Language Arts
This week in 2nd/3rd grade we worked with:
- personal and possessive pronouns
- suffixes: -ado, -ido, -ando, -iendo
- sequences – using words of order and time (Students wrote about their daily routines and quite enjoyed hearing about eachothers!)
- compound words (We illustrated these in our estudio de palabras.)
- writing (Students wrote in their journals on a daily basis but on Friday they wrote an ending to their new little reader. They were great!! They then edited their own writing for noun/verb agreement.)
Math
We jumped back into measurement with real-world application. Our math objectives this week were to:
- draw bar models to solve one-step and two-step measurement problems.
- choose the operation to solve one-step and two-step problems.
- use spatial visualization.
- identify patterns and relationships
Students were assessed on these concepts on Friday. They will complete their assessments on Monday.
History & Geography
This week we started off with reviewing our lesson on Francisco Vasquez de Coronado we looked at a map of where he traveled and we made a travel log entry into our Expedition journals. The rest of the week we worked on a pausing point in our unit. Students are creating an expedition proposal that they would present to a sponsor on where they would like to travel. Part of this proposal involves making a map and deciding on a route, creating a list of supplies, designing an ad to recruit volunteers, writing a letter to the sponsor detailing what the purpose of the journey would be and why it would be in their interest to invest. The class is having a great time creating this proposal and are so excited about the finished product. On Friday we also did some review of what we’ve learned so far in this unit.
Science
We began our new science domain on ecology this week. Our first lesson was on animals and their habitats. Some of the information that we read about was a review of this year’s domain on animal classification as well as what they learned in first grade on animal habitats. On Thursday we played the game “Which ecosystem am I?”. We wrote some responses to chapter questions and begin reading the chapter book Judy Moody Saves the World. On Friday we worked on our stuffed animals for the Children’s Center of Vancouver. The class weighed out rocks and then put the rocks into their animals. Laura will be delivering them to the center. Everyone was so excited to do this activity, knowing that it was going to a great cause.
English Spelling
For grammar this week we have been reviewing adverbs. We discussed the purpose of adverbs and how they make our writing more interesting and meaningful. The class did several adverb worksheets for practice. In our journals we wrote about something we learned during spring break, weather it was something about a place we traveled, a new skill, or something about ourselves. Spelling practice was short this week. The class did a great job of getting right to their activities and doing partner practice. Everyone did really well on their spelling test on Friday.
Art
The 2nd and 3rd grade class, and the 4th and 5th grade class are working on a portrait project in art. We looked at a variety of famous portraits such as Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, Van Gogh’s self portrait, some Picasso portraits, and Matisse portraits, etc. The 2nd/3rd graders are using a collage technique to create a face, and the 4th/5th graders are using pipe cleaners to create a face. These are fun ways to get the students to think about facial features, proportions, and expression!
Music
We learned a South African song, Siyahamba (We are marching) in Zulu, English and Spanish. Sr. Kit also taught the class his Spanish translation of “Life is a Dance,” by Karl Anthony.