Environmental Engineers At Work

I apologize for my tardy blog post this week. I have been without the comforts of electricity and internet since the storm last week. Christmas lights have never looked so lovely since yesterday when it was all restored!

We had a busy week as our engineers were busy with their water filtration task. First they asked questions about the criteria that we would use to determine if our water filters were successful. We decided as a team that we would be testing to see how well the filter was able to remove color and particles all while working in a short amount of time. We tested three different materials (paper filters, sand/gravel, and screens) and then the engineers worked to imagine different design possibilities for their filters. They met with their team to plan and design a final design to test. After "buying" their materials and giving themselves a score for their budget, they created their filter and put it to the test. We kept our water a constant and all of the groups had the same "mystery water" that had the same level of contamination. The results that we got were quite varied and students took the opportunity to get back together and learn from their mistakes and from each other designs as they worked to improve and test again. Take a look at their hard work in this slide show.

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This week is quite busy with events leading up to the holiday break. Wednesday we will head to the 7th and 8th grade concert which is always a crowd pleasing event, especially for the third graders who are new to the amazing arts program at WCS.

Thursday we will have our RAD Day. The students are encouraged to bring in books that they would be willing to exchange during our annual book swap. So far we've only had a few come in, so if you could help your kiddos to remember that would be great. The more books we have the more books students get to take home with them at the end of the day. We will also have opportunities for independent reading, buddy reading, mystery readers, teacher read alouds, and online reading. All while being cozied up in our jammies with stuffed animals! Sounds great, right?!

 Friday will start off with our Craft Morning from 10:20-11:20 in the morning. Thanks to all of the parents who have volunteered to come and help and to those that will be providing us with healthy snacks to enjoy as we create and socialize as a team of Marvelous Mosaics.

At the end of the day we will have an awesome Cell-a-bration that we have earned by filling up our brain with SMART cells. We will turn WCS into a movie theater for Cinema Day. Each student will get a ticket to a different movie in a "theater" around the school (Swift Kiva, gym, auditorium, etc.)They will get to enjoy a film of their choosing. We have a room set up with arts and crafts here in Mosaic for any student who chooses not to watch films.

We hope that you enjoy a peaceful holiday season and wish you and your children a New Year in 2015!

 Jess and Liz

Wonderful Writers

This week we took all of the inspiring words from our amazing visit with Jeff Kinney and used them to launch our own true stories. The students learned about how to start a story with a strong lead and tried out several of the strategies that we introduced until they found the one that fit their narrative best. Then we moved on to working with a partner to locate the heart of our stories. This is the part that makes a reader sit up and read closer to find out the big idea or problem. Then we used our storyteller's voices to make that part even stronger using dialogue, sensory details, and action. To end the week we practiced closing our stories with a strong ending. Now we are working on editing, especially using what we have learned about punctuating dialogue. We will finish publishing our stories using Google Docs next week. Then we will share our stories with you. This is the first time this year that the students have gone through the whole publication process, so keep in mind that this is a true reflection of what they can do independently. It is perfectly acceptable for there to be some mistakes. Their goal is to use a storyteller's voice to organize and structure a story with a clear structure and elaboration.

We finished up our introductory unit on Multiplication last week. Next week we will be starting a new unit in Math. During Unit 3 the mathematicians will use estimation and rounding strategies to solve two  and three digit addition and subtraction problems. They will revisit some old strategies and practice the standard algorithm for addition and subtraction. (This is the way that we learned way back when!). Some students are hungry to get to this spot and others will be challenged with the abstract nature of the procedure. Third graders are not expected to master this concept, but they will be introduced in a hands-on way that supports them conceptually wherever they are developmentally. Please see the links below for more information on this unit and on the support materials that align with the concepts that we will be teaching. These are great things for students to practice with at home on nights when  they do not have a math sheet to do. (Though it is not a "have-to")

Bridges Unit 3 
Unit 3 Support Resources 

Please help you student remember to come to school prepared for the winter weather. At this point they needs to have boots, hats, gloves and snow pants daily. They should also have a pair of warm, dry shoes to change into. The salt is rough on our carpets, so we ask for them to leave boots in the hallway.

Information about our Winter Craft Morning will head home in Yellow Homework folders tomorrow. We are looking for volunteers to run a small craft workshop on the morning of December 18th from 10:00-11:30. You would have three rotations of approximately 8 children at a time. We could provide you with ideas or you could come up with your own craft. Please return the sheet if you can make it. If not, perhaps you could provide a healthy drink or snack for the children to enjoy that morning.

Thanks for your support! 

Jess and Liz