What Incredible Progress!

Thank you for attending student-involved conferences and for your ongoing support and partnership in your child's development. It was very enjoyable meeting with you all and discussing the great progress your children are making. I very much appreciate your sharing and the encouragement you showed your children when they shared their work.

Last week was full of interesting and exciting learning experiences. One of the memorable ones for the students was our field trip to the AEEA. Mr. Jondon, a gardener, spoke with us about the plants at the club and his work in nurturing them. He then took us on a tour around the grounds and showed us some interesting plants that many of us had never noticed before.

  

In the classroom we used pumpkins to study not only our Unit of Inquiry but our math unit on measurement as well. We examined our pumpkins like scientists and looked closely to draw realistic pictures of them. We realized that not all pumpkins are orange, big and round. We measured the pumpkins in various ways (looking at height, circumference and weight), and then opened them up and scooped out all the seeds. Many of us were hesitant to touch the gooey inside, but we were risk-takers and got our hands messy! 

   

 

After separating the seeds from the goo and then roasting them, we used the seeds for a counting lesson. We counted our individual pile of seeds and found the corresponding number from the hundreds chart to match our piles. Next we had to use our thinking and communication skills to organize ourselves in order from the person with the least amount of seeds to the person with the most without any teacher assistance. This is what we came up with:  

We then viewed the picture of ourselves and noticed that Imran and Sandeep needed to trade places. We also needed to add in Ashman and Cadyn. Through discussion we came up with this:

After reviewing another photo of ourselves we determined two of us still needed to move. We moved around and on the third try we got it correct!:

Since our exploration with pumpkins was near Halloween, of course we were excited to turn our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. Thanks to Ms. Hagar for her help!