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Click here for the March 2009 school calendar.

News from the 3-4 Class

The 3-4 and 5-6 classes are busy preparing for our play.  We will be presenting and performing The Universe and Other Stuff in late spring.  This musical is a hip-hop happenin’ history lesson presenting a fresh perspective as to who, what, where, when and how this crazy planet and its people came to be.  From dinosaur extinction to Columbus, from the wheel to space exploration, they’re all rediscovered in this clever, chaotic, comical cataclysm of creativity.

We will begin preparing for science fair this week.  As a class, we will be using the scientific method to answer a question, form a hypothesis, and we will be testing our hypothesis through experimentation.  The students will be testing a variety of sweet, sour, bitter and salty substances to find out where on their tongues they can taste these substances the best.  Going through the process as a class will help better prepare the students for independently performing their own science fair projects.   The students have already developed a list of interesting topics they would like to research further.

Mrs. Hotaling’s literacy group will be starting a unit on poetry.  We will begin this week be creating a web displaying all the things we already know about poetry.  We will then be learning about 4 fabulous forms of poetry, diamontes, haikus, limericks and cinquains.  We will also be reading the works of Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost.   In our group, we are also learning about the geography of the United States of America.  Each student has chosen a state that they will research and find out more about.  In celebration of our state studies, we are participating in Journey North’s Bald Eagle Migration.  Each week, we will be tracking four very special bald eagles as they begin their migration north to Canada.  Keep your eyes to the sky as at least two of the eagle’s migration paths pass right through our area.

Got arête? The students will soon be discovering their own arête as Miss Philbin leads the class through an inquiry based study of Ancient Greece. Within this unit, our young scholars will be using an outreach trunk on loan from the Joslyn Art Museum to see, touch and examine various artifact reproductions including Greek pottery and a bronze stature. This exciting unit will include each child choosing a Greek name and joining a city-state. Once they become a member of the city-state, they will research and collaborate with the other citizens in order to create a persuasive essay trying to recruit new citizens to their city-state. The unit will end with a grand finale as we will hold an Ancient Greek celebration which will include our own version of the Olympic Games.

Have a great month!

Jenn Philbin and Lara Hotaling