Week 19 - Planning for our Class Play

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This week was a little out of the ordinary because Ms. Susan was gone for a few days and several of our classmates had to be absent, but these students showed how responsible and flexible they can be in all the different circumstances. The Sea Lions joined the Otters for most of the day on Monday. They got to be helper buddies for some of the Otters and enjoyed supporting them with their writing and math work.

We continued writing, editing, and illustrating our own folktale stories, and some students started working on a second story. Henry finished writing the script for our class folktale play, and the Sea Lions were excited to begin choosing roles and planning what we’ll need for the play. We brainstormed lists of props, costumes, and scenery we want to include, and we also began painting a background scene of the forest.

In Math, we began a study of fractions this week. We started with a basic review of fractions, practiced naming fraction relationships between different shape blocks (ex. the triangle block is ⅙ of a hexagon block), and discussed what the numerator and denominator are referencing in a fraction. We also have been learning about equivalent fractions, practicing using multiplication and division to create equivalent fractions, and learning which ones are written in simplest form. Next week, I hope to do some activities with recipes as a way to connect fractions to the real world, and we’ll also move into comparing fractions with different denominators.

The Sea Lions finished reading our book club novel this week. We held a final group discussion about From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and we enjoyed sharing our favorite parts and laughing about the humorous moments from the whole story. For our next round of book club reading, we’ll have students break into a couple of separate book clubs where they can choose a novel to read and discuss together in a smaller group.

Week 18 - Graphing Data and Food Webs

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Creating and presenting graphs with the students’ data about bones found during our owl pellet dissections.

Making a giant food web to explore how all the animals are connected within an ecosystem. We also learned about how all energy being transferred in a food web can be traced back to the sun (through plants using photosynthesis).

Week 17 - Owl Pellet Dissection

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This week we moved into a writing unit on folktales. We have been reading samples of folktales, fairy tales, and fables, and we made a list of the common features that are used in these types of stories. We began writing our own folktales, and Henry began writing the script for our class play (which will be based on a folktale story). In math, we have been practicing dividing 3- and 4-digit numbers, and we’ve been learning a few different strategies to create easier numbers for mental division.

We finished our research of native Oregon animals and each student presented the information they had learned. Some students gave oral reports to summarize their notes, while others created slideshow presentations or a visual poster with facts they learned.

We learned about what owl pellets are and how they can be used to determine what types of animals are included in an owl’s diet. We made predictions of what types of animal bones we would find and then we each got to dissect an owl pellet. We cleaned off all the bones and identified which type of bone each one was and to what animal we think it belonged. We will be combining each student’s data and creating a class graph of which bones were most common. The Sea Lions enjoyed the owl pellet exploration so much that we might get to dissect a few more pellets this next week. We will also be learning about food webs and how each animal in an ecosystem is interconnected with the others.

Outside choice time included digging holes, engineering ways to capture rainfall, climbing the cedar tree, playing a “zombie” tag game, imaginative “Harry Potter” creative play, and more!

Week 16 - Local Habitats and Native Animals

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This past week was focused on learning about the animals that are native to Oregon. We reviewed the types of habitats, vegetation, and climate that we have in the Willamette Valley Region where we live. Then Sea Lions worked with partners to read about the habitats that certain animals prefer to live in, and sorted them into groups based on whether those animals live in the Willamette Valley Region or only in other parts of Oregon. Each Sea Lion selected an animal they were interested in learning more about, and we went to work researching our animals and taking notes as we read information. Each student gets to decide on their own project or method of sharing what they learned with the rest of the class.

In Writer’s Workshop, the Sea Lions worked hard to finish writing and editing their fiction stories. Two authors were ready to share their completed stories at the end of the week. We also spent some time becoming more familiar with folktales and fairytales, as well as brainstorming ideas for the class play we will be starting soon. We began a new read-aloud chapter book called Ellie’s Log which follows a young student keeping a nature journal as she explores outside her home in the Cascade Mountains. The Sea Lions continued reading in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and they led themselves in a book club discussion.

We finished up our chapter on multiplication, and the students showed that they can successfully multiply 3- or 4-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers. Next week we will move on to expand our skills in division.

Throughout the week, we enjoyed reconnecting with each other as a class community. We shared highlights from our winter break, shared events we were looking forward to, had dance parties, created conga lines, played games together, built structures together, created art, and laughed lots.

Week 15 - Art Creations, Gift-Making, and Pajama Day

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The past week was full of excitement and joy in the Sea Lions classroom! It was such a privilege for me to experience that fun with the students. We worked together to brainstorm lists of positive words and character traits that we see in each other. Then I created word clouds out of the lists and designed them as special gifts for each Sea Lion. The students have one word cloud to take home and keep, as well as another copy that will hang in our classroom.

The Sea Lions created special presents to give to family members, wrote cards to go with the gifts, and took time wrapping them up. We also made some gifts for our local animal wildlife to enjoy. We spread peanut butter on pine cones, coated them with birdseed, and hung them outside in our Cedar classroom. The students were excited to check their birdseed feeders the next day, and we were surprised to see that several of them had already been carried away by the animals, leaving nothing but crumbs behind.

We finished our Oregon geography unit by designing artwork to show the “Colors of Oregon.” Each student chose colors that match with the landscape and vegetation that is found in the geographic region they previously researched. Our first art attempt was to use tissue paper and water to make the colors stain onto the paper, but it didn’t go as planned because there was very little color bleeding. The Sea Lions were good sports about the failed art, and they were happy to re-make their “Colors of Oregon” art using watercolor paints instead. The finished collage of colors is beautiful!

The Sea Lions baked cranberry orange scones to give to the other ELC classes as part of our Bread Celebration. We were excited to attend a play called “The Gingerbread Cowboy” put on by the Whales class. We also took a trip to visit the library and stock up on new books to enjoy over winter break.

Friday was our “Read In Day” which was full of fun and memory-making times. Students wore pajamas to school, built cozy blanket and pillow forts, read books, played games, and spent time together. For our Bread Celebration, we got to share our scones with the rest of the ELC and we enjoyed eating gingerbread, cornbread, and pumpkin muffins made by the other classes.

I hope you all have a restful and happy winter break!