More Air Investigations!

We have been busy in Room 311 continuing to investigate air and learning more about Weather.

First we explored this...

All groups concluded that yes, indeed we could move the air in the balloon if we applied a force to it like squeezing the outside of the balloon or moving the balloon back and forth.

Next up was Balloon Rockets!



First we had to blow up a balloon and secure it with a rubber band.




Then we taped a straw on top of the balloon and put a string through the straw.



We wanted to investigate what would happen when we let the air out of the balloon.

It moved!

Some of our balloon rockets worked better than others, but that gave us a great lesson as scientists. We had to think about changes we would make to our design just like real scientists have to do all the time.

http://tryscience.org/experiments/experiments_probes_athome.html  Here is the link to the experiment if you want to try it at home.

Weather Investigations

We have started our first Research unit on Weather!

To start out our unit we worked in small groups to brainstorm Weather Words. Here are groups working together:

Wow, we already know so many Weather Words!

Our first investigation: BUBBLES! Ms. Lopez made a super batch of bubble mix, the students made their own bubble wand and we headed outside to observe and explore how bubbles are made.

 

 

After some time to explore, we head back inside to write and sketch in Research Notebooks.

 

 

 Look at all the AMAZING observations and learning that happened during our Bubbles investigation!  Smart kiddos!!!

 

 



Our First Weekly News!

We did our first Weekly News together as a class today in writing! Please check it out and read all about our 3rd week of school!

Art Smarts!

Throughout this year our class will have "Art Smarts" lessons that will connect the arts with what we are learning in research, math, writing or literacy. We had our first Art Smarts lesson this week as we learned about Egungun Masquerade Costumes created by the Yoruba people in Nigeria and Benin, Africa.

We learned that these elaborate costumes are created to honor ancestors in a special ceremony. Each picture or pattern on the costume represents important aspects of their family.

You can visit this Egungun Masquerade Costume at the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh! The class hopes to take a field trip there this year to see this piece and explore the other amazing works of art.


We began to work on making our own masquerade costumes. This was a perfect activity for the beginning of the year because it gave us the opportunity to learn more about each other. Each panel of our costume stood for something important to our families.

Here are some pictures of us planning and beginning to create our costumes.

Check back for an update with the completed costumes!

Recess Fun

Check out our class having fun at recess!  We are learning and growing together each day!




Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

What a great first week!

We had a wonderful start to our school year this past week! Check out some pictures from all our fun.

Working on a self-portrait to go with our "Hopes and Dreams" writing:

 Practicing 2 of our math centers: Fact Practice and Math Games:

 

 

 

Working on writing about our summer vacations:

 

 

 

This year is going to be amazing with this great group of kids! 

Summer Fun!

Summer has been tons of fun! I have enjoyed relaxing, spending time with Harrison, family and friends and having time to get projects done too. Now that it is August I am slowly starting to come to terms with the fact that summer will be ending soon! I feel rested, motivated, and ready to start a new school year. I canNOT wait to meet my new students and their families!

Enjoy some pictures from my summer!


Hot and sweaty at Pullen Park




Harrison learning to swim!



Cheesin' for the camera (I know it's dark but I can't resist his smile!)





Playground fun!