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.