We are Marching into March!

This week "leaped" into March...and we continue to focus on developing ourselves as self-propelled, responsible learners.

We loved sharing our monthly homework accomplishments. March homework is out and ready for agame plan...kudos if you've already gotten started!

Dr. Schneider has been focusing morning assembly's messages on self-awareness skills, most specifically about being aware of our behavior. Impulse control and kindness have been central messages. On Friday, the message was crystal clear: meanness, annoying, and bullying will not be tolerated. The students were all given a warning that if the behavior continues, the kids will be asked to call home and explain what is happening. Every child and adult in the room admitted that this was a Kiker issue -- it's not one classroom, one grade level -- and we need to stop it from happening.

We discuss further in Town Meeting how we specifically in our class can be problem-solvers of this particular issue. Making sure that all of us are watching what we do and say is first. Secondly, when they sense there is a problem, tell the teachers. We are here to scaffold and support, and we will take action immediately. Honesty in telling the whole story is another piece. We adults act, making the best choices possible, using the information we have. If pieces are left out, that makes interventions difficult. In addition, we aren't making "laundry lists" against each other and waiting...if something is happening repeatedly and the issue isn't solved in a timely manner, that's not okay either.

Navigating relationships and learning to work things out is a crucial lifelong skill...not a "let's fix this situation" one time thing. Let's help them learn that skill so that they will be well prepared to use it their entire lives.

In reading, we've been crafting responses to practice our summarization and deeper level analysis and inference. We have been using several different genres to get a flexibility of thinking as we read. We have looked at poetry, nonfiction and fiction this week! In writing, we've developed our narrative and expository writing through descriptive details. We have also focused on maintaining a clear focus in our pieces.

Portfolios for language arts: review the notebooks -- we've got 9 weeks of work (since January!) to look back on. Sign the most current page and return the notebooks. The spelling and writing folder work can stay home with you.

This week in math 4th graders classified quadrilaterals, looked at figures to see how many lines of symmetry it had, and drew pictures of figures that were symmetrical. We ended the week with an assessment over types of angles, line segments, and rays.

Our 3rd graders practiced drawing quadrilaterals, classified 2-D shapes using venn diagrams, and identified congruent figures. Ask your 3rd grader to tell you how they know if two shapes are congruent. We ended the week completing Sunshine math and a portfolio reflection letter.

The week started out with 2nd graders working with shapes. We identified the name of the shape by counting the number of sides and vertices. We also used pattern blocks to compose hexagons, triangles, octagons, and polygons with ten sides and vertices. Have your 2nd grader tell you what a polygon is. We also ended the week completing Sunshine math and a portfolio reflection.

In science, we've started our water cycle unit, identifying the steps in the process and discussing why water study and conservation are important. To view your child's reflection for their recent learning in social studies, please have them log into Google (via the Chrome web browser) with their Chromebook login/password. There, they should be able to access their letter to you in Google docs. They should also be able to show you around Verso, Time for Kids, and HSTRY for some of our other activities (links under Academic Extensions on the right).

Fourth grade ended their week with a visit to the Water Quality Protection Preserve, where they deepened their understanding of water and how it moves across the land.

We started by observing and interacting with a watershed model of our very own community!

At our next station, we learned about important prairie plants like the bluestem pictured below...ask your fourth grader about it's unique qualities (hint: roots!).

We created seedballs with clay, compost, seeds, and water.

Launching them was pretty fun (mayyyyybe it had something to do with the coyote howls)...

We went on a scavenger hunt and found fossils from long ago when Texas was under covered by water.

Finally, we collected and identified invertebrates from Slaughter Creek at our last station (after talking to a Cricket Frog and checking out its many future babies). This allowed us to determine the water quality, which we found to be excellent! Have your biodiversity expert explain how we arrived at that conclusion!