We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Hi everyone! It was a perfectly perfect weather day for going to the zoo to visit our own Humbolt Penguins! They were super cute and performed some nice swimming tricks for us.  Check it out!
Thanks again for all the parents who helped us have a great day!

(yes....I spent much time the penguin exhibit - and you don't really notice the smell after a while)
Here are your favorite penguins...

sorry so blurry

And here are a few pictures of our penguins on parade in the main hall!

Penguin Puppets and Auction Art

HI everyone!
 We had an exciting week with our artist in residence - puppeteer Kelly! She helped us write a play, make puppets and become performers!  We are so supported by the PTA to help bring arts to the classroom - thank you!

Buddies watching the show!

We also were hard at work creating an art auction project - thanks again for all of the parent help - looks fantastic! Look forward to raising money for the Foundation!

Penguin Science

Hi everyone! When we came back from our winter break, we "dove" right into penguin studies.  This is a "all inclusive" study as we are using penguins to learn more about reading, writing, researching,  mathematical concepts  (such as measurement, data collection, temperature, addition, subtraction) geography and weather.  Being able to learn about one topic from many disciplines adds depth of knowledge and helps the brain turn neural circuits (concepts) into into neural networks ( language).  The more neural networks we gain as learners, the easier it is to learn new concepts in the future.

Here are some pictures of our shared research.  We are also viewing many ideas about penguins - many scientists have recorded penguin antics.  We have also kept a science notebook with our written learnings about penguins.  Much opportunity for reading, writing, and calculating everyday! Soon will be puppet making and sculpting!

December 2019

Hi everyone!
This post is woefully overdue, but I did not want to neglect December!
We spent this month learning more about Fairy Tales together.  We read, listened, viewed, spoke, drew, wrote and created ideas about these fairy tales:
Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood , Jack and the Beanstalk, The Frog Prince, and The Gingerbread Man.  We compared the Fairy Tales to determine what they had in common to decide if there were some things the same about all fairy tales. 
Your children had a great time learning about some new and familiar stories.  I hope they were able to show you all the great projects they made!

In these pictures we were creating pop-up scenes from Jack in the Beanstalk!

In math, we learned more about fact families - which help us understand how addition and subtraction relate to each other. As we move forward into adding and subtracting larger numbers, this becomes and important concept to understand.

The week before break was pretty high energy and exciting - we heard many versions of the Gingerbread Man - then we were able to decorate our own gingerbread man!  YUM YUM!  A huge thanks to all of the parents who donated supplies and helped out with the decorating!

Here's hoping you had a lovely, restful break - Happy New Year!

Wonderful Insect Learning

We have come to the end of our "at school" insect learning, but of course learning never stops and you and your young scientist will continue to explore insects in your own ways!  Take a look at some of the great learning we have been engaged in over the past few weeks...

We researched to find out why we should even care about insects?  What would the world be like without them?


We created posters for the hall so we could teach others about why they should care about insects.

Finally, we complied all of our good learning into our own science book about insects.  Then we invited our parents to be part of our learning. We taught our parents what we had learned.









This week we also had some good working time with third grade buddies as we created a project about what we are thankful for.






Finally, ask your child about playing "Gobble, BUMP!"  This is a great game to help students add three numbers together.