Proud Performers

The scripts have been written, the parts are assigned, and now the young actors and actresses of Mosaic are in full practice mode to prepare for their "Plant Performance" on June 5th at 9:00. If you are unable to make that performance datewe will have a dress rehearsal on Wednesday morning at 10:15 and families are welcome to join us for that as well. We will be sending home the students with "homework" to gather small props and easy to wear costumes this week. The energy is high and the students are so excited for this opportunity and are being very  collaborative and supportive of each other. It is such a great way to end the school year!


The budding botanists worked hard to combine their understanding of plants and heredity, nonfiction text features, and research skills to carry out a performance task where they were asked to "create" a new breed of plant life. We were blown away at their creativity and attention to detail and wanted to share some of the finished products with you. Come and see the rest on display in the Mosaic hallway when you get a chance.

This week we will begin our last unit in mathematics. During this unit we will combine our math skills with the engineer design process to research, plan and build model bridges. We have asked for materials from home and will continue to collect them until next week. Please keep us in mind if you are doing some spring cleaning!

We will be ending the year with a Summer Themed "Craftermorning" on Monday, June 15th. We are looking for volunteers to run small workshops from 8-10 students. Some of these could include: scavenger hunts, water balloon toss, journal making, summer postcards, etc. A sign up sheet will be coming home in this week's Friday folder. Please come and join us or send in food to make our last full day of school a memorable and creative day.

Busy Botanists

Over the past few weeks we have been learning about the life cycle of plants. Students set out to determine what all plants need to survive and what they might want to thrive by designing their own experiments in small groups.  Each group determined a variable (worms, fertilizer, water, space, soil, sunlight) and set up their control plant. They have been watering everyday and making observations weekly. We have been working hard on learning about what makes a strong scientific observation and the botanists have been adding labels, measurements, and predictions about possible causes for their plant's growth (or lack of!) We will write our conclusions to our investigation this coming week!

The water variable group records their observations for the week

Abbie measures her rapidly growing seedling!

In addition to our plant study we have also been learning about heredity and genetics. We've had lots of hands on activities to get the students familiar with the concept of traits and how they are passed down from generation to generation in all animals and plants. We have been learning lots of new vocabulary words and tackling some pretty complex reading around this topic, so we used this  opportunity to practice more close reading skills. In a close read the students read the text several times and go through each paragraph to "make tracks" of their thinking. This type of reading strategy has helped the students to ask questions, learn new vocabulary, and engage in discussion around this fascinating concept. 

Now for their final performance task they are combining their knowledge of plants and genetics to "create" a new kind of plant. First the students researched different types of flowers and decided which to "breed" Then they got to decide which traits would be passed on to the new creation. We can't wait to see their artistic representations of the Tulily, Rosansy, and Veronisunflower! 

 

Close Reading=Deeper Thinking

Next week we will begin the rehearsal for our team performance! Each classroom will be taking a plant themed story and recreating it on the big stage. Our family performance will be on Friday, June 5th at 9:00. If you are unable to make that time we will be having a dress rehearsal for the other 3/4 teams on Wednesday, June 3rd at 10:30. We hope to see you all there!

May in Mosaic

Another digital collage by Smilebox

We have all been waiting patiently for May and her beautiful weather to arrive and with the new (and last full month) of school came a very special guest visitor and a new theme unit in science.

This week we began our unit of study around plants and heredity. We began by having the students work in groups to design their own experiment in which they will set out to prove what plants need to survive. Next we will learn more about the life cycle of a plant and the interconnectedness of plants and animals that is involved in heredity and genetics. Some of the vocabulary words that have already come up in our new learning are: germination, pollination, control, variable, and trait.

We were so fortunate to have received a generous grant from our FAP this year. We used the funds to bring local author/illustrator, Tracey Campbell Pearson to Mosaic for a wonderful day of workshops. We got to see just how much work goes into the writing and illustrating process, which is so valuable for young authors to hear. Then we were even able to create our own dummies with the help of Tracey.

Before her arrival we read many of her books and visited her website to research her life and work. The students worked together to create a group Google Doc where they recorded things they learned and questions they had. I think that Tracey knew how prepared the students were because their questions were so thoughtful and lead to some wonderful discussion and discoveries. I wouldn't be surprised to see some authors and illustrators emerging from this group of talented young students! Thanks again to FAP for providing this wonderful opportunity for our students.

We will be beginning a new unit in math this week around Geometry. For me information on the concepts that will be covered throughout this unit, you can visit the Bridges Site here. 

This month we will also be working on our team play which will be performed for Mosaic Parents on the morning of Friday, June 5th. More details to come, but we just wanted you to have plenty of time to put it in your calendar.