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Busy Before the Break!

Change...is what makes us flexible!

We have adopted a new schedule that we are trying until the end of the year. Our project time has shifted to the afternoon to provide a larger chunk of time. Our focus in project until April 1st will be grade level based. We are honing some specific grade level skills, and providing teachers with some time to get deep with topics pertinent to that grade level.

In reading, Second Grade began a Bluebonnet Nominee, The Chicken Squad. In Third, we began a book called Pax. Both grade levels are spending a lot of time analyzing the characters, setting, and what the author has purposely placed in our first Chapters. Knowing this information and beginning to ask the questions, "Why has he/she placed this here? What do they want me to know right away?" sets us up for the rest of the book. Third and Fourth Grade have also been analyzing a variety of short text, and learning test taking strategies. Fourth Grade continues their journey with Boys on the Boat.

We are talking a ton about grammar, and NOT just memorizing rules. We are spending time talking, practicing, and looking at mentor text for examples of comma usage, plurals, possessives, contractions, verb agreements, and pronouns. Ask your kids what "it's" means (and why there isn't an apostrophe in the possessive its). Knowing WHY our words work that way means they will start using it in their writing correctly, not just getting it right on a test. All three grade levels have been writing a variety of descriptive, narrative, and expository pieces this week as well.

In math 4th graders started measuring angles with protractors this week. We learned how to place the protractor on the angle then read the degrees. There is  an outer scale and and inner scale so it's important to know which scale to use.
Third graders continued learning about 3-D solids and had an assessment over the unit.
Second graders practiced drawing quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons with dot paper. We also took a shape and drew lines on it to make different shapes.
The week ended with Sunshine math and adding up our credits just in time for the SBLC store.

Fourth grade was ready for some high-flying fun Monday morning.

We conducted a parachute investigation. Each team had a different variable that affected their parachute.

Then after a brief flying lesson, we were ready to hit the wind tunnel!

You've probably heard a bit about the trip already...it was definitely a memorable experience!

Second grade attended the Bob Bullock history museum. In addition to the wealth of social studies knowledge at the Bullock, we also happened upon Science Thursdays! Students were able to visit stations throughout the museum to learn about electricity, density, and surface area.   

Here are some future astronauts at Mission Control...

...and here they are ready for their visit to the National Parks!


Truth be told, it's hard to beat the excitement of a good old-fashioned elevator ride.

Third grade, don't worry--we're heading to the capitol on March 28! Your field trip fun is in the near future.

Back at school, we all continued our study of the water cycle. We demonstrated the process of condensation and completed a Websurf to model each stage.

The SBLC Store was a great way to wrap up before Spring Break. Thank you to all of the volunteers who shared their time, talents, or treasures with us! We appreciate you!!!


Have a r-e-l-a-x-i-n-g break!
SBLC x 3

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