Asking Questions and Buddy Time

Today we wrapped up our focus on another Good Reader strategy - Asking Questions as you read to check understanding be engaged in your reading.  We read a book called Charlie Anderson.  It is about a cat who had two homes however the owners do not know about each other.  See if your child can retell the story to you.

This afternoon we had time with our 5th grade buddies!  It was a beautiful day to be outside.  The buddy pairs played together and had a great time.  The 5th grade students did a nice job of staying engaged with their buddy, playing with them and suggesting activities to do together.  

Monkey bar fun!

Waiting to have a turn in 4 square.

Basketball Buddies!

Sidewalk Chalk!

There were many creations!

All smiles!

Air Underwater and Battle Ship

Today we did another science experiment.  We used vials, water and paper towel to learn about air.

First, we practiced trapping air in the vial when we put it in the water.  This was harder than we thought.  We had to be very careful to  not tip the vial because that would let air out (bubbles) and water into the vial.

Then the challenge was to put a small piece of paper towel in the vial and keep it dry while submerging it in the water.  Ask your child if he/she was able to complete the challenge (most did) and how he/she did it.  It was a group effort in some cases with kids sharing ideas and strategies.  

We als talked about how we could do this in a sink or bathtub with a plastic cup and paper towel.  

This afternoon we had Phy. Ed. with Mr. DePrez.  We got to play an all time favorite game:  Battle Ship!  Ask your child about how the game works.  The goal of the game is to keep all of the pins up and knock down the pins or other ships.   It is a lot of fun and work!

Busy Day

We have had some very busy days this week!  Here is a brief review of our time!

We earned extra recess because of excellent behavior in Music class.  We worked so hard and cooperated with Ms. Liadova!

All Smiles!

Happy Girls!

We made Good Luck postcards for our 5th grade buddies.  They were in the Cross Country Meet today!  They LOVED getting our cards!

We got to go outside and watch some of the kids run.  It was fun!  We were very loud and excited!  The older kids appreciated having us cheer!

This afternoon we continued our science unit and learned about air pressure.  Ask your child what he/she did with these materials and what he/she learned.

Air is There!

Today we did our first experiment with Air!  We used some common object to learn about the properties of air.

We had a feather, ball, cotton ball, straw, paper and balloon.  We tried many different things with these objects.  We used air to stick things together, move things, fill a space and expand something.  It was lots of fun.

We learned:
    Air is a form of matter.  It is a gas and is all around us.
    Air is invisible and takes up space, such as in the empty plastic bag.
    Air interacts with objects and can be used to move them.

Friday!

This morning we had a special visitor!  Mrs. Bidne came to tell us about the Brimhall Cookbook coloring contest!  She invited students to draw, using bright colors, their favorite food and be entered into a contest.  There will be many drawings used in the Brimhall Cookbook!  Your child brought home an entry form today.  This is optional, although it seemed as though many students were very excited!

They are still accepting submission for the cookbook.  Find your favorite family recipe, write it down in detail and send it in with your child.  They are looking to gather as many recipes as possible.

This afternoon we talked about being a Bucket Filler!  We are starting to dive into talking more about kindness and empathy.  Ask you child what it means to be a Bucket Filler!

Here are some examples of our visualizing activity from the other day.  

Visualizing

Today we did an activity to practice our Visualizing skills.  As good readers, we know it is important to visualize as we read to better understand the story.  This skill is especially important as we are moving into reading books with not pictures.

I read  The Salamander Room  by Anne Mazer.  After establishing what a salamander is, I simply read the story and did not show the students the pictures.  I stopped after each page and asked them to draw or add to their drawing what was happening in the story.  It was very fun and interesting to see what each child drew and visualized.  Ask you child what the story is about and how the author described the Salamander Room.