Weekly Update 4/6/19

We started our week with a fun field trip to the Botanical Gardens to learn about plants. This correlated with our current science unit. The children listened to a story called Tops and Bottoms and then learned about the parts of a plant. Next, they were able to "plant" a magnetic garden to learn about types of vegetables. Each child got the chance to plant radish seeds and take them home to grow. Finally, we split into small groups to tour some areas of gardens to observe the many types of plants growing there. We even spotted a lizard!

Later in the week the students started an experiment to view how roots grow and learn why water is important in helping plants to survive. Partners made seed viewers from CD cases and are recording their observations each day on how the seeds are sprouting and changing.

In reading, students have been comparing characters across books. We read The Paper Bag Princess and The Princess and the Pizza. We discovered that princesses can have very different characteristics! In writing, the children are continuing to write poems. Our lessons this week focused on adding both strong emotions and descriptive details to poems. The students are also revising their free verse poems to include precise words and editing for correct spelling.

We finished our unit in math on data and graphing. Students reviewed graphs a final time by making line plots and bar graphs with partners using both color and number spinners for tallying data. Now, we have started our unit on time. We learned about different types of clocks and how to tell the time to the hour and to the half hour.