Newsletter: February 20

Dear Families,

While we've been hard at work in the classroom, it seems the biggest news over the past week or two has been the rash of sick children across the school. It seems every few years something like this hits us. That said, I'm so glad to see everyone is back and healthy this week (well, except me). We'll continue to wipe everything down and spray the room daily. Come on, Spring!

And now an update on our latest work...

With most everyone back, we finally had an opportunity to share our
Friendship Day letters.

The person presenting the letter sat atop the stool and read their appreciations
aloud. The recipient sat  center stage in the brown chair. The kids did such a lovely
job of going public with all the great qualities we so appreciate from our
wonderful friends in class.

In math we continued our exploration into geometry. Early in the week we took a
close look at quilt patterns. We named all the different shapes we could find. One complex
shape, sketched at the bottom left of the board, had sixteen sides. The kids wanted to know the
name of this shape so we looked it up. We found out a 16-sided shape is called a
hexadecagon. Two of the kids figured out this must be because hexa- means six and deca- means
ten. So a hexadecagon is 6+10. Or, 16. Pretty smart reasoning!

I then challenged the kids to create their own quilts using construction
paper. They were to choose on shape and 2-3 colors of paper. 

They used templates to carefully trace and cut out their shapes - not easy!

The left-over paper shapes were really interesting with sharp angles
going every which way.

Some really excelled at carefully lining up their shapes and planning
out a pattern for the entire piece. Others found this very challenging. Their
spatial abilities were really put to the test!

We've also been using geoboards to create shapes with rubber bands. In this engagement, the kids
were tasked with creating as many different triangle as they could.

For each, they drew it on a sheet of paper then cut it out so they could compare it against
all the others they had already created. If any two triangles were the same shape and size, one had to
be thrown out. We learned when something is the same shape and size it is referred to as being "congruent."

In social studies we've launched an inquiry into the concept of normalcy. This is an
opportunity to learn how people get teased, belittled, and even oppressed based on
the differences among us. What we'll learn is there are many ways in which we are both
the same and different. Each has great value and should be celebrated. 

One aspect of this work has been to create murals of what we think people might mean by "normal."
Next we'll be reading a variety of books where characters are mistreated for simply being who they are. All of
this work is designed to support the work we'll soon be doing to research different countries and cultures.
The bridge between this work and those research projects will be to see that there is no normal. It's all
relative.

Finally, the kids are currently working to publish the fiction stories they recently wrote
while engaged in an author's study of Jacqueline Woodson. During this study, we focused
on description and "show, not tell." Each of these craft moves called on the kids to write
with greater intention and care.

Before publishing, the kids worked with a partner to help them edit and revise their stories. We hope to
have them published by the end of the week. It's a tedious process but well worth the effort!