Last month we were fortunate enough to receive a generous donation of 30 pizza boxes from Rockland's Themis Pizza. These boxes were integral to our pizza box fraction project. Students "cooked up" unique pizzas and determined the fractions that could be attributed to the toppings they chose.
Students and teachers also had the chance to visit the Arts Festival at the high school last month. Rockland sure has talent!
Cinderella and Pilgrims--what a combination!
Our most recent literacy units have explored comparing and contrasting as well as synthesizing new information.
Our mentor texts for comparing and contrasting have been numerous versions of the traditional fairy tale of Cinderella. These read alouds have even inspired some writers to create their own unique versions--Sophia and the Rich Boy and The Beautiful Girl are merely a few examples.
Next we will compare and contrast the Pilgrims with the Puritans.
May has been jam packed with oodles of math as we counted down the days to the math MCAS test. The balloon countdown brought us many exciting activities that included lunch in the outdoor classroom, extra recess, and mouthwatering math activities like the pizza box project mentioned above.
Kids loved arriving to school on testing day to love notes from parents and relatives.
We've eagerly graphed guesses for our Throwback Thursday and Flashback Friday baby pictures. This math activity has garnered rich math discussion from appropriate titles, labels, scales, and observations.
Students have also continued their work on their poetry anthologies. Writers tried matzah during the Jewish holiday of Passover and composed cinquain poems describing this festive treat.
After reading excerpts from Vulture Poems and Animals Nobody Loves, poets drafted love poems to animals perceived as pests to many.
We're looking forward to sharing our published pieces with parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings at this Friday's Poetry Picnic and Color Party.
Students were recently introduced to their Google Docs accounts, and they are HOOKED! Our digital natives have typed published poems, creative writing stories, friendly letters, and even used the program to type spelling assignments such as Type It! and friendly letters. Log in information has been sent home on the back side of the last two issues of Mack's Marinade.
Just this week we were introduced to Maximo from GoNoodle. The kids have been enjoying body breaks periodically throughout the day. It's calming and helps us refocus in between activities.
