BUDDIES AND TJ!

These are two of my favorite things from this week.  We rocked out to annual guest musician TJ Wheeler with our preschool buddies.  Students are enjoying their Blues Corps rehearsals.  I had recess duty twice and it's fun to be with the kids outside!  We have made solid progress in each subject and have enjoyed the excitement surrounding new clubs and Roots n Blues week.  The excitement continues next week with a few big events.

ECO CLUB SUNSET HIKE Sunday 9/23 at 6:30:  Families are invited to an Eco Club sunset hike at Forum Nature Area/3M Wetlands.  Hikers will meet at the Forum Nature Area parking lot and start hiking to 3M at 6:30 sharp.  There is a wetland with plenty of organisms to view and a great place for viewing the sunset.

CCUA FIELD TRIP Tuesday 9/25 9:30-12:45: This is an annual 5th grade field trip to the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture.  CCUA is an urban farm where we will observe an  impressive array of organisms in one city block.  Students will also have two outdoor classes on biodiversity and agricultural practices.  We will eat lunch, including farm fresh salad. Blues Corps students will join us for the first part of the trip and will return to school for Blues Corps work.

BLUES CORPS PERFORMANCE Tuesday 9/25 6-8:  Blues Corps will perform at the Blues in the Schools music performance at Flat Branch Park with TJ Wheeler and other school groups.

ART n BLUES NIGHT Thursday 9/25 5:30-7:00:  There is a flyer in the Friday Folder about this fun event/fundraiser for our Roots n Blues week.  Kids will be singing. Art and prizes will be auctioned.  Good times will be had!

READING: During reading this week, we focused on questioning while reading.  Students were reading nonfiction passages about flags which informs our island project.  Also, students had time to read award winning books for book shares.

WRITING: Our completed I AM poems are on display in the main hall.  This was a great project to focus and finish first. They look fantastic add to our school community.

MATH: The first part of this week was spent going over the Unit 1 test. We also spent time discussing and applying powers of 10 as they relate to place value.  Students are gaining their first experience using exponents.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We focused on maps this week as students completed their World Map.  This assignment is due Tuesday and we will introduce the Island Map project the same day.  We have covered various landforms while looking at various maps and discussing current events and resources.  Students will apply their landform and other geography knowledge when they create their island.

SCIENCE: In science we explored the Law of Conservation of Mass through Trail Mix, learned about cleaning up the Pacific Garbage Patch, and modeled, observed and discussed states of matter.  We changed gears for a moment on Friday to discuss and draw models of seasons and direct sunlight and shadows and such related to the Fall Equinox. This will continue to be our focus next week with various science experiences.  There is also the CCUA field trip on Tuesday.