This past week, we welcomed a new student teacher, Ms. Jill Tolan. Ms. Tolan is a senior at Lesley University, where she is studying Elementary Education and English. We are excited to have her join our class community!
We are in the midst of an integrated social studies and reading unit on the Pilgrims. The unit combines history and literacy skills to analyze the Mayflower Journey. This week, we conducted a close analysis of primary sources such as the Mayflower Compact and the Mayflower passenger list. Students made observations about the groups of people aboard the Mayflower. We have also been reading historical fiction texts to supplement our understanding of this time. Most recently, we read the book Three Young Pilgrims to learn about the Pilgrims’ first winter in Plymouth.
In math, we have concluded our unit on division and multiplication. Although we have concluded this unit of study, we will continue to study multiplication and division facts for the rest of the year. We have begun a new measurement unit on area and perimeter. Students are developing strategies for finding the area and perimeter of rectangles and irregular shapes.
In science, we began a unit on water and climate. This week, we explored properties of water through hands-on experiments. For example, we tested the absorbency of different surfaces including wax paper, letter paper, paper towels, and aluminum foil. In another experiment, we observed the behavior of water on a slope. We noticed that water falls faster from a steeper slope. Today, we even built our own thermometers!
In writing, students continue to develop their informational books. We are working on supplementing our stories with more text features, including diagrams, captions, and sidebars.
