Last week we finished writing the pages for our nature name books and created covers for them.   Children used pictures of their animals and looked for shapes to construct a collage of their animals.   As soon as the books are put together and we share them with reading buddies these will be sent home!

Our current science unit is an exploration of the structure and function of the human body.  In this unit we have examined various structures of the body and how their structure is suited to their purpose.  Recently we explored bones, focusing specifically on the bones in our hand.  Using an x-ray image we noticed that our hands are made up of many bones, which allow for a much broader range of movement than if they were made of just a few bones.  To help deepen our understanding of this we did an activity in which students had 30 seconds to put pegs into a peg board.  We recorded the number of pegs each student was able to place and then students had an opportunity to have their thumb and first two fingers taped, simulating what it might be like if our fingers were made of just one bone.  We repeated the peg activity and recorded our data.  We noticed that while individual children were able to place a varying number of pegs in 30 seconds, every child placed fewer pegs when their fingers were taped, because it was much more challenging to pick up the pegs and maneuver them.  We came to the conclusion that their are many things we might not be able to do if our hands weren't made of so many bones and able to bend the way they can.

In conjunction with this and as a follow up to our becoming birds lesson during ECO  we also explored structure and function of bird beaks.  We looked at pictures of a variety of birds noting characteristics of their beaks.  Some were long and pointy, while others were not as pointy and had more of a scoop shape.  We then used various tools to simulate different bird beaks trying to answer the question "Which beak works best for different foods?"  Perhaps the best part was eating the gummy worm at the end!

During ECO this week our focus was becoming birds.  Earlier in the week children made wings to help them really get into their role as birds!   In the forest children worked in pairs to first make a nest.  Once the nest was made each pair of birds was given two eggs (rocks) to put in the nest.   Colored cubes representing resources for the birds were scattered around the forest.  (Perhaps your child will remember the colors and what kind of resources each one represented.)  While one partner sat on the nest protecting the eggs, the other partner had the task of gathering resources.  Adults were obstacles the birds might face, and if an adult tagged a bird the bird had to drop all of their resources and return to the nest to switch roles with the other partner.  If both birds left the nest adults could also steal eggs.  This was a fast paced, super fun game that hopefully left children with a sense of some of the challenges birds and other animals face in meeting their daily needs and raising young.

for the past couple of weeks during math we have been using pan balances to explore weight.  We began by comparing two objects to see which was heavier.  Next we used counting bears and pennies to measure the weight of different objects.   We talked about he importance of using something that is uniform in size when we are measuring weight this way - rocks really wouldn't give us an accurate measurement because they come in many sizes and weights!

We have also started using the balances to help us with equations.   In one game,  one side of the balance holds a bag with ten bears.  One partner puts a number of bears between 1 and 10 into a paper bag and places it on the other side of the balance.  The other partner has to add bears until the pans are equal and then use the number of bears added to determine how many are in the bag.  For example, if it takes 4 bears to balance the mystery bag, there must be 6 bears in the bag.  This is a fun way to work on partners to 10.

In a second game, each partner rolls a die and puts a matching number of bears on their side of the balance.  Then they work together to bring the pans in balance by adding a different color bear to the lighter side until the pans are equal.  Once the sides are balance they make a number sentence to show the two numbers that were added together to make the pans balance.  For example, if one person rolls a 7 and the other rolls a 5 there might be 7 red bears on one side and 5 red bears on the other side.  The partners would use 2 yellow bears on the side with 5 to balance the pans.  Then they would make the equation 2 + 5 = 7.   These are complex games so we are spending lots of time playing them in a whole group before they become stations.

Last week we began writing informational pieces about our nature name animals.  We started this process by brainstorming questions a reader might have about our animals.  We narrowed this list to five questions:  What does our animal look like?  Where does it live? What does it eat?  How does it protect itself and what features does it have that help with this?  How does it move?  We are working on creating books that will answer all of these questions about our animals.  We took advantage of the sunshine on Thursday to do some outdoor writing!  Along with the books,  children are creating a diorama of their animal in its habitat.  This will take a few more weeks to complete, but we are well underway!

On Thursday we were invited to the 5th and 6th grade French class to hear stories that students had written and illustrated.  They graciously read each page in French and then translated for the younger students.  Kindergarteners were captivated by these tales and very appreciative of the older students' kindness.  Ask your child what some of the stories were about!