Bring on the Heat- Hallie Heat that is....

So for me, blogging and preparing for the holidays are not tremendously compatible. My posts for the past two weeks and probably the next two will be a bit less elaborative. Hopefully things will settle down after break.

This past week, the students finished their snowman cards and wrote the final draft of their winter poems. They made a second copy of their poem for you. I will send them home right before winter break. Today, each student made a micro-podcast of their poem that you will find in the previous post. They did a great job on their poems and their first audio presentation!

Next, the students worked at their individual Exploratory areas.  A couple of students have moved on to their second center.  Ask your child about their center work and current task.

At recess today, I introduced the students to the game, Blokus.  It is a strategy board game that challenges spatial thinking and it a lot of fun for all ages.   If your family likes board games, it is a great one!

  

The students were introduced to our newest Quirkle, Hallie Heat.  In our experiment, we learned the warmer water (and air) rise, while colder water (and air) sink.  Your child has their experiment log to share their hypothesis, observations and results with you.

All of our cards were mailed out last week. We ended up making and mailing 62 cards. Thank you so much for your donations of stamps to assist us with the postage costs. We have received 43 cards so far. It is kind of exciting to check my box in the office now.

Today, we opened some of the cards we have received from other schools including ones in North Carolina, Hawaii, Arizona, New York and New Jersey.  We used a map of North America to locate the states and their relative direction and distance from Kansas City.   

We discussed the grade levels, number of students in each class and the average high temperature for December 15th in each town/city.   A couple of weeks ago, in the computer lab, the students were introduced to Google Earth and the features that allow us to zoom into a map to the point of virtually standing in front of the schools.  They were very observant and noted differences and similarities in each town/cities geographical location, proximity to the ocean, lakes or rivers, rural and urban areas, the physical size of the schools and even surrounding plant life.  As we were discussing the average high temperatures today, by looking at the map of North America, the students realized the colder temperatures were to the north while the souther locations were warmer.  

We had a fun day!