The Sharks have had a lot of opportunities to construct their learning through manipulatives and other tools. In math, we have talked about 2-d and 3-d, as they occur naturally or are manmade. We have a great time at the Tacoma Art Museum finding shapes within photographs taken right here in Tacoma. We observed that shapes in nature do not have nor need to have perfect sides and corners to be considered shapes. We even saw many organic shapes! In the classroom, the Sharks used toothpicks (edges) and marshmallows (vertices) to create their own figures. In science, I pulled out our BRAND NEW (Thanks fund-an-item 2010 donors!!) microscopes, as the Sharks observed various seeds and recorded their observations in their journals. One student commented on how he noticed that the same type of seed can come in different shapes and sizes. Several noticed parallel line patterns on the seeds. They really enjoyed using the scientific equipment!
This Thursday is the Science Fair from 6-7:30. A bake sale will be from 7-7:30 to collect donations for Japan Tsunami/Earthquake relief. One student's family in our class has family members in Toyko! I am happy to report they are all okay. We are also doing a coin drive and all donations will be given to Red Cross. If you would like to donate a baked good, please bring individually wrapped goodies with your child on Thursday and I will pass them along. The middle school is hosting the event.
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| CS, MP, LW and NB constructing 3-d figures |
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| AD, GH, and JE busy finding hidden figures in their shapes |
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| GH, AD, and LW using the microscopes to observe seeds |
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| EJ and DS looking closly at an acorn seed |
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| CH studying her observations |
