Lots Packed into a Short Week!

In science, we've taken on the role of hydrologists, studying the different components of the water cycle, how they're connected, and why they matter. We created a list of "Water Wonderings" and have conducted some investigations and demonstrations to better understand this amazing process. Fourth graders continued our water theme with a field trip to Slaughter Creek. It was an incredibly informative day with fantastic weather--your fourth grade hydrologists will have lots to share! Here we are searching for macroinvertebrates to help us determine the water quality.  

We discovered the important role native plants play in our watershed and completed a mini-service project by making and distributing native seed balls.  

We learned about our own watershed with an interactive model. Ask your scientists for some ways to keep our watershed (and drinking water) clean!  

Happy Weekend!
Team SBLC

Our focus this week has been awareness of opportunities to make positive choices in our words, actions, and self-talk. We've had lots of great sharing, and have discovered many ways to make this focus applicable both at school and home.

In ELA, we are all becoming EXPERTS on sentence structure. We are identifying aspects of grammar, explaining why they are there, and creating revisions that intentionally have us crafting a variety of sentences accurately. We have also all been working on expository and narrative pieces.
Second has been reading biographies, and enjoyed learning about Lucille Ball. Third is finishing Words with Wings, and have really honed their skills with interpreting narrative poetry. Fourth is moving forward with Ugly, and have considered some tough themes -- What do we value? How does appearance play a role? Third and Fourth Graders who read 8 or more Bluebonnet books enjoyed a celebration with Mrs. Smith this week. We knew those books well! They answered some pretty tough questions with their teams!

In math, fourth graders discovered that interior angles on any triangle actually do add up to 180 degrees and solved some puzzles using angles and logical reasoning.  We continue to build our geometry vocabulary and are finding examples of interesting lines and shapes in the world around us. Third graders reviewed elapsed time and worked with second grade mathematicians to create a timeline of a fun dream day.  Second grade is off to a fantastic start with centers that build numerical fluency, perseverance, and flexible thinking about numbers.  They're also learning to use the analog clock by noticing first the "power hour" hand and then the "mighty minute" hand to tell time.