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Winter? It's 70 degrees?

We have certainly enjoyed our sunshine this week!


In project, we have been steadily progressing through our keyboarding lessons, and have all made gains in our finger positioning and WPM!

In town meeting, we have been dovetailing morning assemblies' message about kindness, and the differences between someone being "annoying" or "bullying." We've talked extensively about our choices and responsibilities. Our kids know that top priority for the SBLC is everyone's safety, physically and emotionally. Please support us in having the kids come to us immediately when they are having a problem.

Second Graders have completed inference and summary statements about various books about Martin Luther King Jr. and Segregation. We are back on board full force with spelling, word work, and writing centers as well. This week we began brainstorming a sensory descriptive narrative piece about an activity we enjoy.

Third Graders have delved deeply into nonfiction, analyzing and understanding an article on an adventure into a volcano. They are now applying those skills to a new article independently about learning languages. Our writing and spelling centers are keeping us on our toes as well.

Our Fourth Grade writers have been working hard on elaboration in our expository pieces. In fact, we have found that we can really spend A LOT of time planning, expanding, and describing in detail each and every example. We have continued with Joe Rantz and the boys in the U of Washington rowing team...what a fabulous example of a person with GRIT and DETERMINATION! Finally, we have been using writing centers as practice for editing and revision -- as well as getting spelling back underway.

Fourth graders used dot plots and stem and leaf plots to answer questions this week in math. Third graders used bar graphs and dot plots to display and interpret data. Both fourth and third graders ended the week with an assessment over graphs. Second graders made pictographs and bar graphs to show data. We ended the week with Sunshine math.

We wrapped up our Force & Motion unit this week with some team problem-solving, hands-on experiments, and virtual investigations. All three grade levels identified forces in our world (pushes and pulls) and described simple machines that we use to make work easier.

Fourth grade worked together to review some key concepts and prove their answers. They also logged into STEMScopes to conduct some online experiments with friction and force.

Third grade tested out simple machines on the Museum of Science and Industry's site (see the Simple Machines link under Academic Extensions).


Then, they made some simple machines of their own using materials we had right in our classroom!

Second grade added Twirlers and Twirly Birds to their list of things that spin and also explored objects that slide and roll. Each type of motion has unique characteristics!

Enjoy the last January weekend!
The SBLC Team

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