Weeks 37 and 38 - End of the School Year
/Over last week and this week we squeezed in a little more learning and a lot more fun activities!
Our wagon train finished traveling along the Oregon Trail and arrived at our final destination in Oregon City. Along the way we had several more deaths in some of the families, a few rafts that tipped in the Columbia River so the wagons lost a few supplies, as well as some good weather for faster traveling. The Sea Lions wrote final journal entries as their pioneer characters to create a story of what their family did once they arrived in Oregon and settled on some land, and then students read their favorite entries to the rest of the class. We gave out imaginary awards for the wagon families that arrived fastest, had the most survivors, had the most money/food/supplies remaining, or were the most generous/creative/brave emigrants. We enjoyed some cornbread and apple cider on the last day of school to celebrate our successful journey along the Oregon Trail this year.
In math, we finished up our geometry lessons. Students made math posters using the photos they took of different lines and angles. We also learned about symmetrical shapes and lines of symmetry in different shapes. We used the pattern blocks and geoboards to practice by creating our own symmetrical shapes or by filling the second half of a shape to make it symmetrical. The Sea Lions used the iPads to create digital collages/presentations with the beautiful nature photos they took on our wetlands field trip. Then we enjoyed showing each other our photos on the projector. We also took time on the last few days of school to update our memory books and add in a few finishing touches. Ms. Megha led the class in some team-building movement games outside, which the Sea Lions all loved. We celebrated all of the summer birthdays in our class, and gave each person a separate day to make it even more special.
On Friday, we had the performances of the student-led Wizard of Oz play that many of the Sea Lions and Otters had worked hard to create and practice. Those who weren’t in the play got to come watch one of the performances, and they joined Ms. Aja and the other Otters for the rest of the time. We all had picnic lunch outside and released all our amazing praying mantises into the gardens in our Cedar Classroom. We spent most of the afternoon outside, and students enjoyed playing dodgeball, running through the sprinkler, blowing big bubbles, and drawing with sidewalk chalk.
For our last day of school, we played board games and iPad math games, signed each other’s autograph pages in our memory books, and watched a slideshow of photos from our year together as a class. We had so much fun reminiscing and laughing together! We spent outside time with the Otters playing on the sand volleyball court and running through the grass around campus. We ended our day together by taking a walk around campus and playing a game on the giant chess board. A few Sea Lions wanted to play the roles of various chess pieces! It was such a joyful time together and a great way to say goodbye to each other (especially to the 4th graders who are leaving us)!
I hope you all have a fantastic summer!
