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Projects in the Works

We've got some new authors on our Perspectives page...enjoy!

We've also begun a project that will benefit all of Kiker -- our playground space! We've been writing expository essays describing the problems we have with a growing community and shrinking play area. We have also been brainstorming some possible solutions that will be proposed to Mr. Crissey, the PTA, and Kiker's Beautification Committee. It's empowering to see our problem solving abilities come together to make something better. Be on the lookout for ways to contribute to this plan!

This week we've focused on interpreting poetry. It's been exciting to learn not only how to find deeper meaning when we read figurative language, but to also have the ability to incorporate it into our own work! We saw a jump in our readers' interest as they read our newly revised details in our most recent expository outlines.

We've wrapped up our Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Movement study with our own representation (a la Matisse) artistically. It was neat to see how our learning translated into some powerful images.

We've also wrapped up our work with area and perimeter and enjoyed our second Fraction Friday with a new tile math puzzle opportunity for next week's centers. All mathematicians considered the importance of annotations to help us notice and note key words, meaningful connections to math language, and noticing details in visual representations. With any story problem, we know how to show our pathway with numbers and often with pictures, too.

In science, we learned more about the natural resources around us and how they are manufactured into goods that we use every day. We played a collaborative bingo game that energized our conversations and realized that we had some questions about fossil fuels. Our Friday lab helped us construct an understanding about how fossil fuels like coal and oil can be difficult to excavate and that the excavation process changes the ecosystem in big ways.  We used chocolate chip cookies to model the earth's surface and discovered how difficult it is to extract the chocolate chip "coal" from the rest of the cookie. We talked briefly about renewable resources and will revisit this important topic later in the year.

Have a fantastic weekend!
Jen and Jewellyn


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