Busy Bees

Good morning-

Our Balance and Motion Science Unit  has been a blast and the kids have been having so much fun figure out what balance is, and what it takes to get objects to balance. Yesterday, students experimented balancing a triangle and arch on a popsicle stick using counterweights. They didn’t want to stop trying to find more ways to get them to balance. We began a word bank to make notes about all of the new words we have learned with this unit. We have also been adding to our KWL chart. I have been amazed with the vocabulary they have picked up and continue to use throughout the lessons.

In reading, students continue to practice finding verbs. Students also learned a song all about asking questions while they read to help them understand what they are reading. Yesterday, we practiced asking questions before, during, and after reading a book. I modeled how to do it, the students helped, and then they did it on their own. “Carlos”, our paper friend, has helped students understand that good readers make connections to their own lives, the world, and to other books. Good readers also ask questions. All of these things along with MORE go on in Carlos’ brain every time he reads and eventually we will add more too.

Below is a picture of a sheet students fill out to practice asking questions before, during and after reading.

In math, we are learning a lot about geometry. Students have been reviewing polygons (from 1^st grade) and have now learned about quadrangles. Students learned that quad means 4 making quadrangle mean 4 angles or as I say “4 corners”. Students also learned about 90 degree angles/ square angles. On Tuesday, we reviewed points and line segments. Instead of using paper and pencil, we used our bodies! The students had so much fun and it helped some of the students really grasp the concept of naming line segments.