Mason Bees

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We were thrilled to be back together after our spring break last week. We were also excited to see Ms. Lisa, who is teaching alongside Ms. Aja in our classroom this week. During writer’s workshop we wrote about our spring break adventures. During outside time we were surprised to see that several of our mason bees emerged from their cocoons while we were away. We watched a video about mason bees. Then we recorded what we knew about mason bees and what we wanted to learn over the next few days. We also checked on our pea and sunflower seeds. Some had sprouted and some had not. We discussed several ideas for why this might be. In math this week we are discussing data and graphs. We examined a non-numerical graph today and created our own food preference graphs. We will continue to explore different types of graphs this week. While we are continuing to be in our small learning pod groups for our inside choice and eating times, we are excited to come together as a whole class for our science instruction and writing mini-lessons this week (with masks and social distancing, of course). Please note that book orders flyers were available at pick-up today and orders are due online by Friday. Our class code is W7WBD.

Flat Sparkle in Corvallis, Oregon

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Updates from Flat Sparkle in Corvallis…

Saying Goodbye to Ms. Susan

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Have a wonderful spring break! We will see you on March 29th.

St. Patrick's Day

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Those mischievous leprechauns visited the classroom and left quite a mess this morning! Several student engineers continued to work on their traps today too. They are hoping that leprechauns visit again tonight. Fingers crossed… We did a rainbow color science exploration today too. We added food coloring to milk and used toothpicks to add droplets of dish soap. We were surprised to see the colors immediately disperse in a cloud of color. We made predictions about why that happened and whether the same thing would happen in water. It turns out that the color did not get dispersed in water. We did some research and realized that dish soap causes the fat globules in milk to break apart. The food coloring allows us to see the fat molecules dispersing.

Gingerbread Man in UK

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From Gingerbread Man’s host in UK:

So, I thought I’d give a few lines about the pictures I sent to Dropbox and I hope they coincide up...?

I think the first picture was in our mud room which is where people first come in and can remove their muddy shoes and leave them there when they enter the house! Lots can of places on the east coast have them as well, do you all have them in Oregon? Usually had where there are places with lots of rain and we get that!

We’d had a snow storm prior to Gingerbread Man’s arrival and the roof outside my bedroom window was still snow covered when he came!

The back garden has a bird feeder which had frozen over! He also got to ride my Lion head and wanted to meet the birds that would come to our bird feeder but..It was Valentine’s Day whilst Gingerbread Man visited and he got to share the flowers from my kids when I got them.

I also have my pet Alpaca, Fluffy. They are non binary and go by the they/them pronouns. Gingerbread Man got on great with them, as you can see in the picture. Also in the mudroom is Wellington, our spider. We got him at Halloween and he really loves hanging around there.

Gingerbread man and I took walks around my neighbourhood. At the end of our block we have a pond which was still slightly frozen over. Nearby, on the main road, we have a duck crossing! And a small road called Conker Lane which is a pedestrian walkway. Conkers are from a form of oak tree and children would collect them and play games with them!

Then the cool part! I got my covid jab and while I was there they asked if Gingerbread Man wanted one as well! He’s good!! He likes my breakfasts and enjoyed posing with a few and yes, we have an Olympic torch from 1984! My father in law was able to run with it and pass the flame on until it got to Rafer Johnson who lit the cauldron for the flame running through the entire time of the games.

We live by the Forest of Arden so although we couldn’t go to Stratford on Avon this time, we did stop by a spot that inspired both Shakespeare AND JRR Tolkien. We also took a special ride to meet my friend Alice’s bunny, Albie! And there is a train line behind my house so we went to the walkway bridge and watch a freight train chug along!

Gingerbread Man did seem to like my book, so I sent it back with him.

Thank you!!

~jaz