Week of February 6, 2012

Hi Families,
I hope you were able to enjoy the snow day on Friday and that children had a glorious time playing outside!


Special Events

• (Last Wednesday) performance of Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory. This took place instead of the All School Meeting. The children were enthralled by the performance! If your child has suddenly started talking about a career as a singer and actor it is a result of seeing Renaissance children in this performance.
• Last Friday - Snow Day
• Monday, February 6, 2012 - 100th Day of School (to be continued on Tuesday)

Due to the fact that last week was cut short we are continuing with a number of the activities posted on the blog 
last week.


Expedition Activities

 Bulb Experiments

                Upside down bulb - this experiment will start this week

                  Bulb in the dark - this experiment will start this week
          Hydroponics 

Seed Investigations

                   Seed observations and sorting

           Growth and comparison of different seedlings
           Plant Propagation - we have started this with cuttings from a house plant         

           In addition, the plants are starting to grow so children are measuring their plants and will each be creating
           a graph of the growth of his/her plant.

Writing Focus

Children are learning how to make How To books. Last week each child created the plans for

a How To book which shows how the child planted his bulb. 
This week we are writing about our plants, what they look like, the changes we are seeing etc. Children are also
 recording what the plants look like and how they are changing through scientific drawings. 

Reading
We are listening to and reading lots of nonfiction, short books connected with our expedition e.g., The 

Life Cycle of a Pine Tree. In addition, I meet with small groups for reading every day.

Math

Last week we:

       compared foot sizes (longer/shorter)

       measured a variety of items using feet and using rulers

       counted by fives (please practice this at home, in the car etc.

This week we will:

       measure our bulbs using cubes (today and every 4 days)
       play a money game where children exchange pennies for dimes
       play a money game where children exchange pennies for nickels
       we are practicing writing numbers the correct way (many children still reverse numbers when they write them)
       continue 100th Day of School math activities
 IAs
This week the children go to Art with Ms. Pam 

Our computers and iPads are being used by the children every day. We have math activities on the iPads,
 and we have phonics activities on the computers.

Enjoy your week!

Kathy