News for April 13

News for April 13

This week the children tested paper structures, ate matzoh crackers and folded books to hold their famous structure research and much more!

In math, the students finished the unit on motion geometry by learning about how two dimensional shapes move on a flat surface through slides (translations), flips (reflections) and turns (rotations). Each child created a unique asymmetrical design on cardstock, cut it out and used his/her design to trace and illustrate slides, flips and turns. At the end of the week, the children started reviewing repeated patterns using shapes that have one, two and three attributes changing.

Each child picked one of the 100 read aloud books that we have shared this year, on which to write a book review. These book reviews will be on display during our 100 Books Party next week.

In science, the class finished and tested their paper and tape structures. The goal was for the structure to hole at least 3 dictionaries. The result? One structure held 12 dictionaries piled on top. Well done everyone!

The students are now almost finished their books about famous structures around the world. The children learned how to fold the pages of their books to create a paper structure inside the covers of the book! These books will be on display during our 100 Books Party next week.

The class learned about two holidays at this time of year. At the beginning of the week, we discussed the Jewish holiday of Passover and the children had a chance to try Matzoh, the unleavened bread, eaten over the 8 days of this holiday. The second holiday we discussed was the Christian holiday of Easter. The children also had a chance to decorate eggs. These are an Easter tradition, but we learned that eggs are also a symbol of many traditions at this time of year.

In social studies, the students began to take notes on the differences between the everyday life of people in modern days and pioneer days. To help them, they watched an episode of the TV show, The Little House on the Prairie.

Finally, the students began to prepare for our 100 Books Party! We started by planning and listing the things we need to do to get ready. The children started writing book reviews (see above), created party invitations for families, school staff and students. At the end of the week, the students began to create some of the over 200 handmade bookmarks that will be given out to guests as "thank you" gifts.

We said "good bye" to our Lego City this week, in order to make room for our big party next Friday. The students had their photos taken with their structures and these will be a part of the stories they wrote about their Lego structures. These Lego stories will be on display at our party next week.

This week, on the Room 204 Interview Shows the children interviewed Ms. Mantello. She is the librarian at our school. This show can be seen in a separate posting.

Books read aloud this week:

The Matzoh Man: A Passover Story by Naomi Howland

A Child of Books (Book #100) by Oliver Jeffers

The Easter Egg by Jan Brett

The Wonderful Egg: A Book About Dinosaurs by Dahlov Incarnations

Little House on the Prairie - The Raccoon (DVD