April 27, 2020

 Good Morning,

  I hope you all had a great break and enjoyed the time with your children.  I felt a sense of renewal with the ability to travel to three different states.  I took the opportunity to see my oldest daughter out in Rochester, NY.  It was the first time I had been to her campus since she started.  My wife and I also took my youngest and spent a few days walking around Boston.  I have to say it all felt glorious.  

  While we were on break, our seeds went crazy and we have small plants galore.  The students have spent the last two days making observations of them and recording their findings in their science journals.The students will be taking these home on Friday.  Each child will have lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, and marigold plants.  Hopefully you have a spot where they can plant them and create their own little garden at home or add it to your family garden.

During the plant unit, we have been learning about the different plant parts and their functions.  Before break we set up an experiment to see how a stem works.  When we came back yesterday it clear the function a stem had.  The students noticed that the stem drew the red colored water up from the cup and into the leaves.  Their findings were also recorded in their science notebooks.

Notes:

*4/28/21 Schedule (Virtual Wednesday):  Please have your child answer the attendance question.  We will then have a meeting at 8:45.  We will have a morning meeting and listen to a book.  The asynchronous work will be two things.  A Lexia/Core 5 lesson and a Zearn Lesson.  We will be doing Weekly News in class this week.  I am trying to make these days as easy as I can for you all and still assign relevant work.

That is all for now.  I hope you have a great week.

Peace,

Tommy

April 5, 2021

 

Good Morning,

  I hope you all are well and the signs of spring are helping you feel energized and upbeat.  Today we continued to work in our science notebooks and focused on recording detailed observations.  The students have been working on observing plants and today we went outside to observe trees.  They could use magnifying glasses and their writing/drawing tools to record what they saw.  The students are learning to use labels, write observations, draw diagrams, and how to illustrate a "zoomed in" diagram of a specific part of the plant or tree.  It was nice to get the students outside in the sun and allow them to explore nature to learn.  

 This Wednesday's work will be as follows.  I am lightening the load (for asynchronous work) a little to allow kids to get outside more and enjoy the day.

8:00  Answer Attendance

8:45  Meeting

Asynchronous Work

*Lexai/Core 5

*Zearn

*Weekly News.  Your child should have a picture drawn, a written one paragraph letter to me, and used the editing check sheet to look at their work.  This week's packet will be on light green paper.  Look for it in your child's homework bag.

That is all for now.  I hope you have a great week.

Peace,

Tommy