Room 9: Poetry & the Inuit People of Canada

Math: 
This week in Math, both our grade 1's and 2's were working on their mental math and estimation. Students worked through Three Act Math problems which help develop skills such as problem solving, analysis of word problems, and how students can develop a proper estimation. 

Science:
Students continued to learn about the needs of plants. We have also been working on our Tomatosphere investigation and each day we fill in our germination chart. This week, students show their tomato seeds sprout into seedlings. The Seed "J" seedlings happened to sprout much quicker leading students to believe that those are the regular tomato seeds, and Seed "K" are the space seeds. Starting next week, we will starting our unit on Small Crawling and Flying creatures! In relation to our social curriculum, students also learned about the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis. Students not only learned the Inuit legends behind this phenomenon but we discussed the scientific explanation to these beautiful lights. 

Social: 
This week, students started their inquiry on the Inuit people of Canada. First, students learned about the Inukshuk, a rock statue made by the Inuit people as a landform to guide their people back to their homes. Students had the opportunity to build their own Inukshuk, write a reflection why Inukshuk's are important, as well as start their own painting inspired by the work of Ted Harrison. Students also researched Inuit life and culture through a book study. Students were put into groups and given 5-6 books per group and were asked to investigate four factors of Inuit life: food, home/shelter, art/music, and clothing. Students had the opportunity to share their learning with the class and create a mind map of our findings. 
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Language Arts: 
Students continued to learn about different types of poetry this week. Students learned about the Japanese poetry, Haiku, which is a three line poem which consists of a pattern of 5/7/5 syllables. In line with our science investigation, they wrote their haiku's about the needs of plants. Students also started to learn about rhyming poems and different rhyming schemes such as AABB and ABAB. This week, individually I worked with students to assess their reading comprehension as well as their ability to decode unfamiliar words. Their results will be communicated to you through their report cards in June. 

Reminders: 
Our Spring Nature Walk is coming up on Tuesday, May 15th. We are still looking for one more volunteer so please let me know if you'd like to join us! Volunteers need to arrive at the classroom at 9:15am, as we will be leaving promptly at 9:30am. According to the forecast, the weather will be in the mid-20's on Tuesday and full sun. Please have your student dress in appropriate clothing as we will be outside for a few hours. It would also be a good idea to pack your student with a water bottle and apply sunscreen before school! 

Enjoy the beautiful this weekend and Happy Mothers Day! 
Ms. Craig