Read about what's happening in our grade-level and exploratory classes at MSES!
Kindergarten:
We are finishing up our Columbus and Pilgrims domain this week. Next week we will start on our next domain: Colonial Towns and Townspeople. Ask your expert: What year did Christopher Columbus sail from Spain? (1492.) What is the poem we learned that helped us remember what year he sailed? (In fourteen-hundred-ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.) Did Christopher Columbus actually land in the Indies? (No, he landed in the Americas.). Why did he call the native people Indians? (He thought he was in the Indies.) After Columbus sailed to the New World, did other explorers sail across the Atlantic Ocean to continue exploring? (Yes.) Why did the Pilgrims decide to leave England and journey to the New World? (They didn’t like the King telling them how to worship.) What Native American tribe helped the Pilgrims learn how to hunt, plant, and fish? (The Wampanoag tribe.) What does the word "fascinated" mean? (You are amazed by something and give all of your attention to it.) What is something you are fascinated by? Why? (Answers will vary.)
1st Grade: First graders are learning more and more about animals and habitats from all over the world! Ask your expert: The ox-pecker and the giraffe live in the East African Savanna. How do they coexist together? (The ox-pecker eats the bugs that irritate the giraffe. The giraffe provides food and protection for the ox-pecker.) Are all forests the same or are their different kinds of forests? (Different kinds; We learned about the temperate deciduous forest and the tropical rain forest this week!) Why is it dark on the ground or floor of a tropical rain forest? (The canopy made by the leaves of the tall trees blocks most of the sunlight.)
2nd Grade: Second graders have finished up our study of cycles in our world! Ask your expert: What is a water cycle? (A process of the sun, evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and run-off/collection.) Do we get new water all the time? (No, the water we use today is the same water the dinosaurs drank and bathed in, too!) What is special about any cycle? (They have a starting point, stages, and then back to the starting point again! The cycle starts over!) What is groundwater? (Water found deep in the ground that is pure for drinking, like in a well.) What is the term for the process of an animal that starts out one way, but then changes to something totally different? (Metamorphosis) What animals do this? (Frogs and butterflies.) Are you in a life cycle? (Yes.) Which part? (Growth). What stage do most cycles end with? (Adult).
3rd Grade: Third graders are beginning their exploration with fractions. This unit is intended to expose third graders to the fractions skills they will develop further in fourth grade. Ask your expert: How do you read a fraction like 3/4? (Three-fourths.) What is the bottom number? (It's the amount of pieces the item has been divided into.) What does the top number mean? (It means how many pieces you get.) Let's try an example. Imagine that you have one whole pizza to eat. The pizza is divided into 8 pieces. You eat 5 of those 8 pieces. What is the fraction that you ate? (5/8 or five-eighths.) How much is left? (3/8 or three-eighths.)
4th Grade: It is time for ‘Eureka! Student Inventors!’
Ask your expert how they define ‘Invention’. Then, have them tell you about our Game Show! We have four eccentric Judges: Jacques Cousteau, Hedi Lamar, Thomas Edison, and George Washington Carver! We are learning about Collaboration, Research, Pitching a Product, Knowledge of Simple Machines, Documentation, and Failure. Finally, we will be making our own inventions in our groups!
Ask your expert about their groups’ name and slogan! Also, ask them about our esteemed judges and what each judge was famous for inventing. What is their favorite Simple Machine and why? (Inclined plane, lever, pulley, screw, wedge, or the wheel and axle.)
5th Grade: Fifth graders are wrapping up our CKLA Renaissance Unit! Ask your expert: Who was known as the “Young Bard of Avon”? (William Shakespeare.) What does “Bard” mean? (It is another word for poet!) Fifth grade is also beginning our annual science fair preparations! Students in all three classrooms have been learning about the scientific process through a variety of in class experiments, demonstrations, and videos! Science fair packets will be heading home next week. Our annual science fair will be May 13th! It is certainly an exciting time for fifth graders as they prepare to show off their scientific knowledge!
Art: Third grade artists are learning to see and draw flat shapes as three-dimensional forms. This week we learned that the four "best friends" an artist has when they’re drawing are the circle (sphere), triangle (cone/triangular prism), square (cube), and rectangle (rectangular prism/cylinder). In parenthesis are the 3D forms these flat shapes can become. In art, most everyday objects man made or in nature are derived from these forms, making them essential to learn how to draw. We will use these forms to help us construct and draw more 3D objects in our designs for our space t-shirts.
cdunlap@mssd14.org
Music: Fourth and fifth grade musicians are beginning original composition projects this week. We’re exploring question/answer phrases, how lyrics can help determine a song’s rhythm, and the way scale choices can help create a mood. We’re also looking at African American influences in music, as we explore spirituals, jazz, work songs, blues, and gospel tunes.
elawson@mssd14.org
TEAMS: Second graders are studying “Cycles of our World” in their CKLA domain. In TEAMS, our focus has been on the life cycle of a chicken. We got to see this first hand a few years ago at MSES. The students have been discussing the differences between the natural life cycle of a chicken and the incubation process. After preparing their rough draft on paper, the students are creating their own iBook using an app called Book Creator as they explain the process in their own words.
Reading/Math Intervention: Third grade math is working on multiplication facts and simple multiplication and division. We are starting to work on reading an analog clock too. Fifth grade math is working on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of decimals. In reading, we are all working on reading syllables with ‘r’ controlled vowels as well as reviewing the other types of syllables we have worked on so far. Ask your expert: How many types of syllables can you name? (Open, closed, vce, vowel teams, r-controlled.)
