Powerful Presenters

We were really looking forward to presenting our slideshows to our Kaleidoscope friends on Friday, but a frozen pipe interrupted our internet connection and we were unable to share all of our hard work with them. Instead we'd like to share our presentations with you. Here is the introduction that Anna and Adam wrote for the audience. Then you can click on the links to take a tour of our amazing weather houses. Enjoy the show! 

Introduction
By: Anna and Adam 

Welcome!

We have been working on these weather houses. We starting off by finding a location and studying precipitation and wind speed and temperature. Then we started  to make slides and we had to  answer four questions- They were where it happens, when it happens, how it impacts people and animals and what causes this weather to happen. Then we had to use the steps of the EDP (That’s the engineer design process) to build a house that can stand up to  our weather and then we had to make these slides. I hope enjoy the slides.

Link to Parker Weather Houses
Link to Eaton Weather Houses

Also, please help your student to be sure they have all of the appropriate winter gear they need to head outside and get fresh air at recess. You can feel free to keep any extra sets of snowpants, boots, etc. at school for easy access.

Weather Watchers

We all returned from the Thanksgiving break rested and ready to work hard. This week the students used the notes  they took before the break to create strong, informational writing pieces. These mini weather reports will serve as the first piece of information in the Google Slideshows they are creating. After writing they used their engineering plan and Google Drawing tools to create blueprints of what their "dream home" would look like. The home has to contain features that would help it withstand their type of extreme weather. We had features like heated roofs and driveways, emergency bunkers, and water collection tanks to name just a few. For students who wanted to take on the extra challenge they were encouraged to add a glossary and import photos of their weather to make their presentation even more educational and entertaining. We will practice our presentations and share with our Kaleidoscope friends on Thursday. Stay tuned for pics!

This week in math we participated in two different surveys. Then we analyzed the data and create picture and bar graphs to represent our data. The students had to practice using a scaled graph, labeling axes, and giving their graphs a clear and meaningful title.

We ended the week getting dirty in Four Winds. The students learned all about the decomposition process of trees. We were amazed at how long it takes for one tree to break down...over ten years! We enjoyed pulling apart logs from the DeSantos' yard and we found LOTS of critters who were making their home inside these snags.

There are many events this month including a two Mosaic Traditions. The first is our R.A.D. (Reading All Day) event which will be held on Wednesday, December 21st. Students are allowed to come to school in their PJs with a small lovely and a blanket if they'd like. We have guest readers, buddy reads, digital reading, and much more. We are encouraging our students to bring in gently used books (appropriate for 3rd and 4th graders) that they would like to contribute to a class book swap. It doesn't matter how many they donate. All of the books are compiled and we turn the class into a "book store" to shop for books to take home.

On Thursday, December 22nd we will have another Mosaic Craft Morning. We are looking for parent volunteers to come in and run a festive, winter craft. A sign up sheet will come home soon. We hope to see you there.

Ask About:
What type of extreme weather did you study? What did you learn about it?
How did you design your house? What features did you think it should have?