Science and Math and Ants, Oh My!
Dear Parents,
What an awesome week we’ve all had in our classroom!
We are right on track with our Super Kids curriculum and finished strong with our lesson on Golly the dog. The kids had a great time with all of our fun activities involving Golly and his love of garbage (silly dog)!
Yesterday we introduced our newest Super Kid, Alf (not to be confused with that furry alien from the 80’s sitcom, I promise). Alf focuses on the /a/ sound and words like: Antarctica, ants, applesauce, and astronaut. Alf is short for Alfalfa and he is a boy full of adventure! He loves taking real and imagined adventures like camping, mountain climbing, and sailing the seas. However, he has some pesky friends that he can’t seem to shake, ANTS! They’re always on his backpack or on his pants. No wonder he dreams of having an anteater for a pet! For our introductory lesson, we discussed the beginning and middle /a/ in our words. There were several that tricked us, but we got better with practice.
In math, we had a hands-on activity where we used other shapes to create different or new shapes. Did you know that two triangles can make a diamond? Or that eight triangles can make a hexagon? The class worked in small groups to come up with as many variations of triangles, trapezoids, hexagons, squares, and rectangles. Nothing got past them! We also focused on color and shape patterns to create new shapes. It was really helpful to have smaller pieces that coincided with our lesson so everyone could have a visual on how different pieces can be moved together to make the shape they needed.
Social studies this week found us learning all about our Constitution! Mrs. Barlow took a moment to share a School House Rock video with the class about the Preamble. Good thing the internet keeps all those classic educational jams! We discussed how the Constitution is a set of rules for all Americans and the kids decided that we should make our own Constitution too! Everyone came up with a rule and just like the Framers (you know, the guys who were first to sign off on those rules), everyone signed their name at the bottom. Mrs. Barlow even used her fanciest handwriting to make it super official. If you’d like to see it, we have it hanging on the back of our door!
Also, everyone became scientists this week! I put up several clues on the board to see if anyone could guess what we would be learning about that afternoon. We had several great guesses (the word was Science). From there, we talked about what scientists do, what they study and the importance of the questions they need to ask. The following day we took a trip to the science lab across campus and had a scavenger hunt. Everyone was able to find one piece of equipment that belongs to the lab and we all had a great time discussing each object (beakers, droppers, pinchers, scales, and even a life-sized skeleton)! Mrs. Barlow and I are so excited to teach experiments to the class each week, so keep your eyes peeled for some fascinating updates!
This week in art we finished up our own skyscrapers, which were sent home on Friday. We know they’ll be proudly displayed for all to see 🙂 Bonus points if you can name that tune from Jefferson Starship that talks about cities and was featured in a 1980 film about a Mannequin 😉 The class had a great time working on rectangles of various sizes and we love to see when two subjects (math and art) come together organically to create a new lesson!
We also finished up our week with our very first VIP, Sean! It was so much fun learning about Sean’s favorite things: Darth Vader, pizza and his monkey from Tennessee! Sean’s Dad was able to visit for lunch one day this week too and that was such a fun day! Thanks Sean for sharing your poster with the class, we loved learning more about you!
A few reminders as I finish up:
If you haven’t signed up for parent-teacher conferences, don’t worry, there’s still time! You can sign up on our Shutterfly account or you can email me to set up a time.
Also, Wood Acres had their annual Constitution Day scheduled for Monday, but due to the weather, it had to be moved to Friday, September 21. Since our classroom faces the flagpole, we’ve worked hard to display handmade American flags and have even made special hats to wear for the big day. We’ll be sure to post plenty of photos for you all to share and enjoy.
And our Word of the Week is ANTEATER!
As always, it’s such a joy for us to teach your child and learn more about them. Thank you again for allowing us such a privilege! We love our class so much!
Remember, “Think like a proton, always positive!”
With love,
Ms. Porto and Mrs. Barlow
