Inquiry, Action and Appreciation

Inquiry

This week our Unit of Inquiry took us on an adventure of sound.  What is it?  How does it work?  Can we make sound work better if we change our materials?  Oh this was so much fun!

We began by listening to a story about the TCTS (Tin Can Telephone System).  This sparked a ton of interest on how our Explorers could create a telephone, what must happen for the sound to occur, etc.  We used, paper cups, plastic cups, yarn, twine, straws, you name it.  Our exploration will continue on this week as well. 

Let's Take ACTION

If you notice your child continuing his or her learning at home.  Please, please let us know.  We want to document these occurrences. Why we learn is just as important as what we learn and carrying it outside the classroom is our goal.  If you you have a picture, project or just a simple write up of something you noticed, please send it in.  We'd love to celebrate this as part of our Action Cycle!  

Eco Explorers

   Investigations help us explore the world, our Central Idea, was enhanced by a wonderful visit from Eco Explorers.  Our focus was living and non-living things.  

 We we love to investigate!  Magnifying glasses are such a fun tool and you'd be amazed at all the great things we found!

 Appreciation and Caring

 What a fun week to focus on the IB Attitude, Appreciation and the Learner Profile Attribute Caring.  Being a good friend and a citizen of the world all starts here.  Thank you to everyone for making Thursday so much fun.  Our Explorers had a great time sharing their special cards and eating their red, healthy snacks.  One Explorer shared, "We are showing Caring and Appreciation to our friends, and our bodies!"  Great connection!



Stickers are such fun story starters! 

Our Explorers have certainly build up their skill and stamina with writing!  Such passion!  Taking risks, being independent and sharing their thoughts develops a great sense of accomplishment.   We are so proud!

We are Curious about Curiosity

This week our school focused on the first of twelve International Baccalaureate Attitudes, Curiosity.  We had so much fun, and it tied right into determining what our next Unit of Inquiry's Central Idea would be.  We are naturally very curious but seeing just how important it is in our daily learning really made it feel special!

The students in Mrs. Snyder's class had to reflect on what they had learned and, without using words, create a picture that best illustrates the understanding.  

Jack said, "The one on the left knows something
and that is not being curious.  The one on the right
is asking a question, and that is being curious."

Aliza said, "Curious George is wondering
about the world."

                         

                                                    Our Explorers are using lots of tools to
                                                    help with their investigations!


This week, we began to think about our next Central Idea.  What could it be?  For three days we uncovered clues and by the end of the week each class determined what we would focus on our next Unit of Inquiry, How the World Works.

Mrs. Humphrey's class said, "Investigations help us explore the world."

Ms. Wightman's class shared, "We think we are going to ask lots of questions about sound and other stuff."

Jake B. in Mrs. Taylor's class said, "I think it's about being curious." and Nyla J. said, "I think it's about asking good questions."

Mrs. Snyder's class determined that is was going to be, "Investigations help us explore everything!"

Well, they are all correct!  Our Unit of Inquiry, How the World Works, will be an inquiry into the natural world and its laws and how investigations help us explore the world.

Did your son or daughter come home and share their experiences with Oobleck?  Oh did we have fun investigating this strange substance.  It feels like a solid, but then it is also a liquid.  We certainly had lots of comments and questions!

If you would like to make Oobleck at home here is a recipe:

Oobleck

We even used the Hedbanz game to help us with our questioning and reasoning skills.  

Xin Nian Kuai Le! 

Happy New Year!  The Chinese New Year has come and we welcome the Year of the Snake.  










If you have come into our school recently you will see a fu on each door.  This is a symbol of luck in China.  Each Explorer made a fu this week in their Mandarin class.

Special Visitors:

We also had special guests come by from Martin Luther King Career Center to share fire safety information with us.  

We were very excited to try on parts of their extensive uniforms!

Reminders...

Just a couple friendly reminders:

*We do not have school on Friday, February 15th and Monday,  February 18th.  Enjoy your long weekend!

*We will be celebrating the attribute Caring (part of our Learner Profile) on February 14.  Your child may exchange cards with their friends, but we do request that no candy be exchanged on this day. A letter will be sent home with more specific requests from your child's teacher.

100 Day's of Fun

That's how you say 100 in Mandarin!  We sure had fun celebrating our 100th day of school this week. 

Celia's mom (Ms. Melissa) came to Mrs. Snyder's class and created wonderful 100th Day crowns with all our excited Explorers.  They added 100 images (10 on each strip) to their crowns.  It was a lesson full of creativity, fun and endurance!

 Here are some of the 100 Day Collections the students brought in to share:

We loved everyone's project and creativity!  

Here are a couple other 100 day activities:

What can you do with 100 cups?  This took some great balancing and skill.  Here Rafe and Aliza worked to build a tower while others created a super base all around.  The height of the tower was so exciting! 

Mrs. Snyder's class created a pizza and only wanted 100 toppings.  The goal was to share the work equally so it was a real dilemma to figure out just how many toppings we would each add.  Being the amazing THINKERS they are, the class determined they would each need to add 5 toppings and that would give us exactly 100.  *I wish I had recorded the conversation to get to this point.  It was tremendous!

Friday was DUMPLING DAY!  Oh we waited all week for this big day.  Our wonderful Mandarin teachers, with the help of amazing parent volunteers, taught each class how to make dumplings. The big surprise was just how much work goes into each one.  A true appreciation was fostered! 

Mrs. Humphrey's birthday girl, Sonia, enjoyed a Mystery Reader surprise this week!