5/6 Week 30

by Macky & Veronica | Apr 26, 2019 | In The Loop

La Lectura

Thank you so much to this amazing crew for working so hard at Dia del Nino!

Weekly Concept/Genre: Informational Text

Essential question: How do people benefit from innovation?

It seems like our Literacy time flew by this week! We did have a chance to discuss our focus question and do spelling work, which was focused on Latin roots. We also had some time to continue to make progress on our Unit 5 Expository Writing Assignment. Students started working on their rough drafts. We will continue to to work on this and do our class  reading work next week after we come back from OMSI camp!

Ciencias

We were very fortunate to have Ms. Ellen Ives from Waste Connections come to our school on Earth Day (Monday).

We were very fortunate to have Ms. Ellen Ives from Waste Connections come to our school on Earth Day (Monday). We learned so much about the different ways we can contribute to make our world a better place. Minimizing our impact on the environment has been a central topic during science this year. Some of the topics covered during her presentation/discussion included: recycling and reusing, using waste to generate clean, renewable energy,  reducing our carbon footprint, generate awareness within our communities

Also during science, students were introduced to the concept of “Natural Selection”. We read piece and took a video journey to the Galápagos Islands to revisit the location where Charles Darwin gathered data for his theory of natural selection. It is pretty fascinating to see these biologists work with endemic species in one of the world’s finest laboratories for studying natural selection. After learning the history of progressive change of the plants and animals living on the islands, students will think about the island ecosystems and the effects of natural selection over time. We are thrilled to apply all the knowledge and concepts learned during our own field studies next week!

Mathematics

This week we learned about the area of parallelograms and polygons.

• We learned how to find the area of parallelograms and trapezoids
• We learned how to find the area of regular polygons using triangles
• We played a fun math escape room game.

(Written by Lily)

History & Geography

This week we learned about the Industrial Revolution.

• We continued watching the musical Oliver!, which takes place during the Industrial Revolution.
• Oliver! was based on Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, who was an author during the Industrial Revolution.
• Many of Dickens’ novels were inspired by his own experiences during the time.

(Written by Sophie)

English Writing & Spelling

This week we worked on our rough draft

• We wrote our rough drafts
• We used DARE to Delete, Add, Rearrange, and Exchange
• We also worked with the roots fals, fall, cred, cert, phob.
• We also had our greek and latin roots quiz

(Written by Rafa)

Specialists

Art with Ms. Kelly

Congratulations to Juliette Murrow for winning a prize for her Watershed Reflections art at the Earth Day Fair sponsored by the StreamTeam of Clark Public Utilities! All of the students’ Watershed Reflection artwork is currently on the bulletin board at school and was on display at the Earth Day Fair last Saturday. The students did a great job making these wonderful landscape pictures with an emphasis on the rivers and streams that are part of our water supply.

This month all the students have been working on artwork for Mother’s Day. Our inspiration has come from these books:

“Waiting for Wings” by Lois Ehlert and various books by Eric Carle

Both of these author/illustrators use painted paper and collage to create their amazing books.

We also looked at some famous artwork by Picasso. The students had fun creating their own painted papers using tempera paint and then adding texture. I know you’ll enjoy the artwork that your students will bring home in May!

Music with Ms. Erin

In April we learned about Baroque period music. We read about composers Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel, and listened to their music. We learned about instruments used at the time compared to current instruments.
We also continued the construction of songs that the class began creating in March.

In May we will be learning more about Classical and Romantic period composers, and their music. We will learn about instrument development and invention during that time.
We will also continue working on the class compositions, using them to hone vocal and instrumental skills.

3/4 Week 30

by Sarah Segall | Apr 26, 2019 | In The Loop

History & Geography

Our weekly objectives were to:

• Identify the important differences between the Articles of Confederation and the state constitutions.
• Explain the major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
• Recognize the significance of the Northwest Ordinance.
• Explain the reasons Madison, Hamilton, Washington and others wanted to strengthen or replace the Articles of Confederation.
• Visualize the setting of the Constitutional Convention.
• Learn about some of the delegates to the Convention.
• Explain the reasons the Virginia Plan called for a stronger central government.
• Understand why the convention voted to write a new constitution rather than revise the Articles of the Confederation.

We enjoyed playing the Preamble Scramble and creating our very own Preamble.

Mathematics w/Laura

Week of April 22, 2019 – April 26, 2019

Ciencias

Working together to make more concrete steps for our school hopscotch.

Students set up a controlled experiment to test the effect of the salinity on four kinds of plants. They planted four containers with identical arrays of seeds; barley, corn, peas, and radishes. They watered each container with a different concentration of salt water, although with the same quantity of water.

Each student wrote about their conclusions from the last investigation and then wrote all the steps they took to start their investigation.

We also had a great visit from the Wegners.  The kiddos got to show off their plant-growth knowledge and they worked to create a plan for our school garden.  On Friday we planted the seeds for the entire school garden!  Yum!!

Specialists

Music with Ms. Erin

In April we learned all about orchestral instruments, as well as orchestra pits used in opera, ballet, and musical theater. We studied vocal ranges from bass to soprano, and saw how those ranges apply to both opera and pop music. We practiced our singing, and learned some new songs by electronic music composer Alan Walker.

In May we will take a musical trip through time by learning about Gregorian Chant music from the Medieval Period, composer Handel’s The Messiah from the Baroque Period, Haydn’s Surprise Symphony from the Classical Period, Chopin’s Nocturnes from the Romantic Period, and listen to contemporary piano music by Yann Tiersen, David Lanz, and Yiruma.

Art with Ms. Kelly

This month all the students have been working on artwork for Mother’s Day. Our inspiration has come from these books:

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert, and various books by Eric Carle

Both of these author/illustrators use painted paper and collage to create their amazing books.

We also looked at some famous artwork by Picasso. The students had fun creating their own painted papers using tempera paint and adding texture. I know you’ll enjoy the artwork that your students will bring home in May!

The students’ Watershed Reflection artwork which is currently on the bulletin board at school, was on display at the Earth Day Fair sponsored by StreamTeam of Clark Public Utilities. The students did a great job making these wonderful landscape pictures with an emphasis on the rivers and streams that are part of our water supply.

1/2 Week 30

by Jill & Sarah | Apr 26, 2019 | In The Loop

History & Geography

We wrapped up our westward expansion unit this week. We learned about the impact of the expansion on the Native Americans. We read the book, Trail of Tears, together as a class. The students finished their lap books and made their covered wagons.  The rest of the  Covered Wagon home assignment is due this Monday, students will be sharing their list of supplies and show some the items they made to go into their wagons.  We took our assessment on Friday.

Our  weekly objectives were to:

• understand how Sequoyah taught the Cherokee people to read
• identify the Trail of Tears
• explain the importance of the buffalo to the Plains Indians
• understand how westward expansion harmed the Native Americans peoples

Science

This week in our Simple Machine domain
we began to learn about screws. The class explored using screws and screw drivers on wood.  We worked in our Simple Machine journals and watched a short video about wedges and screws.

Our weekly objectives were to:

• the student will identify that a screw is an inclined plane that curves around a shaft or pole
• the student will explain how a screw works in wood

English Spelling and Writing

In our journals we used the idiom of the week ” She got cold feet?” .  We also wrote a reader’s response to the book Trail of Tears in our journals. The class got their new sorts and took their practice spelling test on Friday .  Our Word Wall words were: two, very,went

Blue group sort

           Green group sort

La lectura

This week we read ¿Por que desaparecieron los dinosaurios?

Our weekly objectives were to:

• review the reading comprehension strategy visualizing during our first read
• review the reading comprehension skill Cause and Effect
• discover what antonyms are and play a matching game to identify them
• understand how to make words plural in Spanish using -s, -es, and -ces

Las matemáticas

This week we learned about lines and surfaces. Our weekly objectives were to:

• identify straight and curved line within drawings
• identify straight and curved surfaces on 3D objects
• understand how straight surfaces can stack and slide
• understand how curved surfaces can roll

Specialists:

Music with Ms. Erin

In April we learned more about the orchestra. We listened to all three movements of Vivaldi’s Spring from The Four Seasons, and read sonnets that were written for each movement.
We practiced singing the song we chose for the end of year performance, learning how to focus on each section to clearly memorize lyrics and melody.

In May we will learn more about keyboard music (piano, harpsichord, etc.), including pieces by Bach, Mozart, and Mendelssohn, as well as some contemporary piano composers.
We will also be listening to and singing many songs: Goodbye Old Paint, Follow the Drinking Gourd, The Erie Canal, and more!

Art with Ms. Kelly

This month all the students have been working on artwork for Mother’s Day. Our inspiration has come from these books:

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

Both of these author/illustrators use painted paper and collage to create their amazing books.

We also looked at some famous artwork by Picasso. The students had fun creating their own painted papers using tempera paint and adding texture. I know you’ll enjoy the artwork that your students will bring home in May!

K/1 Week 30

by Sarah Segall | Apr 26, 2019 | In The Loop

La lectura

This week we read such a fun story: Swimmy. This is a story of cooperation and the students all did such a great job, focusing in on the story and really understanding how the fish were going to work together to solve a problem.  We had a great time with the story and enjoyed our art project.

This week we also added to our pronoun word bank: él (he), ella (she).  We’ve already covered: yo (I) and tú (you).  We did some activities to practice replacing names with pronouns.

Las matemáticas

We have really been working on our number bonds. Number bonds help students see that numbers can be “broken” into pieces to make computation easier (decomposing/composing). With number bonds, students recognize the relationships between numbers through a written model that shows how the numbers are related. A number bond helps student clearly visualize the Part/Whole relationship.

History & Geography

This week in our Kings and Queens unit we learned the poem “Sing a Song of Sixpence”. The class added some new poems to their Robot binder. We had fun being Kings and Queens for a day on Thursday and making some royal items. The class continued to work on their K and Q vocabulary books.

Our weekly objectives were to:
•  understand that kings and queens possess gold and other treasures
• describe the behaviors that reinforce that kings and queens are royal
• recite poems from this unit

Science

On Monday we honored Earth Day by having Ellen Ives from Waste Connections come in and do a presentation for the class.  They learned a lot about garbage and recycling.  Afterschool she set up a recycling relay on the grass.  This week in our Plants domain we learned about the life cycle of plants. We continue to watch our See Through Planters, anticipating our seeds to germinate. We also did a science experiment to watch how stems carry nutrients to the rest of the plant.

Our weekly objectives were to:

• understand that plants are living things
• explain that seeds are the beginning of new plants
• understand the basic life cycle of plants

Specialists:

Art with Ms. Kelly

This month all the students have been working on artwork for Mother’s Day. Our inspiration has come from these books:

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert and

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

Both of these author/illustrators use painted paper and collage to create their amazing books.

We also looked at some famous artwork by Picasso. The students had fun creating their own painted papers using temper

5/6 Week 29

by Ivary & Paola | Apr 19, 2019 | In The Loop

La Lectura

Literature Studies:  Historical Fiction

Essential question: How do people show inner strength?

This week the big idea, Descubrimientos, was analyzed from a personal perspective. Students shared their thoughts about personal growth and the ability to discover our strengths and potential. We read several historical fiction pieces that illustrated these concepts in context.  We also spend time reading and learning the meaning of old adages that continue to bring so much life and expression to everyday language, until today.

Students spent time working on our expository writing project. They were given a prompt and will have 2 week to develop this project in class, which has multiple steps. We completed steps 1, 2 and 3 in class this week. Students need to be ready to work on step 4 next week.

The following is the prompt for our informative writing project:

Imagina que trabajas como voluntario en un museo de tu comunidad y en unas semanas se inaugurará una exhibición sobre el Antiguo Egipto. Tu supervisor te ha pedido que des una presentación sobre el arte y la arquitectura del Antiguo Egipto. Tu presentación explicará lo que nos muestran estos artefactos sobre la estructura social del Antiguo Egipto. Tu público serán las personas que visitan el museo.

Ciencias

Students learned about Punnett squares to predict the probability of offspring traits when the genotypes of the parent larkeys are known.

Mathematics

This week we learned about the area of a triangle.

• We learned about how you find base or height when you only have area and base or height
• How to know when it is base or height
• We also worked on a take home math test

(Written by: Jack)

History & Geography

This week we learned about the Industrial Revolution

• We learned about the conditions in the Industrial Revolution era
• We learned about Adam Smith and how he came up with ideas to balance the economy
• We learned about Charles Dickens and his position in the Industrial Revolution
• Then started watching Oliver the Musical

(written by: Maddie)

English Writing & Spelling

In writing this week we

• Worked on our conclusion  
• Did research and took notes for our informative writing.

In Greek and Latin Roots this week we

• Did our packets and posters about -Carn, -Anim, -Phys  
• Finished our greek and latin roots test

(Written by:Sophia)

Specialists

Character Ed. with Ms. Jennie

3/4 Week 29

by Sarah Segall | Apr 19, 2019 | In The Loop

History & Geography

Our weekly objectives were to:

• Recognize the importance of the Declaration of Independence.
• Appreciate key concepts articulated in the Declaration, including individual rights, consent of the governed, and limited government.
• Define constitution and explain the relationship between a constitution and ordinary laws.
• Explain the general form and content of the states´ constitutions.

We had a fun end of unit celebration.  We made butter, played jacks and marbles, listened to colonial music, and wrote with a quill pen.  We finished up the American Revolution and are starting a unit on The Constitution.

We also had a special visitor, Fernando, teach us how to do 3D sculpting. I am certain your kiddos will be begging to do this program at home.  If so, the way to get to it is by googling sculptgl and it will be the first link that pops up.

Mathematics w/Laura

Week of April 15, 2019 – April 19, 2019

La lectura

This week we read a great expository that was really interesting. In this article from the magazine Current Science we learned about the youngest person to ever publish the results of a scientific experiment in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Ask your child what they understand about Therapeutic Touch and the experiment conducted by Emilia Rosa. (We had great vocabulary words that included: skeptic, controversial.)

We also continued working on our grammer and identifying correct noun verb agreement.  We have started writing a friendly letter to learn letter writing and to share about our class with others.

Ciencias

We continued conducting our water tolerance investigation, with each student being an expert in one type of seed. Our objectives in this investigation were to:

• conduct experiments with four kinds of plats to discover their range of tolerance for water.
• Describe the optimum water conditions for early growth of seeds.
• Analyze data from plant experiments.
• Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, organizing, and relating.

Specialists

Character Ed with Ms. Jennie

1/2 Week 29

by Jill & Sarah | Apr 19, 2019 | In The Loop

History & Geography

Our field trip to the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center was a great success! Thank you to all the parents who drove and helped with the scavenger hunt.  There was so much information that related to our Westward expansion unit.  They did a great job of finding evidence in their scavenger hunts. This week in Americans Move West, we had a wonderful presentation by Owen’s grandfather, Dick.  He talked about the building of the transcontinental railroad and his family history of settling in the West.  He shared lots of pictures and family heirlooms. The students even got to practice how the conductor use to collect messages from the station platform with out stopping the train.

Our  weekly objectives were to: 

• recognize the challenges faced by Cowboys, farmers, and miners in the West.
• understand how a cattle drive worked

Science

This week in our Simple Machine domain we learned about wedges.  The class did an experiment with apples and clay using non wedges and wedges to separate each material. The class had fun finding examples of simple machines on their field trip too.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• identify that a wedge is a simple machine that is also a small inclined plane that is used as a tool
• identify everyday objects that are wedges

English Spelling and Writing

La lectura

This week we read El dinosaurio que vivía en mi jardín.

Our weekly objectives were to:

• Review our PUF and vocabulary words before reading
• Use our comprehension strategies during our first read
• Use the new skill Fact vs. Opinion during our second read
• understand the contractions al and del
• review synonyms

Students also began the Rockin’ Readers Challenge this week. They have been tasked with reading 100 minutes before the end of April. We want to encourage students to read in both English and Spanish. Students can earn prizes for reaching milestones in each language.

Las matemáticas

This week we began learning about Lines and Surfaces. Our weekly objectives were to:

• recognize, identify, and describe parts of lines and curves
• draw parts of lines and curves
• identify, classify, and count flat and curved surfaces
• identify solids that can stack, slide, and/or roll

Specialists:

Character Ed with Ms. Jennie

K/1 Week 29

by Sarah Segall | Apr 19, 2019 | In The Loop

La lectura

This week we read Llegó la hora de hacer un equipo  / The time has arrived to make a team. This story looks at many kinds of teams – teams that work together and teams that play together.  This story addresses the value of teamwork and the characteristics of teams.  Key concepts include:

• Teamwork makes a job easier.
• Teamwork is essential in any culture.

Our main learning goals this week were:

• to identify and use the pronouns for I and you: yo and tú
• identify and clap out syllables of words
• identify the first sound in given words
• write in their journals, using the words of the day, correct spacing, capitals and punctuation
• identify and form rhymes

Las matemáticas

We had such a great time working together, as a team, to begin to create our class shape mural. We really had to talk about how we should consult with the other members of our team to make the plan and as we work through our plan. We also talked about how to be kind when giving criticism or suggestions.

It was fun to hear the kiddos using their shape and color vocabulary during their mural work time.

We also worked on using manipulatives and number lines to practice our adding and subtracting skills.  The kiddos have come a long way with this concept!  This is a fun review before we jump into word problems.

History & Geography

Our field trip to Fort Vancouver was a great success. Thank you to all the parents who were able to drive and chaperone for the strip. Seen the blacksmith at work in his shop was one of the highlights of the trip and fit perfectly into our Colonial tradespeople unit. This week in Kings and Queens we continue to discuss royal families and Royal etiquette such as high tea. The class continue to work in their Kings and Queen vocabulary booklets.

Our weekly objectives were to:
•  identify treasures that Royalty may have
• understand that there were important rules and behavior that was associated with anyone meeting the King or Queen.
• retell the story of King Midas and the Golden Touch.

Science

Specialists

Character Ed with Ms. Jennie