Here Comes the Sun

After a very busy week, here are some pictures from our new unit of study- Who We Are.  I had some trouble getting the pictures to load this week, but here are a few!  I will hopefully be able to load more in the next few days.    

Self-Portrait critique

Learning about informational text features using scrolls.

Genius Hour - What is beauty?

The Rising

Today was a wonderful day!  It's very exciting to be finished with the first six weeks of school!

We said 'goodbye' to Mr. Roaden by wearing our superhero costumes and our silly socks!  We also finished all of our assessments and had time for 2 science experiments/models.  We finally built our backbones!  This was a great activity.  We developed many questions out of this activity.  Many students wondered what our spine would be like if it was made of all cartilage.  Additionally, we attempted to see a vascular plant in action.  We placed celery into colored water, and it was supposed to show how water is transported into the vascular system, however, it did not work.    It was a great lesson in experimentation!

Finally, we had a very powerful conversation about 9/11.  We watched a short video that showed New York City on the day of the attacks (http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks/videos/911-timeline#).  The students were very engaged in this conversation, and they may be interested in continuing the discussion with you at home. 

Here are some pictures of our Building a Backbone activity.

All About You!

We've made it to the end of Term 1.  We will have lots of assessments this week.  I will use these assessment to gauge student learning.  We will also continue working on personal narratives this week in class.  Students will be responsible for completing this writing assignment by September 25.  

Here is a schedule for the rest of the week:
Tuesday:  Reading Assessment
Wednesday:  Social Studies Assessment/Begin UOI Summative Assessment
Thursday:  Science Assessment/Finish UOI Summative Assessment
Friday:  Math Assessment/Grammar Assessment (Subjects, Predicates)

As we come to the end of the term, I wanted to remind you about the IB action cycle.  Students are to reflect on the local and global consequences of their learning, to make choices based on these reflections, and act in responsible and meaningful ways.    If your student chooses to perform meaningful and responsible actions, please let me know.  As teachers, we often know what students do during the school day, but they often do things at home that are not shared.  I would love to hear about what your students are doing!  

Finally, students will receive a permission slip for our field trip to the Atlanta History Center today.  Please sign and return with payment as soon as possible.  

Build Me Up Buttercup!

Here are some pictures from our trip to the Oakhurst Garden.  We had a wonderful time searching for the plants that we have been studying in class.  Thanks for all the help chaperones!  The students will be working on a slide show presentation of the organisms they found in the garden and how those organisms are connected to our scientific studies and our central idea.