Rock Collections and Pi Day
/Our week together was filled with geology explorations, engineering, baking pie, and connecting with our reading buddies. This week Pierce's mom came in to share her rock collection with us. We got to examine a variety of different rock specimens from all over the world. Ms. Rachel told us about her youth spent rockhounding in a river bed near her home. Many of our young geologists could relate to spending hours looking for rocks and other treasures. Students were delighted when Ms. Rachel brought in an individual collection of rocks for each student to keep. In fact, each student ended up with over 30 rocks to add to their own collections. For several students, these rocks, along with the agate from Ms. Laura, are the beginning of their own collections! During outside choice time students spent time examining their new treasures and bartering with classmates. This week students used collaboration and engineering skills to design leprechaun traps. Students engaged in the engineering process as they designed, constructed, modified, and rebuilt their structures. They had to demonstrate flexibility, grit and determination during the construction of these traps. Students are hopeful that Leprechauns will visit on Sunday and that we might even catch a leprechaun. We have several questions that we would like to ask a leprechaun if we catch one! On Thursday we celebrated pi day by using our math skills to measure ingredients and add fractions to make an apple pie. It was quite delicious! This week we continued to practice reading with good accuracy, fluency, and expression as we shared stories with our preschool buddies.
