May 6th, 2022

Two weeks have gone by and a lot of things have happened. The students have been working hard on measurement conversion, and addition and subtraction using the standard algorithm. During reading, we have started working on team building activities through literacy circles, where each student has a specific role to fulfill. Students choose a book from a curated collection on Epic, and then each of the four members works on either asking questions, summarizing, describing the characters or finding interesting vocabulary and definitions. The group monitor makes sure each member reads the book, stays on task and does his/her work properly. After all the members have completed their paper, they all take turns sharing and then the whole group rotates the roles and starts over with a new book. The kids have been fantastic and they seem to enjoy the process. They have been very responsible with their tasks and have practiced their Spanish skills all the way.
During writing the students have continued working on their poems, adding "list poems" to their notebooks. The classroom anthology currently has about 85 poems and will be soon published for your view. Finally during science, we have kept on exploring how sound waves travel, using a balloon to perceive the vibrations of the human voice. And in Social Studies, students have been working on a book on Primary Sources, again working in a group and with each group presenting on a chapter to the rest of the class. I would say collaboration is a word that could define these two weeks.
On another note, we had to say farewell to our Spanish Cultural Assistant, Elba, as she worked with us last week for the last time. We have been so lucky to have her here during this school year. We are going to miss her very much, but we will stay in touch for sure.
Take a look at these two weeks slide show!