Inquiring Minds

Our Unit of Inquiry, Sharing the Planet, continues to take us on a fun journey filled with great questions, wonders and investigations!  The water cycle, rain barrels, using bricks in toilet tanks, the use of sprinklers and the importance of using just what we need have been interesting topics of study to support our Central idea (The conservation of water helps people and other living things)!

A fascinating bit of information we have come upon is that one fast food meal uses 1, 375 gallons of water.  We are trying to figure out just why that is and what we could do to decrease that amount.

Thank you Miss. Melissa for reading your great book and the fun art project you did with  Mrs. Snyder's class

Our lessons in Mandarin have supported our central as well.  We have listened to interesting books and are learning all about fruit and animals during our classes.  

Busy Times in Math

We are still working away on our understanding of addition and subtraction problems.  We are ready for FIRST grade!

Measuring is always a popular center! It's amazing how comparisons evolve from what is discovered!

Special Guests

Having Bootsy Collins come to our school was such a fun treat!  We enjoyed his message and listening to our choir sing his songs.  

Healthy Smiles from Case Western University came by to see our Kindergarten and 1st grade classes.  Brushing our teeth the right way is so important!  

Thank You Mystery Readers!

Upcoming Events:
Spring Concert-Thursday May 30

CIS Olympics-Friday May 31
      **Subway orders are due on Wednesday

Last Day of School- Tuesday June 4

WOW-What a Month!

Spring has been a fantastic time to wonder.  We spend every day looking very carefully at the world around us and appreciating the beauty and many changes we see.  "Did you know the pinecones outside our school start out this pretty purple color?"  "Is that the same for all pinecones?" "Take a picture and let's find out."  These are just some of the conversations your inquisitive Explorers have with us have every single day.

Our Unit of Inquiry, Sharing the Planet, has us inquiring about the conservation of water, how the way we use water affects all living things and what our responsibilities are in using our fresh water supply.  The global well, the water cycle and our very small amount of fresh water has us filled with questions and we are working hard to uncover the answers.

Shui means water in Mandarin

 One place we do not need to conserve water is in our bodies.  We were surprised to find out how much water is in our bodies (60-70%).  "That's more than half!"


COSI
Earlier this month we had a fantastic visit from COSI.  Thank you to everyone that collected Box Tops for Education that funded this wonderful visit, and of course to all the parents who helped us learn so much at every station.  

Wolf Farms Visit

Wolf Farms came by to share wonderful apples with us and great information on how apples grow, are cared for and harvested.  

Acrobats from Beijing, China

We ohhhed and ahhhhed and loved every minute of their performances!  The Explorers noticed that no matter how challenging some of their tricks were, the acrobats never gave up.  What a tremendous lesson in commitment!

Field Trips

This week was absolutely perfect for field trips to Playhouse Square.  We sure got our exercise and were able enjoy the beautiful sunshine.  On Monday we saw a musical duo called "Trout Fishing in America."  Their songs and funny jokes had us laughing the whole time.  Here is a link if you would like to listen at home:

Trout Fishing in America

On Wednesday we saw the play "Zoo Zoo."  This was exciting and had us filled with so many questions.  Some classes headed back on Friday for an interactive art exhibit.  What a fun week!!

Mystery Readers

Thank you for coming and sharing your wonderful books with us.  We love that you take the time out of your busy schedules to read to our classes.  This gift means more than you will ever know to each and every Explorer!

Capturing Moments:

Reading, Reading, Reading
We LOVE to read!

Ants are so interesting!

Beautiful crayon art made by all our CIS Explorers.