Isn't this weather gorgeous? Spring finally arrived according to our calendars earlier this week, on March 20th to be exact, but the temperatures outside make us think that summer already came! It is great to see the students' enthusiasm as they share their stories about all the outdoor fun they participate in at school during recess, but also at home after school.
Although the weather is getting warmer in Vermont, we are still "following" our mushers in Alaska's Iditarod Race. The reading race will last until next Thursday. All reading logs need to be handed in prior to that date to count towards the goal of reaching Nome.
We had a very special presentation in our class this week. Ms. Terese, who works on our team, joined our class and shared about her experiences living for one summer in Alaska. We learned so much from Ms. Terese. We learned that while Ms. Terese lived in Alaska, she worked at a fishery, flew a plane, and one time when she hiked some trails, she and her friends stumbled upon grizzly bears. The pictures were amazing.
Thank you Ms. Terese for sharing your experiences in Alaska with us. Here is a picture of her flying her plane!
This week, the students continued their Red Clover Books and explorations with various reading responses. It is great to read books with students from all over the school. The students will vote soon.
Team Harmont will start our new science unit next week. Our next study will be of the oceans. The teachers will, once again, offer different science workshops and the students will be mixed with kids from the entire team as they learn about the ocean together. I will offer a workshop around the essential question: "What harms the ocean?" The students will explore pollution, over-fishing and run-off in three different stations, using their scientific inquiry skills. In this unit, the students will also learn about the geography of the oceans, the layers of the oceans and the different food webs of the oceans. All students will also learn to write an animal report, which we will officially present at our reading restaurant later this year.
In preparation of our nonfiction study of ocean animals, three students from Ms. Crowley's class visited our class this week to teach my students how to begin writing non-fiction writing pieces. In our classrooms, the students are writing "All About" books. Rather than researching and reading and finding information, the students start writing about topics they already know a lot about. For example, some students wrote about swimming. As they take swim lessons, they could write extensively about different strokes, the clothes you wear, and where you go, for example. Another student wrote is learning to play the guitar, so she decided to write about different types of guitars and the equipment you need, The topics are varied but all filled with terrific details. I hope you get an opportunity to ask your child about this writing unit at home.
The students all finished their letters to our new penpals in Costa Rica. I will take them home this weekend and type them up as we will share them electronically. The students also drew pictures, which we will photograph. We would also like to send our pictures along with these letters so if you did not respond and let me know if your child's picture can be included, can you please let me know. Thank you.
Have a great weekend.
Regards,
Maria
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