Park Recess, Blast Off into Space, Family and Friends Reading and Human Knots

Hello Temescal Families,

This week was busy getting lots of work done in anticipation of conferences next week. We have lots to share with you and look forward to our brief, but essential time together. Please email us if there are certain things you would like to talk about, so we make sure to plan for it.

Highlights of the week:

A special guest, Kara, taught us all a very challenging game called Human Knot. Ask your child if their group was successful in untying the knot! Most of the kids loved this and the few who didn’t pushed through and did something hard.

We finally made a trip to Strawberry Creek Park to learn how park recess works! This was a significant highlight of the week, and the kids handled it really well. We will be going to the park on Mondays and Wednesdays with the 4th and 5th graders for lunch recess.

In math, we worked on using number strings and number lines to solve 2-and-3 digit addition and subtraction problems. Our calendar this month is introducing new geometry terms and concepts. We played Blast Off into Space. This game reinforces subtraction facts and introduces probability. Each student also spent some time doing number puzzles and working on Dreambox.

In science, we continued our study of plants by talking about how and why leaves change color. We learned through making predictions, watching a Brainpop video, and through an experiment with leaves from the yard. The kids learned some big words like chlorophyll, carotenoids, photosynthesis, and anthocyanins. During Super Science, we got back into the garden bed and planted our sunflower seedlings. We also did detailed observational drawings of flowers from our classroom.