March 24, 2023

 Announcements

I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing Spring Break!

On Monday, we had the opportunity to visit with an entomologist! Sarah Phipps (Ethan's mom) came to share about her job. We observed invasive and extinct insects, did a scavenger hunt around the class

room, and learned about how to keep our trees safe from Emerald Ash Borers. We also had the opportunity to hold or touch a Madagascar hissing cockroach!

In the Classroom

In science, we are learning about hazardous weather. We did a Mystery Science that involved designing model houses that could withstand high winds. 

We participated in a Lego Wedo unit with Mrs. Hanson this week! We were tasked with creating a code that would open and close a floodgate. Monday, we started by asking questions about floods, rivers, and floodgates. We listened to a podcast discussing flooding in our area and took notes on what we heard.

On Tuesday, we analyzed data about the amount of precipitation and river depths for Missouri. We figured out that late Spring/early Summer is when we should be most worried about flooding in our area. 

On Wednesday, we started building our model floodgates following the app instructions. We also talked about the purpose of our floodgate so we could design the landscape.

On Thursday, groups finished building their model and wrote a code that would open and close the gate with the push of a button.

Finally, on Friday, we added sensors to our code so the floodgate would open with motion, voice, or tilt activity. Here is a video of one group and their working floodgate.

This week in reading, we used a fiction text to study how characters' actions influence story events. Students also found the central message and compared/contrasted themes with a previous story. In word work this week, we focused on the /ow/ sound made by the ou and ow spelling patterns.

Students analyzed two stories that have the same character. They wrote an opinion piece where they talked about a trait of the character. Students were required to support their opinion with evidence from both stories. 

We finished Unit 6 in math last week. The math tests are in the Friday folder this week. Subtraction continues to be a struggle for many students. We are reviewing and practicing here, but it would be helpful to do extra practice at home as well.

Upcoming Events

Spring Break-March 27-31

Early Release at 12:50-April 12

Field Trip to Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture-April 13

Field Trip to Jefferson City Capitol-April 19