Weekly Update 4/13/19

In science, students finished their observations of radish seed roots in our root viewers. They did a wonderful job making detailed drawings of how the seeds changed over the course of a week. We also turned our cases to see if the roots grew in a different direction to seek out sunlight. Students continued to explore the importance of leaves and sunlight in helping plants grow this week. Finally, each child planted a "grass head". Hopefully the grass will grow to become the students "hair"! Students will observe the grass growing and see if it bends towards the light.

We had a guest speaker from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Mrs. Bohl taught the students how banks work and the importance of saving money. Students listened to the story Less Than Zero and learned how to make a line graph charting spending. Each child received a pencil make from recycled money!

In math, we are continuing to learn about telling time. This week's lesson focused on telling time to the quarter hour and to the nearest five minutes. Students also are learning how to solve word problems with elapsed time. We will finish the last lesson on time next week and test on the chapter on Wednesday. The children also got the Bloxels back out and are reviewing the skill of making arrays by including three different sizes of arrays in a video game world they are designing.

Students are continuing to learn techniques for writing poetry. They are working to incorporate words that convey a mood in their poem, repetition, similes, and personification. The children also learned how to write haiku poems. In reading, students focused on recording the sequence of events in a biography of Amelia Earhart. We also read a Scholastic News on rainbow plants!