Literature Circle
“A picture is worth a thousand words”. What a fun week full of meaningful learning opportunities. Our Beisbol en abril book club has come to an end. Students did such a fantastic job during our literary circle this spring, not only during our discussions but also coming up with some of the most creative presentations yet. I could not be any more proud of their work! It was only fitting to culminate it in the most fun way with our camping day! Please take a look a these pictures that captured some wonderful moments experienced this week.
We were so beyond happy to have Hazel joining us for Camping Day! We love you so much!
Yum!
Be sure to stop by a see our amazing book club bulletin board!
Camping Day fun!
Science
Students helping with our school garden this week!
History and Geography
Learning about Westward Expansion in the great outdoors!
This week we began learning about Westward Expansion after the Civil War. Our objectives were:
- explain how the lure of silver and gold spurred migration to and economic growth in the west
- identify key events in the construction of the transcontinental railroad
- explain the rise of the cattle industry and the long drive in the American West
Mathematics
This week we completed our chapter on Three-Dimensional Shapes and began our last chapter of the year Surface Area and Volume. Our objectives were:
- identify and classify cylinders, spheres, and cones
- demonstrate identifying and classifying solid figures by the number of faces, edges, and vertices on the chapter test
- build solids using unit cubes
- determine the number of unit cubes in a irregular solid
English Spelling
This week we continued our rotation. Our rotation days were:
- Teacher Meeting:I met with each student to discuss and clarify their new sort.
- Vocabulary Day: This week our lesson was about geography words. We added … and … to our word wall
- Spelling City: Students had a chance to work on computer skills as well as spelling on spellingcity.com. If your kiddo would like to work on spelling city at home they can follow this link www.spellingcity.com/users/34SpellingSWS
Our spelling test is on June 5th!
Music with Ms. Erin
In May we worked on learning new and strengthening learned music theory and notation elements. We practiced rhythm reading skills and challenged each other to tap complex rhythms using quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes. We worked on singing and instrumental skills. We learned about swung (or shuffle) rhythm. We also learned all about the composer Felix Mendelssohn.
In June we will focus on:
- Learning and singing songs Sakura and Havah Nagilah
- Improving singing, instrumental, and performance skills while preparing the whole class to perform student written song Adventure At Sea at the End of Year school event
- Learning notation instruction da capo [D.C.] al fine, and use it in practice
- Introducing Theme and Variations using Hilary Hahn’s performance of La Folia, and Glenn Gould’s performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations
- Singing songs from the Greatest Showman in our last class before summer break
Art with Ms. Kelly
We finished our Landscape Prints that we started in April. The goals were:
- Review prints made by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai
- Learn about Children’s Day in Japan (May 5)
- Make a second print using 3 printing plates (foam clouds, burlap mountains, pipe cleaner trees)
These beautiful landscapes were on the bulletin board in early May.
Transparent Origami sun catchers. The goals were
- Review Origami as a Japanese paper folding art
- Learn how to fold and attach shapes to create a sun catcher
- Learn about Radial Symmetry
The students made one for themselves and they also made sun catchers, Origami butterflies, and Get Well cards for Hazel.
Portfolio review: We reviewed all of the amazing artwork that the students made throughout the year. In addition to the portfolio, the students have also brought home Christmas artwork, Clay art (with Miss Karen), Dream Catchers, and Paperplate Weavings. Each student shared about their favorite art project. I hope you enjoy all the wonderful art that your students create!
Picasso One Liners
We spent a short time looking at the book “Picasso’s One Liners” and practiced making some simple drawings without lifting the pencil from the paper. I hope to continue this fun Picasso lesson in the fall!