We wrapped up our skeleton project this week by constructing skeletons with rocks and sticks in collaborative groups.  We also now have a foam skeleton puzzle in our science center.

We finished setting goals in preparation for IQ meetings.  In math we have investigated time and money.  Many of the students have set math goals in relation to time and money.  

Monday we spent most of the day learning outside and many of the students got to go into the creek....in January!  Wednesday we made buckwheat pancakes and strawberry syrup.  We worked with these three fractions, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8.   

We have read four books this week about our small group study project topics.  We learned about germs, red and white blood cells, friction and inertia, how north and south poles of magnets attract, but south and south repel, and how only metal with iron in it will be attracted by a magnet.  We also looked at some equipment we will use to create circuits that will light up bulbs.

Our big word was "very." It was a very good week.  

We have worked the last several weeks on our body outline skeletons.  First we traced our partner, then we cut out our flat self.  Next we drew what we thought the skeleton would look like on one side of the body.  Then next week we studied the bones and drew a more accurate skeleton on the flip side.  Here are some of those...

Our big words have been every, come, first and friend.  We have done a few new activities to practice these, like sailboat writing, tic tac toe, and rainbow writing.  We used the tiny objects to sort for short vowel sounds.  We continue to read in small groups and hopefully your child is regularly bringing home finished stories to read aloud at home for practice.

We have had a transportation theme going which we have integrated into art, writing, reading and math.

One last initiative is our venture into the studies we will undertake for our semester inquiry.  Some of the children will study more about the human body, others will study electricity, magnetism or motion.  We are developing our goals for the semester, which includes considering questions to lead our inquiry and projects to present our learning.

Above are a few pictures from our "Rainbow Center" time.  Our final picture shows raccoon tracks that were found near the creek.