The countdown is even more apparent this week – just 8 more days of school.  The end is so near and we still have so much to complete. We’re discovering more about how plastic is effecting our environment and us.  We’re continuing to develop our persuasive writing skills and wrapping up mystery book clubs.  We’re completing a whole host of school-wide assessments and learning more about the steps of the scientific process.

It was exciting to have Mr. Gustafson, from the S.E.E. Science Center. help us think more like a scientist or engineer.  It is fun to solve problems in new ways.  Ask your child how many different solutions the group came up with for helping one sheet of paper drop to the ground faster than another equal sheet.   He also showed us some exciting chemical reactions. We learned about combustion with a turkey baster cannon and we learned the word catalyst – something the causes the reaction to begin.  We were excited to see the immediate reaction with Elephant’s Toothpaste.  It was amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Persuasive Writing

Last week we each selected a favorite season.  We collected our pros and cons.  Using that list, we planned to write our persuasive essay.  We experimented with different types of leads and conclusions and finally put all of the pieces together with a full color illustration. Persuasion and establishing a firm opinion is tricky, but your children have done a great job sharing their ideas and supporting them with details they’re sure you’ll agree with.

Plastic Pros and Cons

We’re also learning how posters and short messages persuade as well.  We’ve watched a variety of videos to learn how plastic is impacting our planet.  We talked about a bit about bias.  Videos created by the plastic industry have a totally different message from those created by environmental agencies.  We’ve had to look closely at each source to understand which part of the story we are learning.

We watched Plastic 101and Kids Take Action Against Ocean Plasticfrom National Geographic, and The Plastic in Our Oceanfrom PBS.  We learned some astonishing facts.  You may want to watch them with your children and talk about what you see and hear.  I am learning so much.  I hadn’t stopped to think about my family’s plastic consumption, but I am now.  The amount of plastic humans consume is staggering. The fact that almost half of the plastic we use is designed for a single-use is mind-blowing. For example, the US consumes 5 million plastic drinking straws each day!   No wonder there are seven giant plastic patches in the world’s oceans.  By 2050, if we continue on as we are currently there will be more plastic in the ocean than marine animals.

We hope the posters we’re creating will teach others about what we are learning.  We hope we can reduce the amount of plastic waste we generate. If everybody consumes just a little bit less, we’ll have begun to address our plastic problem.

Bits and Pieces –

• Leo Lionni created beautiful picture books.  Each one helps us consider how we’d like to be in the world – caring, confident, content, collaborative, and kind.  Each day, for the last two weeks, we’ve read and discussed a different book.  See if your child has a favorite.  You may want to ask him or her what the theme of the book was and how we could learn from it.
• We’ve learned a little over a third of the upper-case cursive letters.  It’s been fun to learn and to try to read and write more in cursive.
• We almost finished with Zorgamazoo.  Our heroes are still trying to escape their prison on the moon.  It a lot more complicated and dangerous than it seemed at first.  The Octamobots are pretty powerful and persistent.
• Also this week, we’ve taken a look back at many of our learning accomplishments.  We’ve reflected on what we’ve done and how we’ve grown and changed as scientists, “social studiers”, mathematician, writers and readers.  It seems as though the children feel most changed as mathematicians and scientists. Those are the two areas where they can see their new learning most clearly.  They have accomplished a great deal this year and can be proud of all they’ve accomplished.