Happy Mother's Day!!!!

When I left school one day this week, I noticed these words hanging in the hallway. 

So in honor of Mother's Day...

I love My Students because:

1.  They challenge me to be the best teacher I can be.

2. They love me unconditionally.

3.  They make me laugh even on the roughest of days.

4.  They are always willing to lend a hand.

5.  They are so eager to learn.

6. I can still be a kid!

7.  Every day is a new day and a new opportunity to make a difference in their lives.

8.  I can!

9. Their excitement for learning encourages me to learn something new every day.

10.  They leave me notes like this, after a really rough day..

Students, thank you for allowing me to be your "mom" while you are at school!  Each and everyone of you will hold a special place in my heart today and always.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for you!

Weekly Recap

It's time for our weekly recap!  So what happened this week in our classroom?  On Monday we learned Mrs. Piccone would be out all week serving on jury duty.  We learned about the court system during our How we organize ourselves IB unit.  How cool that Mrs. Piccone was able to experience the workings of the court system first hand.

On Tuesday we visited the Book Fair and went to the YMCA for our weekly swimming lessons.  The girls beat the boys getting ready again this week.  Way to go girls!  

On Wednesday we started our super secret Mother's Day gift!!!  Our class is so excited to share them with their special grownups! 

And how about Thursday when we had special visitors in our classroom.  We were so lucky to have about 13 special Grandpals visit our room.  We taught our Grandpals the Water Cycle Song and made special water cycle bracelets.

 

Water Travels in a Cycle

(Tune: She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain)

Water travels in a cycle. Yes, it does!

Water travels in a cycle. Yes, it does!

It goes up as evaporation,

Forms clouds as condensation,

And comes down as precipitation. Yes, it does!

Source: The Mailbox 1999-2000 Yearbook

 

And finally on Friday we took a field trip to the York Water Company!  We learned how important it is to conserve the water we have and how lucky we are to have fresh clean water at our disposal.  Did you know the water we drink is pumped up hill?  It also comes from the lakes and nearby streams.  The water passes through reservoirs that allows the dirt and sediment to settle to the bottom.  The dirt is then pumped to another building and squeezed to get rid of any extra water.  The "dry" dirt is then mixed with other organic material and then used for gardens.  How cool is that...even the water company Reduces, Reuses and Recycles!!!

 

 

When we returned from our field trip we celebrated two special birthdays!  

Happy Birthday John and Mrs. Sharpe (me!) 

Have a great week!

 

It's time to Scribble My Story

 

      

 As part of our Life Cycles unit, students were asked to pick an animal and research its life cycle.  After gathering their information, students used the popular iPad app, Scribble My Story, to present their research to the class.

Scribble My Story, allows students to write and illustrate their stories.  As an added bonus, students are able to read and record their story. 

Do you want to Scribble Your Story?  Here's a quick tutorial!

https://youtu.be/g0fcVn_44d0

I'm off to Scribble My Story...

Here a chick...there a chick...

Over the last 21 days we have been diligently watching and waiting to experience the miracle of life.  We have learned many things as we waited patiently...for the eggs to hatch.  

We have learned...

1.  Waiting is very hard.

2.  Life cycles are never ending.

3. The eggs must be turned an odd number of times a day.

4.  The optimal temperature of the incubator is 99.5 degrees.

5.  Did I mention waiting is very hard?

But wait we did and on the 20th day we were pleasantly surprised when Uno made his or her arrival.  (It's still way too early to determine if the chick is a rooster or hen.)

But wait, didn't we learn that the eggs take 21 days to hatch?  I guess Uno forgot to read the "chick hatching" manual!  Surely the other eggs will wait until the kids come to school on Monday, right?

Guess I was wrong!  Meet Flick!  The little chicks continued to hatch overnight and into Monday morning.  Luckily a few waited for the students!  

We continued to learn after the 21 days:

1.  Not all of our 48 eggs will hatch. (15 hatched)

2.  Not all of the hatched chicks will live. 

3.  Different eggs will contain different chicks.

4.  The miracle of life is amazing.

5.  The wait IS worth it!!!