Weekly Update February 15th

Dear Families,
It has been another busy week in our classroom.  We would like to highlight an activity in our Science Lab.  The children participated in a lab focusing on traits passed down to offspring.  They assembled imaginary creatures based on the Lab Sheet below.  We noticed that although all the creatures resembled each other, no two were exactly alike. 

In addition, we celebrated the end of our writing unit with a Poetry Slam-Open Mike. The children were inspired by Cythina Rylant and utilized many of her crafting techniques to enhance their poetry. She has been an incredible mentor and taught us so much about writing.  The children also created a watercolor painting to complement their poems.  You can view them in the background. 

Have a wonderful break. 
-Alites




Example of a Science Lab data collection sheet for traits. 

Weekly Update-February 7th

Dear Families,
This week we would like to highlight an amazing experience in our science lab.  We had a visit from a staff member at the DNA Lab from Cold Spring Harbor.  She brought special equipment which allowed the children to get a close up view of mutated flies and worms.  Continue reading to find out what your child thought about the experience...

Becca: I liked looking at the pennies up close.  I was able to see the rust.

Stephanie: It was cool seeing the worms and fruit flies close up.

Madeline: I "liked" watching the worms eat the bacteria in the Petri dish.

Trevor: I saw a fly under the microscope that had three heads and that was cool.

Austin: I saw an albino fruit fly.  It was different from all the rest and that was really cool.

Caitlin: I couldn't believe how tiny the worms were.  It was weird when they moved under the microscope.

Jared: I was surprised by how small the fruit flies were.

Kyra: I saw a pupa from the fruit flies and it didn't have any arms or legs!

Emilie: I was amazed by how tiny the worms were and how you could only see them under the microscope.  I looked at two types of worms.  One was curved like a C and one was curved like an S.  The C worm was mutated.

Adam: I liked looking at the mutated fruit flies because they were so different than the normal ones.  I saw an all gold fruit fly and normally fruit flies are black with red eyes.

Brian: My favorite part was looking at the worms.  It was really cool to see them moving. 

Logan: I enjoyed learning about all the different mutations in humans.  We talked about insulin and keratin.  Keratin is what makes your hair and nails grow. 

Steven: I enjoyed looking at the mutated worms under the microscope because it was cool to see them moving.

Chris: I enjoyed looking at the penny under the microscope.  I thought it was so cool that I could see Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.

Daniel: I liked seeing the worms move.  The worms we were looking at were tiny instead of big like regular worms. 

PJ: I saw the worms moving under the microscope.  The mutated fruit flies were curled into a ball and didn't have wings.

Alites: Overall, the experience taught us how similar our genetic makeup is to other living things.  Did you know that a human and a fruit fly share 60 percent of the same genetic makeup?

A sample lab sheet.

Weekly Update - February 1st

Dear Families,
Due to the benchmarks being administered this week, we were unable to secure lab time for our students to type our blog. So......you're getting this week's news from us!
-Alites

This week we picked our seed idea and are moving toward publishing our narrative poems. We've become experts on Cynthia Rylant and can't wait to utilize her craft in our very own poems!

In math, we have come to the end of our unit in fractions, and our students can expect a test next week. We will continue to explore fractions in our next math unit. One highlight in math this week was discovering the value of fractions using tangrams with Mr. P.

In Reading Workshop, we used The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to explore symbolism in literature. We discussed how various authors use charcters, objects, and events to represent something deeper in their writing. The kids will be looking for symbols in their independent reading next week as a reading goal.

In science, we are looking forward to a visit from the staff of the DNA Lab. In class, we have been learning about traits and the genetic information our DNA carries. We enjoyed talking about which traits we inherited from which parent. Ask them to expalin the difference between phenotype and genotype. Impressive!

In social studies, we been tracking our stocks and will graph our results today in the computer lab. We continued to discuss the idea of scarcity and the effects of supply and demand in a free market economy such as ours. Ask them about the Bagel Article!

In closing, we would like to welcome Ms. DeBlasio! She is our new classroom aide.

Enjoy the Superbowl and the weekend! Happy Groundhog's Day!

-Alites