Creativity was the theme this week in Gamma Land! We made faux stained glass images to study attributes of 2D shapes, paper dolls to explore character traits in our fiction stories, and built function machines out of cardboard and pipe cleaners. It was messy but lots of fun!
Math
As mentioned, in math we did a lot of creation this week in both groups! Year 1 kiddos applied attributes of 2D shapes to craft “stained glass” windows out of laminated tissue paper and electrical tape. We started with scale drawings of the ‘plan’ and kids could choose whether they wanted to design on paper or on the computer from a template made in Canva. It was so fun to watch them invent! Next, Year 2 kiddos finished off our unit on function tables by “building” their own function machine out of cardboard and pipe cleaners. They far outshone Ms. Lorrie’s prototype! 😀 Starting next week, we will begin the week with a “check-in” about Quarter 3 skills and if time permits, both groups will head into a new topic (input/output tables for Year 1 and area/perimeter for Year 2 kids!)
Language Arts
Gammas were in technology heaven this week thanks to the amazing Ms. Lorrie! She has been helping the Gammas get comfortable using Canva throughout this school year and the Gammas enthusiastically used this new technology tool to create plot mountains and cover pages for their fiction stories. Everything is looking incredibly professional and detailed! Gammas also had the optional creative task to make paper dolls for the main characters in their stories to display their character traits and how they changed and grew throughout the stories. During reader’s workshop this week we set aside time for the Gammas to share their fiction stories with the whole class. So far the 4th and 5th graders haven’t had a chance to hear each other’s stories so this has been a delight. As always, the Gammas are so sweet, supportive, and encouraging of each other’s writing.
Theme
In theme, we started the week with a self-assessment about our working styles and strengths. Students outlined their top priorities for their “dream team” (ie, people pulling their own weight, an organized project, kind colleagues, etc.) and selected their top choices for body system exploration. The students were grouped accordingly and hit the ground running to begin a deep-dive into their assigned body systems. The teachers were so excited to see how quickly the groups began tackling their research and artifact creation. Mid-week, we began creating “travel brochures” in Canva to help study detail (with words and visuals!) the important elements of their assigned body system. Next week, we’ll dive into messier, more hands-on artifact creation sessions like working with paint and clay. It should be a great lead-up to spring break!
