Math:
Da Sprouts completed their last lesson for the Numerical Representation unit on Tuesday which was over absolute value and opposites. On Wednesday they completed a review over the entire unit.
EverShrooms worked on multiplying and dividing integers and rational numbers.
Polar Bears compared and ordered real numbers on Tuesday and learned how to write numbers in scientific notation on Wednesday.
Mountain Lizards had a lesson over solving multi-step inequalities on Tuesday and spent Wednesday catching up on activities they may not have completed.
Thursday was an exciting start for the Stock Market Game (SMG)! This year Da Sprouts and Evershrooms were mixed into 4 different groups each consisting of at least one veteran SMG player to guide the others. The Icebergs have played for two years now and were desperate to be able to pick their own groups. So, we did an activity where each student wrote their name on sticky notes and placed them on multiple scales. The scales said things like: I am reliable, I am risky, I understand a short sell, I watch the news. This informed students the strengths and weaknesses of everyone so they could make the best and more strategic groups. All groups studied the rules, logged into their accounts, and some even made their first purchase!
ELA:
We are off and writing! This week all the students worked on the prewriting stage of essay writing; this is where you take all the information you gathered and jot it down on a graphic organizer so you can see if you have enough information or need to research more. Da Sprouts and EverShrooms created Venn diagrams to compare and contrast their creation stories, while the Icebergs created tree maps so they could spot similar motifs across their stories.
Theme:
The short week didn’t stop the creative juices of the Delta students in their Theme activities for the week. After focusing on Rock Types last week, students were challenged to choose one of the rock type examples and create a story about its origin and lifecycle. They also created an Art Piece with their rocks, giving them a personality for their reading time with the Alphas and Betas later this first quarter. From stories about lava rocks called Hot Heads, to others that talked about Dewayne “The Rock” Johnson, the Deltas showed their flair for writing this week.
Flex classes continued to focus on both social-emotional experiences, and a new challenge to explore the career of scientists that explored the Geological timeline. We also learned about carbon dating and the half-life of elements that assist with us dating our planet and the lifeforms on it.
Delta students focus on Words with Emotion by spelling out both positive and negative feelings like the word JOY during our SEL moment after lunch.
Iceberg students self-identifying where they belong on each scale.
Da Sprouts and Evershrooms making plans for the start of the Stock Market Game.
Da Sprouts and Iceberg students focus on graphic organizers in crafting their first drafts of Creation story comparison essays, their first formal writing assignment of the school year.
Creative writing and 3D art pieces dominated the week for Deltas. They wrote Origin stories for a chosen rock type and will read those stories, like they did with each other, to the Alpha and Bata students at the end of the quarter.
Students react to the last atom showing its limit in half life during an experiment on Carbon Dating during Flex Time.
