Besides soaking up this warm weather, I hope everyone is finding time to put down the "to-do" list and spend the weekend with family and friends.
The children had a big week, for they worked hard planning out their leprechaun traps. Before they got started, they each explored their materials, and made a plan of how they were going to build the trap that would support catching the leprechaun. The designs and ideas that the children came up with far surpassed my expectations. For example, J'Lyn added feathers on the top of her trap so that when the leprechaun jumped up on the box, the feathers would tickle him, which would result in him falling in. I asked Jordan why he was working so hard making holes all around his trap and he responded by saying "Well, these are air holes and there needs to be a lot so the leprechaun can breathe." Marlo decided she would make a ramp leading up to her trap, where as Nathan made a door. As a finishing touch, many of the students decided to add the Irish flag on top, which they found what it looked like through research on the Ipad.
Below (Top Left): Isabella M's leprechaun trap complete with swinging door, the Irish flag, an upstairs, and a sign that says "Come Leprechaun."
Below (Top Right): Melania's trap- she had a difficult time trying to make her flag more sturdy. She problem solved and realized that if she puts a something heavier, such a popsicle stick, to the back of the flag, it would give it more support.
Below (Bottom Left): Andrews note to the leprechaun- "Mr. Leprechaun Please come into your new house."
The students also enjoyed making a healthy version of the shamrock shake. They mixed all the ingredients together to make a liquid mixture. It was interesting to see that 5 out of the 15 students did like the shake, for when we added the bananas, they did not like the texture of it. That led into a great discussion about texture, as well as that it is okay for everyone to not like something, for we all have different taste buds. They were curious about that concept, and I for see a new investigation in the near future!
The students were introduced to the -ay spelling pattern, which they did quite well with. When we were brainstorming words that have the -ay pattern in them, Nathan raised his hand and said "How about play!" What a great beginning! Writing books is still very popular with the children. They are even incorporating different components of books, such as the dedication page. Isabella M. dedicated her book about cats to her mom. If you find your child creating a book at home, please encourage them to remember to write the title, author, and illustrator on the cover page.
In math, the students built models of
3-Dimensional shapes (cube and rectangular prism) using toothpicks and marshmallows. In order for them to be sturdy, the marshmallows had to be stale. Instead of making the marshmallows stale on my own, I decided to include the children in this process. Why do you think the marshmallows need to be hard? What does it mean when foods go stale? Can you think of other foods that might go stale if you leave them out? When the marshmallows were finally ready, the children built their models of the 3-Dimensional shapes, as well as the 2 dimensional shapes that make up the cube and rectangular prism. We have also been focusing on skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s orally. I taught them a faster way to skip count- using calculators! It was like magic for them to see this occur on a calculator.
If you have not sent back your conference sheet back to me, please do so I can accommodate your schedule the best that I can. Have a safe and fun weekend!
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