Thursday, January 29, 2015

1.29.15 Crew News

Announcements:

Construct and Deconstruct:
I'm looking for old items that can be donated to the class for a construct and deconstruct center. I'd like to have different items that can be taken apart and put back together (for this reason, don't plan on getting these items back). I'm going to head to Lowes or Home Depot and grab some tools so the kids can unscrew, pry, and investigate how things work. I'd love to have anything around the size of a toaster or smaller. Email me about larger items. :) Thanks in advance for sending in any old items.Also if you have any tools that you would like to donate, that would be great! 

Spring Climbing: Our crew will be climbing the week of March 16th. The more belayers we have, the more climbing students get to do! Hope to see you there!
 Belay Training for Spring Climbing will take place every Wednesday through February 25th.
Sign Up online; click 'Find a SignUp' and enter Mr. Doug's email; doug.baker@dcsdk12.org.
For those new to belaying, you will need to attend the entire training, starting at 10:00am (usually lasts about 90 minutes). 
If you know the physical skills necessary to belay safely, you can come at 12:00pm to learn the enhancements added to increase the emotional safety of climbers.  (If you took the belay training in the fall, you do not need to attend unless you would like a refresher or extra practice time.)

Valentine's Day Party: We will be having a Vday Party on 2/12. Please have students decorate a shoebox, bag, or a container that can be brought to school on this day. There will be no time during school to decorate it.

In previous years, I have found that these celebrations are more meaningful when Valentines are thoughtful. I encourage home-made Valentines, and but store-bought Valentines can be personalized and work too. Please have students make enough Valentines for all of our crew (25). Here is a list of names: Adin S., Aiden P., Alyssa, Carter, Charlie R., Charlie V., Cheyenne, Cutter, Dan-Anh, Ethan, Guy, Henry, JJ, Kaden, Kami, Kelby, Logan, Mira, Natalie, Nathan, Rachel, Rylan, Tessa, Tristan, and Vitorio.


Calendar Updates:
1/30: Tomorrow! Vision and Hearing Screening
Feb 12: Valentine's Day Celebration
Feb 13: No School; Teacher Professional Development
Feb  16: No School; President's Day
Feb 23-25: Winter Voyage to Keystone
Feb 26: No school for 3rd grade (Day of Rest)



Scientists at work...

This week, students have been investigating about the healthy choice of washing hands. At the end of last week, students collected samples from three "dirty" surfaces and one "clean" surface including:
the bathroom pass,
the bathroom sinks,
our soap dispenser, 
the bathroom, 
the sinks by the bathroom,
the nurse's office,
the nurse's door handle,
the nurse bed,
the computer cart after it was cleaned,
and the cafeteria tables.

Over the weekend, the samples grew.

Students worked as scientists to analyze and draw their results.




They shared results.




We shared the results with Ms. Kristin too!


Students concluded that the areas with the most bacteria growth were from the nurse's office, from the sink faucet, a student's desk, a soap dispenser, and my cell phone (ick!). Some students realized that they had not collected their samples properly. Many students came away with new questions. Be sure to ask your child about his/her results and conclusions.



Next up, we did some data collection. They wanted to find out more about the following questions: Do Renaissance students wash their hands? With soap? For the full recommended twenty seconds? 

One video we watched said the average amount of time spent washing hands is 7 seconds.

Today we looked at our data. We realized that by including third graders who washed their hands during the data collection, we did not have accurate results that were representative of the whole school. So! We will be collecting more data tomorrow. Stay turned for our results. 

In preparation for our upcoming health fair, we have begun analyzing persuasive writing. In reading, students are using the strategy of MAKING CONNECTIONS to make meaningful text to self, text to text, and text to world connections. In writing, students are working on crafting interesting leads to opinion and persuasive writing. In word work, we are looking at contractions and the proper use of apostrophes. 

We had to say good-bye to a dear friend this week. We wish Roy all the best, and he will be missed tremendously!



Thursday, January 22, 2015

1/22/15 Crew News

Announcements:
Scholastic Book Orders: Please make all book orders ONLINE (no cash/checks please). Don’t’ worry; it’s super easy! Go to:  clubs.scholastic.com/ and register. Our Class Activation Code is GP449.  You can select books and the orders will come directly to our classroom. The best part is that for every book ordered online, we get a FREE book for our class library! Please make your orders before January 25th.


Calendar Updates:
Feb 13: No School; Teacher Professional Development
Feb  16: No School; President's Day
Feb 23-25: Winter Voyage to Keystone
Feb 26: No school for 3rd grade (Day of Rest)




Scientists at work...

Be sure to ask your child about what we are doing in expedition.
More pictures and details coming next week. :)

Thursday, January 15, 2015

1.15.15 Crew News

Announcements:

Thursday Folders: Today, a lot of things went home in Thursday Folders. You can check out some of the work that we have been doing with word work, grammar, and main idea. Also there is the math test from Unit 4 that was taken before winter break. After reviewing math tests, please send them back to school, so they can be stored in our assessment notebooks. 

Scholastic Book Orders: Please make all book orders ONLINE (no cash/checks please). Don’t’ worry; it’s super easy! Go to:  clubs.scholastic.com/ and register. Our Class Activation Code is GP449.  You can select books and the orders will come directly to our classroom. The best part is that for every book ordered online, we get a FREE book for our class library! Please make your orders before January 25th.

Calendar Updates:
Jan 16: No School (Teacher Professional Development)
Jan 19: No School (MLK Day)
Feb 23-25: Winter Voyage to Keystone
Feb 26: No school for 3rd grade (Day of Rest)




Special Visit 
Last Friday, we had a visitor from Australia! One of the students from Ms. Rowe's class (who we have been skyping about) has been traveling in America, and she came to Castle Rock, specifically to come say hello! 

It was a lot of fun to ask Regina questions and hear about her American adventures. I guess making a snowman was a highlight. :) She brought us bookmarks from her classmates. 

Have you checked out 'The Beat?'
 Every week, a new group of ambassadors run "The Beat."
 There is a lot of movement! Here students are doing an "over-under" relay with balloons.
Birthdays are announced.
 Time to dance and celebrate birthdays.
 This week, we watched the spelling bee for 4th-6th graders.

It is pretty incredible to see students run the all-school meetings every Wednesday. If you haven't gotten a chance, they are Wednesdays at 9am.  


Week at a Glance:
In writing, students revised and edited their All About Me narratives. In reading, we continued working on identifying the main idea of nonfiction text. In expedition, students worked as researchers to find out more about a healthy choice that they want to share with 2nd graders during a health fair. In math, students are developing their understanding of place value.
In word work this week, we talked about synonyms and using more creative word choices in writing. Here are our synonym flowers. :)



Thursday, January 8, 2015

1.8.15 Crew News

Calendar Updates:
Jan 16: No School (Teacher Professional Development)
Jan 19: No School (MLK Day)
Feb 23-25: Winter Voyage to Keystone
Feb 26: No school for 3rd grade (Day of Rest)




Welcome back! 
I hope you had a wonderful break! It has been a relatively smooth transition back to the grind. :) Here is what we have been working on during this short week: In writing, students are working on their "All About Me" for their ePortfolios. In reading, students are identifying main idea and supporting details on nonfiction text. In word work, they are exploring synonyms, and we are working on brainstorming more creative word choices. We are trying something new in math, called a "math menu." Students are working at their own pace to move as quickly or as slowly as they need through the material. We will see how this goes and if students like this new format. In expedition, students created google presentations (powerpoints) to demonstrate their learning about the guiding questions. In their presentations they were asked to describe two systems, explain how they work together, and tell how they impact the human body. This has been a great way to check in about what they remember after the break. :)

Fieldwork to the Museum of Nature & Science
What a great day of learning! First, we went to the Expedition Health Exhibit. Students were gathering information about healthy choices and how those choices impact the human body. They had decided that they would like to host a health fair to share with others (maybe 2nd grade) about choices that they can make that help wellness. So at the museum exhibit, students were asked to record three examples of healthy choices that they might be interested in sharing. 


At the end of the day, I asked for their thoughts about healthy choices:

Tell me about one station or healthy choice that you enjoyed learning about in the Expedition Health Exhibit?

-The skin disease station because it told me about the disease. It also told me how to avoid it like putting on sunscreen on hot and sunny days. -I enjoyed the bicycle thing. I enjoyed it because I liked see my heart rate and seeing how fast I could go. It was very fun and energetic! 
-That you don't have to use you hands all the time you can also use your feet. -It was fun. I lernd new faces. I had fun lerning new faces todsy -I really liked the long lab because i grew out of my panic zone to my comfort zone. I was super scared then i touched it then i started to cut it at first i was like eww then i loved it. I liked the stanchions we did first to learn about the longs. I put my had thur a hole in the longs. I was so proud of my self. -I liked learning about why you should't smoke. I learned that when you get older after smoking you can get more rencles and then you can lose lungs, because smoking is bad for you. You should not smoke so these things don't happen to you. Also getting sick is anther example of why smoking bad for you. -I liked the biking station because I got to feel my heart beating hard and I could feel it throw my chest. Biking is great for your heart and your muscles because its marvelous exercise. It felt great to bike. Also when you are biking your buddy talks to you about your heart and your muscles. -"To stay healthy you need healthy food. Healthy food can make you stronger. If you eat gunky you get fate. " -The skin disease station because it taught me about skin disease. And it told me how to avoid skin disease like putting on sunscreen. It also told me what skin disease could look like. I also learned that when you have skin disease you can have moles. -One healthy choice is to eat these foods out of many others fruits, vegetables, and grain. Another healthy choice is to exercise with jumping jacks or running in place. If you do that you can stay healthy. -My favorite part was when me and kami did the brain waves. It taught us that brain activity can move a ball. It was so interesting the ball would kind of bounce down the tunnel -"Bike Ridding" It is important because it helps your heart get stronger. It helps your muscles get exercise and active. I think it is important so that your body is ready and focused. -Mine was to stay bundled up in very cold weather or you could get a terrible thing on your fingers called Frostbite.Frostbite is when your skin in your finger's skin cells die because they are so cold the skin on your fingers turn blue and black.This causes no pain at all.Also when your hand gets cold your blood warms up your hand in seconds,however most of your blood dos not go too your fingers and when you get really cold,your fingers turn dark blue! -Start eating healthy foods its very good for your bones. Suggestions of healthy foods are milk, cheese, yogurt, and other foods with calcium. Calcium is great for your bones and makes them stronger. -A healthy choice is to wear sun glasses to protect your eyes. If you close your eyes and think of something you would have more focus. sheep's lungs have diaphragms in there lungs. always were sun glasses when snow is on the ground you could get snow blinis. -Biking, When you exercise it makes your heart stronger. The muscles in your body are what you work so it makes your heart pump very fast. Riding a bike is a good exercise to wrk your muscles. I think it was interesting when he talked about bacteria. He said there are good and bad bacteria. It can live everywhere. -I learned that some bacteria is bad and some are good." -I really enjoyed learning about how you can be healthier. I learned that if you exercise more your heart pump stronger and your muscles get stronger too. Exercising is very healthy for you. -I enjoyed leaning about my heart.I learned that each time you exersize the more your heart rate goes up.And I also learned that your heart has to work with your lungs or you will die. -I enjoyed the bike exhibit! I liked it because it taught me that biking makes your heart stronger. And it also taught me that it makes you legs stronger to! -1 healthy choice is to dress up in cold weather correctly because you can get a thing (i forget what) that makes your coldest part of your body purple because the blood is cut off from that area. Another is too wear sunscreen because to much sun penetrates the skins stem cells causing Not Done " -when you ride the bike it made my hart beat so fast I thought it would fall out. -In the bacteria station. I learned that their are all different bacteria. some are bad some are good. it was super fun learning about bacteria. Some bacteria lives in your mouth and other bacteria lives in your moth. And bacteria lives in your skin. -I enjoyed exercising on the treadmill because it was like playing a game.From doing I learned that your heart gets stronger riding a bicycle.I also learned that the longer you do it your heart rate goes up.

Next up: the LUNG LAB! This is the FIRST time I have taken a crew to the lung lab. They did fantastic! I was beaming with pride as they remembered, identified, and explained all the parts of the respiratory system with our lab educator. Students visited stations to do some hand-on learning and activities to find out more about each part. And despite some nerves, our little scientists did a fantastic job dissecting and cutting open a sheep lung. I was so impressed with the connections they were making and how this learning really came to life for them! 











Here are some of their thoughts about the lung lab:
*Note- not all students got to finish their response at the end of our day, but here is what they have so far.

Tell me about your experiences with the lung lab? What did you think? What did you learn?
-I enjoyed dissecting the sheep lungs. It made me feel like I was a scientist.
-I love it so much -The lung lab made me feel confident about dissecting things. I learned that there are many steps to dissecting something. -I was really scared at first then i sall her the teacher disecet the sheeps longs. I started to feel more confident. Then it was are turn to disecet. I started poking it then I cut it I steeped out of my comfort zone. I was proud I steeped out of my panic zone.
-I liked the breathing station. I liked it because you got to see how much breaths before and after exercising. -It was also really fun to get to dissect sheep lungs because I learned a lot. It was fun seeing muscles, the diaphragm, and the trachea. -it feet like i was a scientist tuching jello. It was so cool to diesechshin. i love it so much -I enjoyed the lung lab a lot because I was able to cut and get a fell of what everything is inside your lung looks like. I thought that it helped me seeing and learning more about the Respiratory system and lungs. I learned that are esophagus is behind our trachea. Also I learned that sheep have a serten socket were their heart is in. -I was really scared to dissect a sheep lung. When i saw the demonstration I thought I would be okay. When I was about to do my turn I was a little scared. I thought it was so cool. I learned that sheep's have blood clots to. Also sheep's have longer trakias then humans. -I Learned that a sheep trachea is bigger than a hominy trachea. -I thought that the lung lab taught me that it could be really cool once you try the lung lab. It also made me feel confident to do things that are in the middle of my comfort zone. I also learned that it could be fun once try it for yourself and it was a lifetime experience. I learned that I could feel happy that I tried something I thought was kind of scary. -I didn't have a good experience because I didn't touch it or anything but I thought it was kind of gross so I didn't touch it. I learned that you can find out how small or big things can be, gross, and see what that part looks inside. -My favorite part was when we dissect the sheep's lungs. My group found a whole diaphragm. Roy cut the the trachea I cut the bronchial tubes in to alveoli. -I think it was cool and fun to look at a real lung and observe it. -I think it exciting. -I learned that bad bacteria is what makes you get sick. -I did not think it was gross at all.I mean, of course some people thought that it was extremely gruesome,but not me.I thought it was AWESOME!!!!! -During the first part of the dissection I was thinking of regretting it but then I was having so much fun! I liked the feeling of a scientist. I learned how to dissect and that the trachea has cartilage rings that support it. we got to touch seeps lungs. And we got to cut them to. sheep's have a diaphragm. -I thought humans trachea is shorter then sheps trachea -I learned that your trachea does not have blood in it. I also -I learned that snot is in the lungs. -I learned that sheep lungs have blood clots. The sheep has soft and hard tubes. My exp -In the lung lab I was a little grossed out. It was a cool experiment I enjoyed it. I always wanted to see a animals oregon. -I learned that you have cartilage in your trachea.i also learned that that anything can die if it has a scab inside its body.And I learned that if you gently squeeze the -I learned when we were in the lung lab that the insides of something is not something to be afraid of. I also learned that a sheep's lung is not a different setup then a humans. I also learned that nose hairs keep in mucus. -I learned that the sheeps tracha is lager then a pesens one. I thought it woas awesome -I had a fun time feeling it now I now what the inside of your lungs feel like. I see whats inside and I learned

What a great experience to infuse some excitement and momentum into wrapping up this expedition!