Who’s ready for tomorrow?! Your children’s rehearsal yesterday went FABULOUS and I am so so proud of each one of them. I hope you bring some tissues because there will be happy tears galore! We will meet at the Des Plaines Theatre in our best holiday attire at 9:45.
We started learning about the digestive system this week, but didn’t have time to finish our experiments:/ We had a lot of friends out sick and I hate to have anyone miss out on these things so hopefully most everyone will be better by Monday! We learned about the main purpose of the digestive system and how it differs from the other systems we already learned about. The kids got super excited when they heard about the pharynx being a part of the digestive system and they remembered learning that it is also a part of the respiratory system! I apologize if you hear the word poop a bit more after this week…it definitely came up this week!
We spent a lot of time working on special gifts to you guys this week and hope you enjoy them:) In case your child forgets to mention it, the real gift is in the gift – so cryptic, I know!
Books we read this week:
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
The Night Before Hanukkah by Natasha Wing
How To Catch Santa by Jean Reagan
New vocab!
digestion
nutrients
absorb
esophogus
intestines
dominant & non-dominant
I hope to see everyone tomorrow! Have a wonderful rest of your day and weekend:) -Ms. Anna T.
Hello Room 103 Parents! I hope you are all doing well and are ready for the weekend!
We started off the week a little slower than usual because we had so many friends out sick:( I’m glad that almost everyone is back and feeling 100%. Flu-A has been going around the school pretty rapidly so if your child is showing any cold-like symptoms, please take their temperatures and/or have them tested prior to returning to school.
So far, we have learned about the muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems. This week, we learned all about the respiratory system and how it works, why it’s important, and what parts make it up! OK, be honest, how many of you knew that the scientific term for your throat is actually pharynx? Or that it actually belongs to both the respiratory and digestive systems? Check out our blue lungs on our skeletons!Ask your child to tell you which lung is bigger and why or true/false the lungs are the only organ that float. To help us better grasp the function of the respiratory system, we did a little experiment as a class. First, I asked everyone to sit still and just relax or to lay down and take a little rest for 5 minutes. Then, everyone put a hand on their neck to feel for their pulse. We talked about how the pulse is the blood being pumped throughout our bodies every time our heart beats. I asked them to count each “tap” they felt while I timed them for 30 seconds. We would then double it to see what their heart rate per minute is. Some answers were 4, 26, 25, 27, and 22. Next, I asked them to jump up and down for one minute. As soon as they stopped, they had to count their beats again. Now their numbers went up-49, 44, 21, 23. We will definitely be trying this again next week!
Lately, we have been talking about different ways we can help others and trying to come up with a meaningful service project that also directly impacts our classroom and communities. How many single use plastic items do we go through a day? At lunch alone, many friends are bringing multiple plastic straws that just get tossed or ziploc baggies that end up in the landfill. We started discussing what can we use instead? Where do our plastics go? So many questions! There were their responses when I asked them where do they think their single use plastics go after they throw them away:
To the ocean
Recycling
Garbage
Hurts the oceans
Hurts the animals in the ocean
Goes to other people to build stuff with it again
Goes in the woods
It will go in the forest
Animals get sick
It makes it bigger
Currently, we are trying to come up with a game plan to put into motion after winter break as to how we can start with straws in our class and work our way up. Thank you for helping us at home! I did give your children some homework for the weekend:) I asked them to go on a scavenger hunt in their homes and draw little representations of any things they believe are single use plastic items.I kindly ask that you remind your children about this prior to Monday. New vocab!
pharynx
banned
trachea
rubbage
Books we read this week…:
How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Santa’s Lost Reindeer by Rachell Hilz’
Tough Cookie: A Christmas Story by Edward Hemingway
It’s Christmas David! by David Shannon
Reminders
Holiday family picture DUE TODAY! If you have not had the chance to yet, please email me a family picture from your past Christmases, Hanukkahs, Kwanzaas, etc. I want to include these in a collage for the Holiday Program next Friday. Thanks!
Just a friendly reminder about snacks/lunch. We are a completely NUT-FREE school and not only do we have students in our school that have severe nut allergies, but we also have a friend in our class with one. I cannot stress enough the importance of checking labels for the fine print. If a snack says “may contain” traces of nuts, it is not allowed. However, if it states “made in a facility that processes nuts” those are OK. When uncertain, yogurt, pretzels, fruits/veggies are always a great and safe choice! Thank you:)
Scholastic book orders due by end of day Monday!
Holiday attire for next week: Who else is super excited for next Friday’s holiday program?! Our class will not be wearing anything specific other than our holiday best! Let me know if you have any questions.
We had a great first week back from break and we were busy, busy, busy as usual!
The class had so much fun making ornaments for the Des Plaines Tree Lighting Ceremony (held TODAY from 4:00-6:30 p.m. in Metropolitan Square). This year’s theme is SEASON OF GIVING and we made beautiful ornaments to hang on our school tree in the square. Every class created theirs a bit differently, but everyone’s ornaments show our love and support for Leo Bolos. If you are unable to attend, look for pictures to come and see if your child can spot theirs!
Continuing our exploration of the human body, this week we focused on the muscular system. Did you know that we have over 650 muscles? Ask your child to tell you about the cardiac, skeletal, and smooth muscles! What are their functions? Are they voluntary or involuntary? This week was LOADED with new vocabulary! We began learning about certain skeletal muscles such as the biceps, triceps, gluteus maximus, and the masseter! Naturally, we took to our own personal skeleton drawings on the wall and began adding various smooth and skeletal muscles.
Many of our books are rhyming books that have encouraged us to start a chart writing down a few words per book that we might hear. For example, in Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree we heard “night and sight”, “please and cheese”, and “ice and slice.” This also got the ball rolling on the Dr. Seuss in everyone when they began making up their own words! Rhyming is not just fun, but your child is actually building the skills they will later need to start reading! Rhyming promotes phonemic awareness and assists in decoding and comprehension, as well as many, many other benefits.
As mentioned in previous blogs, I try to encourage the class to participate in at least two group challenges a month that further assist in strengthening their “4 C’s of 21st century learning” skills (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity). Earlier this week you may remember us reading the book The Button Box about a boy who finds his grandmother’s button collection and imagines them as other things. Thank you so much for sending in some extra buttons to add to our own collection! The challenge was to work as a team to come up with a solution on how to classify all of these different buttons. Although the class has worked through similar challenges before, it can still be difficult (let’s be honest-even as adults) to listen to each other’s ideas respectfully, agree which to test out, and take turns listening to everyone’s thoughts. I stayed back and simply observed, letting the class do their thing and discuss their plans. After some time on day 1, we collectively decided this is one of those things that’s best to take a brain break from and come back refreshed and ready later on! They successfully sorted through and classified all of the buttons! There were too many buttons to count so that might be an activity for a different day, but take a look at the pictures below to see the groups of buttons sorted by color, size, and random animals! Books we read this week:
Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry
The Button Box by Margarette S. Reid
Shrinking Violet by Cari Best
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell! by Lucille Colandro
How To Catch a Gingerbread Man by Adam Wallace
Reminders:
Des Plaines tree lighting ceremony is TODAY from 4:00-6:30 p.m. in Metropolitan Square. We’ll be heading over around 3:30 from Plato or you can meet there:)
In preparation for our holiday program, I’m asking for a family picture to include in our collage/slideshow. You could either send in a physical copy or scan & email a picture of your child with all or most immediate family members from past holiday seasons.
A few weeks ago I gave your children a pair of dinosaur gloves to keep at school to ensure they always had some to wear for recess. If these have been brought home, I kindly ask that they be sent back to keep in your child’s cubby or to send a replacement pair. We are still going outside and some of our friends don’t have any gloves:/ Thank you!
Please check your child’s backpack for their folders. Important information was sent home today regarding next Friday’s Candy Cane holiday shop. How exciting!
Have a great weekend everybody and GO BULLS & BEARS!
