everywhere on Earth. We have begun exploring the concept of the water cycle and how water changes forms as it cycles. We saw this first hand in an experiment using steam to make it rain in our classroom! We watched as liquid water evaporated into water vapor and then condensed back into a liquid for as it would in the upper atmosphere. It was very exciting to actually see rain fall on our table!

To further illustrate the concept of the water cycle, and to also learn how plants fit into the cycle, we will be creating our own terrariums! Look for these Monday afternoon!

FYI: You are not seeing the rainforest work come home, as all of the work we are creating will be collected together in a large rainforest scrap book that we will put together at the end of the unit.

Poetry, Flowers and Fractions with the Shocking Sugar Gliders!

Important Dates
Friday, April 16th - Field Trip to the Procession Studio
Monday, April 19th - Animal Research Project Due
Thursday, April 22nd - Council of the Critters
Saturday, April 24th - Procession of the Species
Friday, April 30th - Field Trip with Stream Team (9:00-11:30)

Friday Workshops
Friday, April 16th
Claire

Animal Research Presentations
Monday, April 19th
1:00 Owen
2:30 Zachary

Tuesday, April 20th
1:00 Oliver
2:00 Cedar
2:30 Sequoia

Wednesday, April 21st
9:15 Kat
9:45 Jack
10:45 Claire
11:30 Maggi

**If you need to make a change to the time your child is presenting please try to contact another family to switch times and let me know. Thank you!**

Math
Halves, fourths, eighths, sixteenths....why yes, its fraction time! We have begun our exploration of fractions by looking at a whole and dividing it into parts. Pattern blocks have been a fun and handy way of helping us learn this concept. Our hexagon equals 1 whole. Two red trapezoids fit on a hexagon so they can each equal one-half. Our blue diamond is one-third and our green triangles are sixths. For some who have used our pattern blocks in this way in the past were challenged with the idea of giving our hexagon a different value. Say what?! Yeah! What if our yellow hexagon is equal to two, what would our trapezoids equal? Diamond? Triangle? What if our hexagon equals 12?

We played Fraction Hexagon to see how different fractions can be added together to make a whole (1). It also showed us that fractions can have different names, their equivalents like three-sixth is the same as one-half. We also created patterns or pictures with pattern blocks and were then challenged to find the value of our picture by adding up the fractional parts. This seemed really hard at first until we realized we can make wholes (1's) by putting our blocks together. We will continue with thinking about fractions as parts of a whole with other games like Hexagon Wipe-Out (where we are subtracting fractions) and adding fractions from a grab bag. Oh, learning about fractions would not be complete without our daily dose of “Action Fraction” dancing!


Language
We continue to be inspired by the rainforest and have turned our attention to poetry. We read poems from”Looking for Jaguar” that gave us wonderful examples of poems that sometimes rhyme, use vivid language, and how spacing is used to help the reader read the poem as the author intended. We created our first drafts of our poems this week and will work with these in the following weeks as we craft our final version.

Word sorts this week focused on “y, ies, ied,” “ge,” “ie, ee, ea,” and “ight, i-e.” Some of us who are working on cursive challenged ourselves by recording our words in cursive - yahoo!


Theme
We spent some time this week looking at the water cycle and the role trees have in this cycle. We had fun watching transpiration at work with our carnations in colored water! We also created a “water cycle column” (on our window sill). The column contains all the parts of a water cycle. We even planted broccoli and radish seeds to play the part of trees! Check it out!

The beautiful flowers are hard to miss in the rainforest so we spent time learning the anatomy of flowers. After looking at a few flowers in our classroom and learning their parts we ventured outside to put our anatomy identification skills to the test! We found so many different flowers and were amazed at the different sizes stamens and pistils can be. Even the tiniest flower had all the parts (oh so tiny)!

How plants have evolved and adapted to the rainforest environment is pretty interesting. We looked at some of the major ways, such as how trees develop buttresses or stilt roots. Or, how plants have drip tips or really large leaves. And, then there our liana (vines), bromeliads, and epiphytes! All of these have developed characteristics to help them survive and thrive in the rainforest. Ask your child about these plant adaptations and how they help the plant.

These rainforest flowers also inspired us to create some art. Look on our wall for our beautiful pastels of heliconia, rafflesia, bromeliads, bird of paradise, and orchids.

We also spent parts of our afternoon doing groupwork. This week we discussed “put-downs,” what they are and how we feel when we hear them. We worked in pairs and as a whole group to discuss this issue. We decided that these words did not support us and it was not ok to say them to others or to our sweet selves! I invite you to continue this conversation with your child at home.

Our trip to the Procession of the Species Studio was inspiring! We were all in awe as we admired the wonderful creations. Batiking our flags was great fun. I can't wait to see them flying high at the Procession!

**No math or spelling homework this week or next! Also, since we have our big animal research project this month, a book share does not need to be turned in this month.**

News from the Totally Awesome Tigers

HAPPY SPRING!

Just in time for spring, our tomato seeds have sprouted! I suppose they too have been enjoying the warm sun!

We are busy, busy, busy preparing for upcoming conferences...goal check-ins, self-assessment books, reading check-ins...

Please make sure that you are signed up for a conference! We look forward to sharing with you!

I will be collecting jars (quart sized mason-like jars--labels removed please:) and paper towel rolls for upcoming projects. Please bring any that you might have! Thank you!

MATH

Our most recent explorations have centered around the topics of area and perimeter. As an introduction to these concepts, we began by exploring the "footprints" (outlines) made by various objects. We tried fitting geoblocks into a variety of footprints and traced a variety objects, creating footprints that we later used in a guessing game! You might try tracing some objects secretly and then having your child try to guess what they were!

Some of us arranged shapes in order by the size of their area and then by the size of their perimeter. Others created multiple shapes with a given area...not as easy as it may seem! Some of us even chose to challenge ourselves to create more shapes during choosing! We also created our own shapes and determined the perimeter. Phew!

LANGUAGE ARTS

What if everything you touched turned to puppy dogs? or cats? or monkeys? After finishing our latest read aloud, The Chocolate Touch, we thought and wrote about what types of magic touches we would most like to have! We all agreed that we'd have to be really careful, though, because what if you touched your mom?!

Breaking refrigerators and throwing them into the ocean...mixing up the fruit and veggies at the grocery store...sounds like some tricky leprechauns may be heading our way! Hopefully they won't arrive until next year! We had enough leprechauns over at OCS for this year. And geez were they sly...we didn't even catch one leprechaun in our so very creative traps! The visit of these little green friends inspired us to draw pictures of what we would do if we were leprechauns! Watch out for your refrigerators and be sure to see if you are really buying veggies! With these pictures we practiced adding as much detail as we could so that our audience would have a clear idea of what was going on!

We have started something new for reading workshop! We now have partners (from our class) and on Tuesdays and Thursdays we take turns reading to each other. On Mondays we read independently, but then summarize what we read about with our partners. This new format helps us practice reading aloud (working on fluency and expression for some) and making sure that we understand what we're reading.

THEME

The layer for this week was the UNDERSTORY! It is dark, yet still filled with abundant plant and animal life! We continued working on creating informational pieces that will eventually be put together into a large rainforest book. We drew and labeled 3 plants and 3 animal that live in this layer, as well as wrote a paragraph describing the characteristics of this layer. One of the most interesting facts we learned was that some of the leaves can be as large as an umbrella (an adaptation that helps them to capture as much sunlight as possible)!

We are excited to begin our very own research projects, choosing a rainforest animal to research and create a poster about at home! (a detailed description of the project will be in your parent box Monday!) After looking through a variety of books, each student made a list of the animals he or she would be interested in studying, circling the top 3 choices. I used this information to assign animals to students, ensuring that there would be no overlap. Students will find out which animals they are studying on Monday! We also thought about all of the different things we would like to learn about rainforest animals, and I compiled these questions into a list, that has helped me to design the project. Some things students are interested in learning include: how big are their eyes? how sharp are their teeth? how big are babies? how old can they live to be? do they climb? do they save each other's lives? so they play? do they have fur or scales?

News from the Shocking Sugar Gliders!

Important Dates
March 23rd-26th - Conference Week - Half Days

Math
Grouping and sharing has been our focus the last couple of weeks. We began by revisiting our “Circles and Star” game we played when we were learning about multiplication. For example, 3 x 2 would look like 3 circles with 2 stars in each one equaling 6 stars altogether. We put on our division glasses and looked at it a bit differently. It could be 6 stars grouped by 2s equaling 3 groups. This really helped many kids see the connection between multiplication and division. One child said “Wow! Thanks for explaining it that way. It makes so much sense!” We practiced grouping our school in groups of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,etc. and what to do with leftovers (remainders).

We also investigated how division can also mean sharing. If there are 6 cookies and 2 friends, how many cookies is each friend going to get (and it needs to be a fair share)? We can then always double check our calculations using multiplication. If our 2 friends each got 3 cookies that would be 2 groups of three, 2 x 3 which equal 6. That’s how many cookies we started with and YES! we figured it out correctly!

Language
As we are studying and learning about tropical rainforests we have primarily been focusing on our naturalist intelligence (of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory). We used our visual/spacial intelligence along with our verbal/linguistic intelligence to compose guided imagery writing. After we wrote our initial piece, we worked on revising and adding more to help us create a picture with our words. As all authors reread their pieces multiple times to get it just right, we read ours to ourselves looking for verbs we could spice up (there are so many ways to express run!) or where we could add more descriptive words to our nouns and verbs. We also met with peers to get feedback. We went through our writing line by line, discussing with our partner how it could be spiced up to really show our image. We also discovered that sometimes writing can be too spicy and we do not want to add too many descriptive words or it is hard to read! We also edited for capitals and periods, and for some, commas. Please come along with us and experience a journey through a rainforest....

Carefully close your eyes and imagine you’re in the rainforest. You open your jaws and take a sniff. The good aromas waft into our nose and you rustle the tall green grass covered with sparkling dewdrops. They drop onto your pelt, you shiver, then you see an okapi in the bushes. You slowly start stalking your prey. Crack! You step on a stick, the sound echoing through the quiet rainforest. A flock for birds take flight. The okapi perks up her ears. She starts to run. You follow in hot pursuit. You have been chasing for a long time. You are getting tired by you see your prey is getting tired too. You’re leaping over logs and splashing in ponds, also in marshes. Then you see your chance. Your prey stumbles. You jump. You spring. You land perfectly on your prey’s back. You kill it with one swift bite. You eat it in a few mouthfuls. Then you curl up in a bed of moss and close your eyes. The sound of the rainforest goes away. You open your eyes and you are back in your classroom. - Sequoia, 2nd grade

To experience more journeys, please look for our writing in your child’s classroom!

Word sorts this week have focused on “ee, ea” or “ay, ey, eigh.” Others have looked at “or, ore, oor” or “-ight, i_e” or dropping e when adding -ing or when to double the last constant when ading -ing.

Theme
We have finished exploring the of the layers of the rainforest and getting a good overview and understanding of the rainforest habitats. We can now go into more details about specific plants, animals, food, issues, etc. FUN! First on our list was to think about all the animals in the rainforest that really interest us. We watched videos and looked through books to help each of us create a list of very cool creatures. We each narrowed down our list to our top three most interesting animals. One of these animals will be the topic of our own animal research project! Details about the project will be available next week.

Be sure to check out the children’s beautiful animal watercolors! Our watercolors were inspired by up close photographs of creatures in their habitats. We each chose a picture to enlarge by looking closely at the lines and proportion. They are absolutely fabulous!

Other News
As most of you know we had painted lady butterflies in our room the past few weeks. The caterpillars transformed into their chrysalides while we were out snowshoeing. However, as luck would have it, one morning as we did our routine morning observation, we noticed movement in one of the chrysalides! At that very moment, we witnessed our first butterfly emerge! It was VERY exciting! We continued to keep a close eye as they all, one by one, emerged and began fluttering around in their home. We had several ideas of where the butterflies should live but ultimately decided it was for the best health of the butterflies to be let out Friday morning. It was such a beautiful sight to watch the butterflies flutter into the sunlight(although a few were a bit hesitant) and the children running and cheering after them.

Friday afternoon, six children were at school with me as the others had their turn at the food bank. It was such a glorious day (we had to be outside!) so we walked to Watershed Park. As soon as we stepped into the forest, the children observed how much like a rainforest it was, dewdrops on the green emerging plants and shades of green everywhere we looked. Suddenly, we were walking through the rainforest seeing large kapok trees, ocelots, sugar gliders, harpy eagles, and anteaters. Soon our fun evolved into being rainforest animals! It was a treat for us to be in the forest and our imagination to be inspired by the natural world.

Here's an update from Melissa and the wonderful community service the children have been involved in... We had a great time at the Food Bank to bag food for the FORKIDS program. The kids all worked hard and were very cooperative. We created an assembly line to add 14 items to each grocery bag. Each group made over 240 bags. These will be sent home with elementary school children on Friday for the weekend. Thank you to everyone who donated food! It is greatly appreciated and will go to needy families. If you and your family would like to help the FORKIDS program, they have "Family Packing Times" on the second and fourth Tuesday afternoons of each month. They start at 3 and go until 5:30, downtown, at the Food Bank. All you need to do is show up and help out! No previous experience is needed. You may also call the Food Bank and talk with Cheryl Falkenburg, if you would like more information.

News from the Totally Awesome Tigers

Hello all!

The sun's been shining and there's a feeling that spring is just around the corner! WIth this comes much excitement! In the classroom we are directing this excitement to learning about many new things!

MATH
We continue to explore geometry. This week our explorations remained focused on 2-D shapes. We used pattern blocks to build shapes and fill in the outline of shapes. Some of us practiced fitting pieces together just right, so they'd completely fill the outline of a larger design. Others practiced filling in the same outline many different ways, trying to use as many pattern blocks as possible and then as few pattern blocks as possible. Tricky, tricky!

In small groups, we sorted a variety of shapes. We sorted one way, then another, and then even another way! I was surprised to see how many different ways each group came up with for sorting the shapes! Some categories included number of angles, types of lines, number of sides, how many lines could be drawn from corner to corner...each group's favorite way of sorting can be found on display in our room!

After making symmetrical butterflies last week, we formally discussed symmetry and defined it in our own words. We practiced building symmetrical designs with pattern blocks, some of us working on designs with single line symmetry and others on designs with double line symmetry!

To finish the week, we created kaleidoscope designs that beautifully illustrate the concept of double line symmetry. Be sure to check these out right outside our door!

LANGUAGE ARTS
Our handwriting works continue, as we finish up learning the strokes for the lowercase letters. We spent time playing the mystery letter game, reviewing all letters. We are starting to use the specially lined handwriting paper throughout the day, and you will see some of this in your child's Thursday pack. Please know that learning to make letters in these new ways is a process that involves lots of practice! Determining the size of letters in relation to one another is challenging for many...especially knowing which lower case letters are brave enough to extend above or below their snuggly lines! Please let me know if you have any questions!

In Writing Workshop we continue to focus on stories with a beginning middle and ending...and adding detail to our stories by asking questions...what happened next?...where did she go?...what did they eat?...what did it feel like?...what did it look like?...

Phonics groups focused on long vowels, long a vowel pattern, long i/ short i and short vowels. Groups sorted picture or word cards and recorded their learning in various ways. Some started a book recording long vowel patterns and examples of each, while some wrote silly sentences using as many of their focused vowel sounds as possible. Reading groups practiced sounding out words, using pictures for word clues, making predictions, and reading out loud (we read our very first play!). When not reading with me groups played phonics/ reading games, reinforcing their phonic studies and practicing reading skills.

We are working on creating a group yoga book. We each picked a pose, practiced and posed for a picture. Together, we created a story that includes each of the animals or objects we posed as. The ending result is a wonderful story about the adventures of a slithering snake in the desert. Look for this book coming soon!

THEME
The views great from 200 feet up in the air! And it sure is sunny! We are learning about the emergent layer of the rainforest this week...the very top layer comprised of the tops of the tallest trees! Together we read about this layer and summarized what we learned. Students then wrote their own paragraphs describing this layer. We also learned many plants and animals that live on this layer and how they have adapted to life so high above the ground! We each picked 3 plants and 3 animals to draw pictures of and label (these will eventually be included in our final rainforest book!). Did you know that orchids are found up in this layer?! Or that some birds spend their whole life up in this layer? Ask your child what some of the tallest trees are! We read a great book about one of these types of trees and all the life that depends on this amazing giant!

We paired up to find interesting facts about the rainforest, using our very best handwriting to record these facts. We learned that water lily flowers change colors when the sun comes up and that 3/4 of the worlds frogs and toads are found in the rainforest! WOW!

News from the Shocking Sugar Gliders!

Important Dates
March 5th - Field trip to the food bank
March 19th - Field trip to the food bank
March 22nd - 26th - Conferences/Half days - 12:00

Friday Workshops
March 12th
Maggi
Sequoia

March 19th
Jack
Zachary

Math

Last week, on the hundredth day of school, we enjoyed playing with the hundred board and using math logic. We were given a short story and several clues that helped us discover a mystery number. The first couple were a little tricky for some of us as we learned that the clues given helped us eliminate certain numbers (meaning sometimes we needed to cross out the opposite of what the clue suggested - a little confusing!). This week, we created our own math logic stories and clues and solved each other’s mystery numbers. They were very tricky!

We continued with multiplication this week. Some learned a new game called "Flashing Factors" which involves identifying different factors for the same product. For example, if the card flashed read 3 x 4, someone could say 2 x 6 to get the card. Other played "Possible or Impossible." This was a fun game with a twist of chance. We rolled 4 die and decided if it was going to be possible or impossible to create an equation with the numbers rolled. As we shook the die we would choose and then hopefully either be able to make a multiplication equation with the numbers rolled or hopefully not! We are wrapping up our focus on multiplication and moving onward to division next week!

Language

Our first writing project this week was a personal narrative in our journals. Our inspiration, the snowshoe trip (or time at home during those days)! We thought of the most crystal clear memory from the trip and described everything we could about it, down to the tiniest detail. We thought about great leading lines to our narratives and how to make the narrative interesting without it sounding like a list. We tried describing a tiny memory (maybe it was only a minute long!) so we could really focus on showing the moment in as much depth as we could. Our journal allows us to experiment with different kinds of writing as well as hold ideas for future Writing Workshop stories.

For some, word sorts this week involved looking at turning "y" to "i" then adding "es"(like in pennies) and when "y" stays when adding "es" (like in monkeys). Others worked with short e and long e (ee) or long a (ai, ay) or "er"and "ear" words.

We finished Fablehaven this week! For our book response we wrote letters to characters that we really admired or that we really didn’t like (although our letters still needed to be respectful and use giraffe talk!). You can read our wonderful letters on the door to our room. Our next book is to be decided soon!

Theme

It sure is dark down here on the forest floor! Did you know only two percent of the sunlight reaches the forest floor?! We ventured up to the understory and it is still pretty dim with only two to fifteen percent sunlight! But, we did find many more plants and animals in this layer of the rainforest. Ask your child what they know about the forest floor and understory layers of the rainforest!

**Spelling,reading and math homework routines are back in action! Next book response is due by March 29th (they can always be turned in early!)***

Second Annual Snowshoe Trip

Wow, what a trip! We hiked/snowshoed over 10 miles in two days! On Wednesday, the first 3 miles or so were completely bare of snow. It drizzled rain, slush, and then snow! The last mile had some snow but not enough to need snowshoes. The last leg of the trip is the toughest as it is a pretty steep hill but as soon as the children caught sight of the hut they charged!

After exploring the hut, picking sleeping spaces in the loft, and getting a snack, it was time for the first thing that was on all the children’s list....sledding! It’s hard to believe that after hiking 4.5 miles, with a pack the entire way for some, that there would still be energy to sled but, sure enough, they went out to sled! Remember that steep hill we had to climb to get to the hut? The children have probably hiked that hill countless times as they climbed up for another sled ride down!

That evening, the time finally arrived to read Sasquatch! The children have been wishing for this book as our read aloud for some time and we decided we would read the book while on our trip. It was a great read with some mystery, suspense, and twist. We all enjoyed it and I think I can safely say we all love the sweet Sasquatch! Thanks for the book Maggi!

We woke up the next morning to discover fresh snow covering the trees and ground! What a sweet surprise! A few children made pancakes for us and then we spent the morning on the sledding hill. After lunch, it was time to put on our snowshoes and do some exploring. We followed a few trails, saw a glimpse of Mt. Rainier, and enjoyed the sun peeking out. And what did we do when we returned to the hut? You guessed right if you said sledding! We have some pretty unforgettable sledding stories to tell!

The next morning some of us enjoyed reading what we had written in the hut book last year and wrote a new entry for this trip. We said goodbye to our home in the mountains and headed back to the sno-park. We made record time with the help of the cold and rain and anxious children to see their families!

It was a very full three days (Cedar even lost a tooth!). I am so impressed with all the children’s perseverance, strength, courage, and support for one another. And thank you parents that came along! Woohoo, we could not have done it without you! I hope you have all recovered!

News from the Totally Awesome Tigers!

It is exciting to be back and to see one another again! Oh, how we missed our friends!

As you may already know, we have a new group name...The Marvelous Martians are now theeeee...drum roll please...TOTALLY AWESOME TIGERS!

Did someone say pajama party?!! Well, I guess we all did at some time! The excitement level of the Tigers was very high today in anticipation of the fun to come tomorrow! Be sure to ask your child about our festivities Thursday night!

Math
It was soooo exciting to come back to school on the 100th day!!!!! Can you make an equation using more than 3 numbers that equals 100? It is challenging, but the Ferns were up for it! While the ferns were busy working their ways to 100, the Suns were working their ways to 100 in another way. There are so many numbers between 1 and 100 and it is sometimes hard to know which number comes next! The Suns worked on filling in the missing numbers on 100's charts!

What did the acorn say when it grew up? "Gee, I'm a tree!" He he! We have begun studying the wonderful and exciting world of geometry! Our unit begins with 2-D shapes. We are looking at shapes, naming them and describing them. It is interesting to think about shapes, and the many questions that arise. Is a triangle still a triangle if it is turned? Where does a circle begin? How many lines are in a circle? How long does a rectangle have to be to be a rectangle?

We had fun hunting for shapes in our classroom! We were excited to find that shapes are in everything! Literally, everything is made of shapes! To illustrate this, we made our own book "A Circle is a Circle Until..." that shows common shapes disguised in everyday items!

We created our own abstract circle art in spirit of the Abstract Circles of Wassily Kandinsky. Check these out on display now!

Language Arts
In honor of the 100th day of school, we chose a "100" question to write about. The questions were "What will you be like at the age of 100?" and "What do you think the world will be like in 100 years?" Students chose either question, wrote their thoughts, and created an illustration!

Phonics groups reviewed previous concepts with a matching blends game, a word family game, and a short vowel game.

We started a new read aloud The Chocolate Touch. We have so many predictions about how this story might unfold...are John's parents behind it all? Was it the magic chocolate? Hmmm....Guess we'll have to keep reading!

Theme
Art, art and more art! We've done 100th day of school art, shape art, and will be doing rain forest art! We will be learning about birds of the rainforest and will create a class mobile with watercolored birds!

Mission to Mars and More!

Important Dates
February 12th - Half-day and Valentine's Day Party
February 15th-19th - Mid-Winter Break

February 24th-26th - Snowshoe Trip

Friday Workshop

No workshops this month

We had such a great time at the Pacific Science Center! Visiting the planetarium and Mission to Mars exhibit was a great finale to our study of space. A BIG thank you to the wonderful drivers who got us there and to the adults who came along! Here are a few pictures of us exploring what it might feel like to be on a mission to Mars!

Sitting behind the controls might seem like a simple task but what if you are spinning around and around at the same time?!

Gathering samples and doing simple repairs doesn't sound too difficult. Although wearing giant puffy gloves adds a bit of challenge!

All is well on the Gemini!

Building up pressure....keep pumping...lift off!

Can you put the pieces together to build the tallest possible structure that will receive maximum sunlight for solar power? Hmm......

There is just nothing easy about a mission to Mars, even walking is a challenge!

Houston, we have a problem...

This is mission control...turn the air filter off. Open hatch H...yes we see you, look to your left...

And a visit to the tropical butterfly house was a great start to our study of rainforests!

News from the Marvelous Martians

Important dates:

February 3rd: Parent Meeting

February 4th: all day field trip to Pacific Science Center

A Bit of Everything:

Our space travels have come to an end. We are sad to say goodbye to space explorations, but really excited for our upcoming trip to the rainforest! Yippee! We spent some time thinking and writing about all of the things we wonder and would like to learn about the rainforest. We are curious to know how much it rains in a rainforest, if there are cities in the rainforest, what kind of animals live in the rainforest, if there are any endangered animals in the rainforest, if people live there, if there are rivers...Wow! We should have lots of fun exploring!

Letters, letters, letters! We continue practicing our beautiful uppercase letter and have begun learning lower case letters! We've been working with chalk boards, clay, wooden blocks and good old paper and pencils to practice our strokes.

This week we are integrating our work with handwriting into many aspects of the curriculum. In math we are looking at the shapes of letters, as well as the strokes used to make them. What do the letters B, Q and R have in common? They are all made with both straight lines and curves! However this is not true for all letters. Some have just straight lines, and some just curves. We created Venn Diagrams to contrast and compare the capital letters in this way.

What do the letters O, R and A have in common? They all have interior regions! We looked at each letter and tried to imagine it as a fence. The ones with interior regions did a great job containing our dog, and the others, well...ooops! We had a fun time guessing whether our dog would spend more time roaming the neighborhood or right at home in our yard!

We added a bit of color to our handwriting lessons, as we used our best handwriting to create color-blocked water colors of our names. For some of us, the project also included the component of learning to spell our last names (or even what are last names were:). These are bright and vivid and add some wonderful color to our classroom, in the midst of our gray winter! Check these out on the closet doors!

After learning a basic definition of a rainforest, we again practiced our best handwriting to write the word rainforest and then decorated it in a way that would illustrate the definition. There were snakes for S's and monkeys swinging from A's!

New "Math Packs" have arrived! Our new packs include collection of worksheets that focus on vertical addition and subtraction, and missing parts equations for the ferns and a variety of addition and subtraction worksheets for the suns. Believe it or not the kids really enjoy these and frequently ask for more time to work on them! The worksheets are a nice way to solidify and demonstrate an understanding of the concepts we practice in our daily math games.

Speaking of games we learned a couple new ones this week! Suns learned a new game called Six in All. For this game each player has an assortment of cards numbered 1-6. The object is to pick pairs or groups of cards that total 6. For instance you may pick 4 and 2 or 3, 2, and 1. After making all the groups that you can, you record the resulting equations.

Ferns learned a new version of an old game. Rolling doubles now has an added twist! After rolling and doubling the number on the die, you must roll a second die with -2, -1, +1, +2 on it and do the math in your head. You might have to solve something like double 4 then subtract 2 or double 5 and add 1. You then place a chip on the corresponding number on your board, ultimately trying to get 5 in a row (although many prefer to play for total blackout of the board!).

We are almost to the halfway point of the year! Today was the 88th day of school! You may remember seeing at Fall conferences a sample of your child╒s writing that was collected at the beginning of the year for assessment purposes. This week I collected another sample. For theses samples students write completely independently about a chosen topic╤this time it was to write about a trip you╒ve taken. Feel free to ask if you╒d like to see the current sample compared to the earlier one.

Phonics groups this week focused on all short vowels, long o vowel patterns, long o and short o, and gr, tr, pr and dr. Groups sorted picture or word cards and then wrote sentences using as many words as they could (some of these were quite silly!) or practiced sounding out and writing words being sure to include a short vowel.

Reading groups focused on comprehension, making predictions and reading aloud fluently and with expression; predicting what a hidden word may be using only the first letter, the picture and the rest of the sentence as our clues; learning to put sounds together to form words; and trying to recognize a word as it appears multiple times in a story.

Jacob has inspired and lead us in learning new yoga poses this week! He has lent us a wonderful children's yoga book and we╒ve been making time each day to learn some new poses. Today I overheard someone commenting to a friend, "I can't wait 'til it's time for yoga!" Our new poses for today were the crooked branch and rainbow poses! Ask your child for a demonstration!

It's the Shocking Sugar Gliders!

Friday Workshops
Friday, January 29th
Claire
Owen

Important Dates
Friday, January 29th - Swimming in the morning
Thursday, February 4th - Field trip to Seattle
Friday, February 12th - Valentine's Day party
February 15th-19th - No School

Swimming!

We are having so much fun swimming on Fridays! This last week I stayed out of the pool and I had a wonderful time watching the children and observing all of their play and interactions. There are children practicing their jumps into the pool or tricks like standing on their hands or doing somersaults. Some are playing with water toys or practicing diving, floating, or swimming. Others continue their imaginative play as seals, dolphins, or sharks. What I enjoyed most was watching the older children play with the youngers by giving them rides on their backs around the pool or pulling them around while the youngers practiced kicking their legs. These sweet moments gives me a deep appreciation for our school's commitment to multi-age experiences and the lessons everyone receives, be it learning how to do something, asking for support from a friend, or the joy of helping/teaching/giving to another.

Math

We continue playing math games that help us practice our multiplication. One game we played this week was "Concentration." This game is much like Memory in that we needed to match up equations with the answer while remembering what cards we already turned over and where they were!

We have begun looking at multiplication geometrically by creating rectangles on grid paper (our floor tiles). For example, when playing "Floor Tiles" we roll a die and that is how many rows our tile will be. We roll again and this how many squares will be in each of our rows. If I rolled a three and then a two, I would create a rectangle that is three rows high and contain two squares across (3 x 2) which covers 6 squares. Working with grids and thinking about multiplication geometrically helps the children create another picture in their mind of multiplication. We will continue this work next week with a special guest! Hmmmmm...I wonder who that could be? Hint: She smells of gumdrops and Jeriann always hides from her!

Look in our room for our beautiful multiplication designs! We used multiplies and our eye for patterns to create these amazing works of art.

Language

We began our week with words sorts. Some worked on beginning blends like "br, cr, gr, and tr" while some practiced the ending sound "dge, ge." Others worked on "ie, ee" and some practiced "air, are." Our wonderful word sorts allow the children to practice sounds and spelling patterns that are developmentally appropriate for where they are as a learner. At least half of your child's spelling words for the week come from the word sorts.

Some children began book clubs this week. One group is reading The Cat Who Wished to be a Man. We are all enjoying the book immensely which is making it a bit of a challenge for us to keep our pinkie promise to not read past our agreed amount (although we are keeping our promise)! We have read the first five chapters independently and together practiced writing short summaries and predictions in our book club folders. We also practiced thinking of questions that require deeper thinking and allow us to synthesize, evaluate, or investigate the text further. Next week we will prepare this work independently before we meet and then share and discuss with the group. We will practice taking notes on the main characters, secondary characters, setting, and theme.

Another group began reading Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion. We are reading this book aloud to one another and sharing our thoughts and question verbally. Others continue to practice reading with our readers like Aesop's Fables and reading without picture clues.

***There is a new addition to homework this week! We will begin our literature responses in February. All the details are in your child's homework binder.***

Theme

Goodbye space and hello rainforests! We are all VERY excited about rainforests. The list of topics we are interested in learning about include tigers, cocoa pods, poisonous frogs, plants, peoples of the rainforest, weather, fruits, tigers, birds, sloths.....the list goes on and on!

We will now answer to the the name of Shocking Sugar Gliders. I had no idea what a sugar glider was (I thought it was an insect!) until the children showed me this cute picture.

Shockingly cute!

News from the Moon Toons!

Friday Workshops

January 22nd

Oliver

Jack

January 29th

Claire

Owen

Reminders

Friday, January 22nd - Swimming in the morning!

Friday, January 29th - Last swimming field trip

Thursday, February 4th - All day trip to Seattle Science Center

Math

We continue our work with multiplication and practicing our facts by playing a few games. We have Tic-Tac-Toe with a Twist and BINGO this week. Children choose what level to work on by the board they decide to play. For example, a younger may choose to work on the 2's facts and use the 2 Tic-Tac-Toe board. An older who has had more experience working with multiplication may choose the 8 or 9 board. And then there is everyone in between! The same is true for BINGO and future games. These games are fun, provide practice in learning multiplication concepts and facts, and everyone can play at their own level.

Language

On Tuesday we thought about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his life. After reading about his life's work we thought about a few important words like peace, diversity, freedom, justice, inclusion, dream, liberty, and leadership. We each took a word and found the definition in the dictionary (great dictionary practice!). We recorded the definition and wrote a response about what the word means to us and our lives. Look for your child's response on our door!

We also watched a short video about MLK's march on Washington and his dreams. MLK's commitment to peace and non-violence, even when there was so much violence happening around him and to him, impressed us all. We thought about how important it is to have dreams and the amazing work that can be accomplished when someone dedicates themselves to their dream. We wrote our own dreams in the style of his speech. The dreams are beautiful - yay to our future leaders!!!

The end of our journey through space has brought us all to a new planet! Yes, we have each found a new planet that has life forms! We are using our most descriptive words to describe the planet and the life form. We also need to think like scientists and make sure our facts seem believable and our life forms fit with their habitat. We will think about details, such as how our life form has adapted to the planets habitat and how long it takes for the planet to rotate on it's axis.

Theme

We finally made our sextants! We ran out of time last week so we had fun this week using our new tool and practicing this form of measurement. We found as we walked closer to a high distant object the degrees increased.

And our study of stars could not be complete without a look at a well-known artist's painting of stars....Van Gogh! We will learn about his life and work and his unique style of painting, especially stars, and then paint our own version of a "Starry night."

News from the Marvelous Martians

We've had a fun week! We've deviated a bit from our normal routines, adding some new elements...all in all its been quite enjoyable.

Math

Our work with subtraction continues in Math. We learned some new games...grab bag subtraction, subtraction 5 in a row, and subtraction bowling (who knew this could be so fun!). Some of these are new and others are twists on all familiars. Subtraction 5 in a row is similar to BINGO, although you are subtracting two numbers to see where to place a chip. In subtraction bowling we are creating equations based on the number of pins knocked down...as you can imagine this was a big hit!

I am blown away to see the equations the kids are able to create each day in morning circle. I create things like __+__+__-__-__=10. The kids need to fill in the blanks to create a true equation! This has become a favorite element of morning circle, with many asking for more and more equations! We spent one day this week working on entire pages of these equations! WOW!

Language Arts

Have you ever had a time when you're doing something and thought to yourself, "Wow! This would make a great story?" We are practicing catching these moments and tucking them away in our pockets, so that when writing workshop comes around our pockets will be full of ideas! You might help your child catch some ideas! When we pull these stories out of our pockets, we are practicing using our fingers to tell stories with beginning, middles and ends. We continue to work with partners to plan our daily writing.

We are very lucky to have Sandra (Ella's Mom) coming to teach us handwriting! She is teaching us to make letters using four basic strokes, a simplistic, hands-on and wonderful approach (I am really enjoying learning alongside the kids!). We've been using wooden blocks, chalkboards, play dough and of course, paper and pencils! The goal is to make writing less laborious, as well as to help kids neaten up their writing. Thanks Sandra!

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we did some thinking (and writing) about our own dreams for our families, our school and the world. Check out these profound thoughts...they will be up on display soon!

Theme

Comets and constellations have been the focus this week. We learned the parts of a comet and made our very own comets, using aluminum foil and ribbon. What fun it has been to fly these in the gym!

We are perplexed by the fact that the constellations don't really look like the objects they represent! Hmmm....And how do you know exactly which stars to look for when you could see that shape in many places in the sky?

Each child has picked a constellation to focus on. Be sure to ask your child what he or she picked! These are all constellations that can be seen in the Northern Hemisphere, so you might even try locating it i we have a clear night! So far we have made images of our constellations using stars, and sketches with a bit of imagination and colored pencils. Next week we'll work on learning the stories of our constellations and will finally teach our friends about all that we've learned!

Investigations

We've had a bit of choosing time in the classroom this week, but we've also spent some time playing group games in the gym, as well as creating peace doves in honor of MLK day...look for these in the window next to the door!

Have a wonderful long weekend everyone! Remember no school on Monday!

Moon Toons News!

Friday Workshops
January 15th
Maggi
Sequoia

Important Dates
January 15th - Swimming in the morning!
January 18th - MLK Day - No School
February 3rd - Parent Meeting
February 12th - Half Day (School out at 12:00)
February 15-19 - Mid-Winter Break
February 24th/25th - Snowshoe Trip!!!!

Math
2,4,6,8... or how about 9,18, 27, 36....

Continuing our work with preparing for multiplication we have created a few tools to help us. Skip counting is very helpful in practicing multiplication. We all feel comfortable counting by 5s and 10s but are a little unsure about 3s and 4s and especially 8s and 9s once we get past the first two or three numbers. We practiced using our "gems" which are beaded rods that hold the number we are counting by. For example, if I need help figuring out what three groups of four is I can grab three of the "fours" rods to help me. We also created a chart that shows skip counting from 2s to 10s.

Everyone practiced counting by a certain number by creating a dot to dot that used skip counting to connect the dots. Some practiced their 2s or 4s while others practiced 6s or 8s. And finally everyone will create a "Planet of Numbers" where everything on the planets is a multiple of a certain number. Look for these on our wall!

Language
We just couldn’t stop doing alliterations until we wrote one for every letter in the alphabet! Be sure to check out our very special book in our room. Everyone continues to work on their individual stories in Writing Workshop. It is great to watch and help the children in different stages of their story writing. From brainstorming ideas and planning, to writing and editing work that is appropriate for that child, to creating the cover and putting the final staples in and sharing during Author’s Chair or Partner Share, they are independently taking responsibility of the writing process and doing it so confidently!

We have taken a break from Centers since Winter Break and have been working on special projects like our alliterations. Another project we did this week was create our own constellations and write a myth about how our constellation came to be in the sky. We have constellations ranging from a spider web constellation put up by a scientists to a Santa’s sack constellation put up by Santa to remind everyone of Christmas spirit.

Theme
Earlier this week we practiced remembering facts that we have learned about the planets and space in a "Planet Game Show." It was great fun and I was so impressed with everyone’s ability to recall answers to the questions so quickly! We have learned so much!

We turned our attention to the stars this week. We learned a few constellations and copied some of our favorites into our own constellation "burst" book (which the kids have decided can also open and hang). "What’s your sign?" has become a common question this week as we also learned a bit about astrology. Check out our chart on the wall to see what signs we have in the Moon Toons! Do you think we have more water, fire, air or earth signs?

We will end our week with building our own sextant (an instrument used by sailors). Since we won’t be able to measure the height of the North Star, we will practice using our instrument on the highest things we can find at school.

As we near the end of our journey through space, we have begun thinking about what we would like to learn next. We started a list of topics we are interested in and will continue to add ideas over the next week. Hmmmm.... I wonder what we will study next?!

Welcom back Moon Toons!

Field Trips
Through the month of January our Friday field trips will be in the morning at YMCA. Please have your child wear his or her swimsuit to school and bring a towel (and goggles if desired).

January 18th - No School - MLK DAY!!

February 4 – All day field trip to the Pacific Science Center.

Workshops
January 8
Cedar
Kat

January 15
Maggi
Sequoia

January 22
Jack

January 29
Oliver
Claire

Math
There are three spiders. Each has 8 legs. How many legs in all? One could solve this problem using addition or they could use multiplication. We are exploring the connection between the two to help us delve further into the realm of multiplying. We each made a page that illustrated using a number in multiplication. We counted by that number, made a T chart, added the number up a certain number of times, and showed how to write it using multiplication. The work is up on our wall – check it out!

We will end the week playing “Circles and Stars” with a partner. This game help us with the idea of sets (groups) of numbers. If I rolled a three I would draw three circles. If I then rolled a two I would draw two stars in each circle. That means I have 3 sets of two or 3 X 2. We will also do “Pattern Block Times Table” where we build a picture with pattern blocks (using between 2-10 blocks) and then continue building the picture again and again on top. For example, let’s say I build a picture of a cat using three blocks. One cat is equal to three or 1 X 3 =3. I then build another cat on top using three more blocks. I now have two cats using six blocks so, 2 X 3 =6,etc...

Language
Animalist alliterations are awesome and amazing! Yes, we are playing with alliterations this week. We were inspired by a book written by a girl right here in Washington who wrote such creative alliterations and spent so much time creating quality artwork that she had it published! We are making our own book of alliterations so keep your eye out!

Many of us were in the middle of stories when we left for break. So, we reread our stories to refresh our memories and are back in writing mode. Partner sharing at the end of our writing time as become quite the favorite!

We will finish the week with our word sorts and picking our spelling words.

Theme
Our travels through space is nearing its end. We spent this week reviewing what we know about the true planets and comparing them. What planet is the coldest, hottest, biggest, and smallest? Ask your child!

In small groups we learned about asteroids, meteoroids, and comets. Each group was responsible for researching and learning about their given topic. Together they decided what the most important facts were, how they would design their poster, and who would do what job. Each group became experts on their topic and then shared their poster with the class. It was great practice in working together as a group!

We have done other group activities this week that have given us an opportunity to look at how groups work (or don’t work). After an activity we reflect (like we were a fly on the ceiling watching the group) on how the group worked. What was challenging? How did we feel? What were we doing to help (or not help)? How does it feel when our ideas are ignored? How can we acknowledge every idea and include everyone? We all love working in a group but we all also face challenges. It has been good for us to discuss these issues and brainstorm how to respond when these challenges occur. Life long lessons!

***Homework routine returns this Thursday!!***

A Week with the Marvelous Martians...

Important Dates and Reminders

January 8, 15, 22 and 29 (every Friday in January): swimming at the YMCA. Please wear swimsuits to school, but bring a complete change of clothes including a towel. If your child has a "Y" membership please send it to school with your child so that we do not have to pay for admission!

Friday Workshops:
January 8th:
Seth: how to make a book
Kainoa: making things out of clay

Math
SUBTRACTION! SUBTRACTION! SUBTRACTION! We have all begun investigating subtraction this week! Some of us are having our first experience with this new idea and practice writing subtraction signs and subtraction equations, playing games that reinforce the idea that subtraction means "taking things away", and learn different methods for solving subtraction equation. Other's revisiting this topic review a variety of strategies they use to solve subtraction equations and learn a new subtraction game (Grab Bag Subtraction). And the moment everyone has been waiting for (really the kids are asking for these!)...we will be putting our skills to the test as we work on some new subtraction worksheets!

Language Arts
What did you do over Winter Break? We were all so excited to see one another after Winter Break and to share stories of our time apart (so excited, in fact, that we could hardly stop talking!)...so we are using this inspiration to capture our adventures in writing during Writing Workshop! This week we focused on leaving spaces between our words and on planning our writing for the day with a partner. After trying out the partner planning, everyone agreed that it helped them to be a more directed writer when they went to the table to begin writing. I agree! Not even once did I hear "I don't know what to write about!"

Our phonics groups this week focused on: short o, qu wh tw and tr gr pr dr. Each group sorted picture cards into categories and recorded their findings with pictures and writing.

Reading groups will be focusing on: sounding out words/ pointing to words as they are read, practicing recognizing sight words, and forming connections between what we read and our lives. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE bring DEAR bags to and from school everyday! Each time the bag is brought to school the books will be replaced with new books at an appropriate level. Please make time for reading each night! Thank you!

Our phonics work continues to be interwoven throughout our week with quick games like Sound Hunt (I give them a sound and they have to find something in the room that starts with the sound) and Honey in the Pot (similar to Hangman minus the hanging man:).

Theme
We officially wrapped up our study of the planets by looking at the planets as a whole and comparing and contrasting many of their features...

Asteroid, Meteoroid, Meteorite and Meteors...we are working on learning the differences bewtween these space objects! It can be quite confusing, though fortunately we now have our very own books, complete with pictures and definitions to help us tell the difference! We also created posters in small groups of each of the objects and experimented making prints of these objects with an unexpected material! Take a look at these and see if you can guess what we used!

Stars are next on the horizon! Our week will wrap up with an art project with our Moon Tune buddies that explores the life and colors of stars!

Investigations
We are mixing things up! I noticed many students choosing to play with the same friends at the same activities for many days, so I decided that we would spend the first 10 minutes of each investigations time mixing things up a bit...this entails me choosing groups to play together at given activities! Our first experience with this was very positive, and many kids chose to stay at their activity longer than required! My hope is that this will allow kids to develop some new social skills as they play with friends they may not play with so often and that they will also have a chance to experience some new activities.