Our terrific third-graders have been super busy with our bird unit. We started with two visits from the Harris Center. The class discussed their winter bird observations and spring migration. Also, on the first visit, the focus was on bird adaptations (beaks and feet). The students rotated through stations to observe bird mounts, recording and discussing what they learned. The next day, they learned about what birds do in the spring. The activities involved the bird's lifecycle and nesting.
On Tuesday the 18th, Jeanne Connelly will help us create individual bird books. To prepare, the children all chose a local bird of winter and researched specific facts about it in our Beginner Bird Guide book. The children each drew their bird. Then, they will be copied, and each child will have a collection of the class’s birds to color and then place in the books with Jeanne.
As a class, we are finishing reading our literature book, Because of Winn Dixie. This book has offered great discussions on friendship, loss, acceptance, and the power of storytelling. The children continued working on opinion writing with Mystery Writing. Another highlight from the week was restarting reading buddies with the kindergarten!
4th/5th English Language Arts -
The students started our new literature book. We will be reading this book together as a group, focusing on vocabulary, comprehension, and the deep meaning of the story. The opinion writing project is in full swing. The students are looking at the importance of facts and examples to persuade the reader to their point of view. For word work, we are looking at and for idioms. What do the words mean, and how do they enhance the text for the reader? We have focused on the silent letters in reading/spelling and the suffixes - tion and -sion.
A gentle reminder: It is essential for your child’s learning to complete their spelling homework weekly and read every evening.
