Here comes the spring...

Friday was the Spring Festival.  It was so much fun!  We finally got to play our recorder piece.  We played a song called Blueberry Waltz.  We also weren’t the only ones playing recorder.  Fifth graders played from their recorders also.  They also sang a bunch of songs.  Pre-K sang a song in Japanese about bees and it was cool.  First and Second Grades made up their own songs.  One of the songs was about mustaches.  Fourth grade baked bread.  We hope everyone had fun!  We can’t wait until next year’s Spring Festival!

Have a great week!
Pablo and Sawyer

Crazy Chaos from Colin and Henry

Crazy Chaos from Colin and Henry

This week we are learning a Lummi Stick song for when our parents come during our 3rd grade picnic. There aren’t any words in the song but there are vocables. We are using the Lummi sticks we made in wood shop to make rhythm patterns.

In art we are making animal scenes for collages. The animals in our scenes are the same mammals that we are studying. Colin and Henry are both studying the mountain lion.

On our iPads we are researching mammal videos for information for a book that we will write about our mammals. We are using books to find facts too.

In math we are currently studying geometry and angles. We are also studying dimensions and how squares and rectangles are alike. Here are some of the reasons: they are both polygons, both of them have opposite sides that are parallel and they both have four right angles. Also, on a square all four sides are congruent but on a rectangle only two sides are congruent.

In Language, we started reading pourquoi tales. We have been making story maps about the setting, characters, lesson or moral, problem and solution. We also talk about what the story is about.  Pourquoi means why in French.  These stories answer a question, like how something came to be.

In Science we have been trying to figure out what the three mystery liquids are with only using our sight. To find out the mystery liquid we are putting coffee stirrers in and observing. We are also pouring and mixing two liquids together to see what happens. FYI: no explosions!

Have a great weekend!

Last Week's Update by Spencer and James

We love the weather!  It is now spring!  It’s FINALLY not winter!!  We like spring because…

1. We get to go outside without coats! (no more snow gear!)
2. We can finally go on the field!
3. Finally we get to go outside for PE!  #morelaps
4. It means Spring Festival is coming up!

All three math groups are studying geometry.  We looked at different angles like obtuse angles and right angles.  To learn about angles we used an App called Sketchpad Explorer.  On the App, it shows all kinds of different shapes and also measures the degree of the angle.

This week, we started our mammal study and we know which mammal we are going to study.  Spencer is studying the bobcat and James is studying the coyote.  We watched videos and read books about our mammals.  We came up with questions that we have about our mammals.  Today we made categories for the questions.  Here are the categories: food, shelter/habitat, body/appearance, behavior, and life cycle/babies.  We will be researching these categories to learn about our mammals.

Goodbye!

#WEAREAWESOME

This Week's News from Joss and Taji

Joss got a cast this week! We hope she feels better soon. In music this week, Blake found a song for the third grade recorders. We are going to perform the song at the Spring Festival. We’re practicing the song Blueberry Waltz.

On Thursday we shared our historical fiction stories and books. The stories we have written have characters that we created and they are about the lives of Native Americans. For example, a story can include how the Native Americans hunted and about the Medicine Man and how long they lived. The story does not have to be true and that’s what makes it historical fiction.

Our social studies workshop projects are going well. Everyone finished their tunics and most people are done with their babies. In shop we are making our cradle boards. To make the cradle boards you have to make a huge board and you have to make a foot rest. We also finished our lummi sticks with the burning tools.

Joss is excited about starting her mammal studies. She’s wondering what mammal she’ll write about since platypuses did not live in this area. Taji is looking forward to finishing his baby in social studies workshop.

Welcome Back by Zachary and Keira

Welcome back 3S!  How were your two weeks off from school?

We wrote a lot of poems during language.  This week we picked one poem that we liked the most to share with the class.  We copied the words from our poem onto a blank piece of paper or right onto a poster.  Then we decorated our poster with colored pencils, watercolors, or markers.  After that we were able to decide if we wanted to add music to our poem while we read it out loud to the class.  This afternoon is our Poetry Slam!  We are really excited for it!

While we were doing poetry we learned about onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is when you write sounds as words.  Click here to see a word search using onomatopoeia.

Here is a video to watch about it:

Maya and Andrew's Update

Five days until spring break!!

A few weeks ago we tapped the Norway Maple tree.  Harry’s class has already collected some sap.  We collected some today.  We went outside and at first, we thought it was just ice and snow, but we realized that it was actually sap.  Someone tasted it and we found out it was sap!  We measured it and it turns out that we collected almost 3 liters of sap!  We are going to boil it and turn it into maple syrup.  Alexa and Jessica decided that we are all going to taste a little.

In math and science many of us just finished our design project and now we are sharing them.  Andrew and Zachary made a car and Maya, Brie, and Natalie made a sound-sensored fan.  It’s been fun seeing classmates working together and supporting each other.  People have great ideas and their ideas inspire others.  They also inspired the projects that were created.

Today is the 5th grade ballroom dancing presentation.  We are all so excited to watch it, but not so excited to participate in only 2 years from now!  

Stay strong...spring break is coming!

Andrew and Maya

Weekly Update by Natalie and Annika

We have been working on our design project.  Once we had our plan, we started making our idea come to life.  We got materials and started building.  

These are some materials we’ve been using:

littleBits

pipe cleaners

cardboard

duct tape

felt

netting

wire

paper plates and cups

recycled materials

foam

...and more!

We got a new app to explain our steps of building and making our idea come to life.  It’s called, “Explain Everything”.  To use it, we have been taking pictures of what we have been working on and then record our voices and answer questions the teachers asked.

In SSW, we’ve been working on our babies and some people have been finishing our tunics.  We are excited for finishing our babies.  We’re also making cradleboards for our babies in Woodshop.  To make the cradleboards, we have to drill holes for the straps that will hold our babies.  We also have to cut a footrest.  Once they are all done, we will try to experience the life of a Native American mother.

From, Annika and Natalie