Thursday, April 1st concludes our fun-packed reading month. Our classroom will celebrate with a read-in in the afternoon. Students may bring a blanket, pillow, and books from home. Students may also bring an extra snack to munch on while reading.
We are going to adjust how we do homework for the remainder of the year to better align our classroom practice with the recent shift here at SJPS. Homework has always been optional, but now it will be online. I will put suggested activities that will support what we are learning into Google Classroom as well as list them here on the blog. That way students will be able to access the information independently. I still expect students to continue to read each day for 30 minutes. Students who read are less likely to struggle in other academic areas.
Math: IXL, section T: Two-Dimensional Shapes
Reading: read 30 minutes each day, notice text features, Moby Max Reading Skills Informational Text
Science
Our class will finish up our science unit this week, Material Magic. In this lesson, students examine how large structures like houses are built from smaller pieces. In the activity, Paper Towers, they design their own structures using an unconventional building material: paper! Students build towers using 3" x 5" index cards and paper clips. First, they build tall towers, then they are challenged to build towers strong enough to support a hardcover book.
Students also tried some sap from a maple tree. Many found that they were not fans. They also tried hard maple candy. This was enjoyed a bit more. There will be more taste testing next week; maple syrup and soft maple candy. As before, if you do not want your child to take a taste of these samples please let me know. This is not mandatory.
Technology
I am so impressed with how fast our kids learn to use technology. Last week it took only one hour for your students to learn how to take a screenshot, find the image file, paste it into a document, and trim it. Students also learned how to collaborate on a shared document. Next step- put these skills to work to create a slide show to demonstrate knowledge and present ideas. So exciting!
Students as teachers. Some classmates were struggling with a computer assignment so some of our students plugged in and proceeded to share their knowledge and coach their classmates.
