by Katie Holmberg and Judy Jurnack

First Graders were surprised this morning to walk into the room and hear, "Happy Penguin Day!"  Theme Days are always a fun-filled day of learning.  The day began with a great Penguin video which incorporated facts with silly songs and videos of penguins in their natural habitats.  

In the afternoon, after some penguin math, we read the book Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester.  First graders were challenged to make a disguise for their Tacky to hide it from hunters.  They made ballet costumes, swimsuits, and Christmas outfits, just to name a few.

The day ended with a penguin bubble necklace and some inside bubble blowing.  Theme Days are awesome!

The trip began with time to look in all of the tanks at the aquarium. Then the first graders went down to the touch tank area to learn more.  They were able to touch lobsters, clams, sea stars, horseshoe crabs, and more. The trip ended with the seal and sea lion exhibit where they learned so much about these awesome animals.  Thanks to the Aquarium of Niagara for a wonderful field trip!

by Judy Jurnack and Katie Holmberg

Weeks of 12/19/16 and 1/2/17

by Kate Lynett and Kathleen McIntyre

Third graders completed their Native American unit this week.  Students enjoyed learning about the similarities between the Hopi and the Navajo.  It was interesting to explore how and why the Chinook of the northwest coast were so different from the other Native American groups we learned about. Fish was as important to the Chinook as corn was to the Iroquois! 

by Kate Lynett and Kathleen McIntyre

Third graders experienced the joy of being the first class to play outside in the freshly fallen snow! Snowmen were built and stories were told! There were many, many 'accidental' falls into the snow during a game of soccer. The students are looking forward to more snow adventures!

by Shannon Victor and Mark Saldanha

Second graders LOVE counting money, and are having a blast playing the popular math game Loose Change. The game encourages kids to make change using various coins in different amounts. 

​by Kate Lynett and Kathleen McIntyre
 
2, 4, 6, 8, what do you appreciate?!? THE THIRD GRADE MULTIPLICATION UNIT!! Third graders are excitedly beginning to learn about the math concept that is found almost everywhere…... multiplication. We have begun exploring multiplication arrays that we see around school and home every day. In lunch, one student even noticed the sweet potato tots lined up in a 3 x 4 array. How sweet is that? Ask your child where the next array might be hiding? They’ll be sure to tell you!

​by Kate Lynett and Kathleen McIntyre
 
As a springboard into our electricity unit in science class, third grade students experienced the incredible energy that our region has to offer at the New York Power Authority. Third graders were able to set their inner engineers free to build their own power dams. Along with building dams, students were able to operate a power plant in the control room simulator, direct power at the transmission table, and immerse themselves in a surround-sound, multi-sensory Power-Up 4D theatre experience. To say the day was a ‘power’ful one would be an understatement!

As part of this week's Journeys lessons, we will be taking a trip to the Aquarium of Niagara. We'll get to see some of the animals we'll read about in our anthology!