Happy Spring Break!
IRACE
Wednesday, April 8th.
I-Race is a day where our entire school community gathers and discusses topics around race. Elementary will be teaming up with adolescents to do a peace activity and the whole elementary community will share lunch time together, eating different foods inspired my our families' cultures. Please read the flyer below:
Bring Food For IRACE Summit 2015!
IRACE is a day where students can talk about race.
Bring a dish that is important to your family that relates to your cultural background.
The Summit is on April 8th.
Bring a dish that is important to your family or your culture!
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Last year was a major success. The students had an amazing time connecting with one another, the food was delicious, and the parent volunteers were an integral reason why it all ran so smoothly.
We need your help!
We would love your support again this year. If you have the time and you are able, cook a meal together as a family to share for this special event. If you also have the time to volunteer to help set up, serve, and clean up, we would greatly appreciate your support. We would most likely need help from around 10:30-1:30.
Please contact me if you're interested in volunteering.
What we finished up this week...
We all had the chance to do a little science experiment with mummification this week since so many students were fascinated by Ancient Egypt during our African unit. We mummified apples by using sodium and sodium bicarbonate (salt & baking soda). This mixture is called Natron and it is the same mixture that bodies were buried in to be preserved in Ancient Egypt. We learned that it was believed that the dead would need their bodies in the afterlife, so they needed to be kept in tact. All organs except for the heart were taken out before the bodies were placed in the natron mixture, so the students wanted to leave in apple seeds to represent the heart. We wrote down how to do the experiment, the supplies we needed, and came up with a hypothesis about what we thought would happen to the control apple and the natron apple. We already saw a drastic difference between the two just after 5 days. Ask your child what they observed.
First years have completed their study of the five vertebrates, ending with an exciting experience with one of our favorite school mammals--Bella the bunny. We had the chance to observe Bella all week, take care of her and study her characteristics. We also finished creating and studying the parts of a mountain. We still practicing addition with the stamp game and the bead frame, as well as learning how to do multiplication using the golden mat--a precursor to the long multiplication problems they will do with the checkerboard.
Second years have finished up their study of their physical maps of Africa and their salt dough maps looked fantastic. Some students may need to put some finishing touches on their maps like painting the mountains, rivers, deserts and forests and labeling all of the landforms and water forms. We also did a study of Ancient Egypt and learned about the importance of the Nile River and learned more about the geography of the region. We reviewed how to do all of the operations using the stamp game and we also polished up our search for 10 addition facts.
Third years also brought home their salt dough maps of Africa and may just have a couple of parts to add to the finished product. We also spent some time studying Nelson Mandela and his influence on South Africa. Fortunately, one of our third graders is from South Africa and has been sharing his knowledge and experience of the country with all of us. We've also studied the next animal in our animal classification study--the arthropod. Ask your third grader what the evolutionary game changer was for the arthropod. Third graders have also been practicing rounding to the nearest 10, 100, and 1000 as well as utilizing input and output tables.
Third Grade MCA Reading Test - April 9th & 10th
Third graders will be taking the MCA reading test on the Thursday and Friday after Spring Break. We've been practicing reading stories and answering comprehension questions about the text all throughout the year and I've enjoyed the discussions we've had and the progress they've made. Just like any day your child comes to school, we just ask that they come well-rested and nourished ready to learn and participate.
Big Thanks!
A huge thanks to all of you for buying supplies from our wish list posted at conferences. Students are excited to use the playground equipment some of you brought and the adults are thankful for the extra office supplies. We are all very grateful to all of you for your support.
Please let me know if you would be interested in volunteering at our IRACE event on Wednesday, April 8th and I hope you all have a fantastic spring break!
In appreciation,
Jessy
