Great River Lower Elementary West

Dear LEW Families,

What we're doing

First years have been learning about the parts of a river and creating models to demonstrate their knowledge. We're also learning about the purpose of a preposition. The students are having fun creating stories with all of the parts of speech we've learned. We're also continuing our practice with the stamp game--addition with carrying and even long division for some.

Second years have a lot of big works lately that take multiple days... parts of a mollusk, bead bar multiplication... so it was fun to get outside last week and do a fun science lesson. The students had to identify and collect 4 different types of stems: woody, herbaceous, aerial and underground. Here's a picture of our little adventure:

Third years are finishing up their study of the Mississippi River. A good friend of mine got to come in on Thursday and share her knowledge of the river with us. She has biked the entire length of the river, so it was fun hearing her stories and seeing photos of her trip. We'll also be learning more about the lifecycle and importance of river mussels before our field trip on Friday. In math, third years are continuing their practice with the test tubes and are also learning how to do long division with recording. Currently, we are reading Linnea in Monet's Garden by Christina Bjork. It's about a young girl who travels to France to visit Monet's garden. The book has taught us interesting facts about French museums, botany, and impressionistic art. The students will have a chance to be artists once we're finished...

Field Trips this Friday, May 15th!

First and second years will be going to the U of M to explore the agricultural campus. Third years will be going to the Science Museum to check out the Mississippi River Gallery.

Thank you to all of you that have volunteered to chaperone. Here's a little time table for all of you:

U of M Trip

9:00 - meet in LEW

9:36 - take city bus to U of M

10:00 - U of M activities

11:30 - bus back to GRS

Science Museum

9:00 - meet in LEW

9:15 - bus to Science Museum

9:30 - Science Museum activities

11:45 - bus back to GRS

Touch Tank

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of having some students from the U of M come and talk to our class about invertebrates! We learned about marine biology, the importance of diversity in the ecosystem, food webs, and what we can do to help preserve marine life. It was great for the students to see some real-life examples of all of the invertebrates they've been learning about, especially all of the echinoderms!

Here are some photos from the experience: