Writing, division and weather

For the past two weeks the scientists have been building their writing stamina, practicing open response questions after reading a passage, staying on topic, giving tons of evidence from the story, and commenting on the evidence. These scientists are getting the hang of it, and are consistently becoming more confident in their abilities to write essays and respond with comprehension. Last week we worked on text features and this week we are working on how characters interact and care for each other.
In Math, the scientists keep on making strides on their multiplication facts and adding more cool lights to their fingers, through exciting 4 minute sprints. They have also concluded the unit on division strategies and finished their tests pretty successfully! This week, we have even got started on fractions! What a better way to get started with that than with a perfectly divided brownie sheet in fifteen equal parts? This was just a happy coincidence when one of our scientists celebrated his birthday on the first day of fraction learning.
Also, during science, the scientists are learning all about cloud formation and how to predict stormy weather.
One highlight of the week was the visit of a mystery reader, who got the scientists engaged in the book "Un caso grave the rayas", a story about a girl that starts getting color stripes when she doesn't follow her heart for fear of being judged by others. Our mystery reader's prosody and clarifications always keep our scientists completely hooked to the storytelling.
And as the other highlight of these two weeks, our scientists have become reading tutors of Sra. Hidalgo's class, having each an assigned student (or two) to work on fluency and comprehension strategies that our scientists are experts on. Last Friday, after the tutoring session, we had some time to debrief, and it was fantastic to hear the insights about their students. These scientists were pretty tuned into their students' needs, and have guided them with compassion, patience and care. We can't wait for the next session.
Take a look at the pictures :)