Crazy February

What a winter! I haven't updated in a long time, because well, we haven't been in school for a long time! This past week we actually went to school each day, with just one late start. We still haven't technically had a full week since before winter break! It's been hectic, but I think each class has now had library at least 4 times in the past 2 months. We've been busy, as usual, so here's an update on what each class has been working on:

This week preschool read A Big Guy Took my Ball by Mo Willems. It's so funny to see their faces when the whale pops up!

AK has read a few books recently. We read Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee and I showed them the new roller coaster marble track that I found for $3 at Stuff Etc. It was a great find, as AK, K, and 3rd grade have used it so far! We also read Naked Mole Rate Gets Dressed by Mo Willems. The kids thought this book was just hilarious. They didn't quite like the photo of a naked mole rat that I showed them, though. Ha! 

  

Kindergarten finished their marble roller coasters this week. They used cardboard and tubes and tape to make a track for their marble. We talked about how gravity does the work and the tubes don't have to touch each other. They were trying to make a zig-zag out of their tubes for the marble to fall through. We had some really great ones! Here's a couple:

 

First grade finished up using circuits to make light. It is cool to experiment with the Snap Circuits and see how different colors of light are made using the prism.

First graders also learned about the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award and looked at several books that won the award. We talked about the difference between the Dr. Seuss award and the Caldecott Medal, which we talked about in kindergarten. We read I Want my Hat Back by Jon Klassen, which won the Seuss Medal, and then read the follow-up to that book, This is Not My Hat, which won the Caldecott. These books are just two of the best, I think. 

 

Second graders listened to Ricky Ricotta and His Mighty Robot by Dav Pilkey. I love the Ricky Ricotta series. Dav Pilkey is a certain kind of genius, I'm convinced. I loved getting to meet him last summer, and my appreciation for him has only grown. After reading, kids filled out a graphic organizer that retold the story. Now, they are working on drawing out a story map on large pieces of butcher paper. Next, we will program a Dash robot to go through the story map and record their voices to have the robot tell the story. 

Third graders have been working on African American research and on Rube Goldberg machines. We've had some cool looking machines so far!

Fourth graders are nearly finished with their book trailers. This project usually takes about 3 weeks, but with all of our snow days it's taken over double that! I will have a bunch of them to share next week, I'm sure!