This week during theme, our Environmental Engineers had a chance test out the best methods for cleaning up an oil spill in a river ecosystem. We began by discussing ecosystems and how the animals and plants are connected in an ecosystem. If a river is polluted, it not only affects the fish, but the animals that eat the fish. Each child took on the role of a plant or animal in a river ecosystem and we created a food web to model the connections. Then the children were given containers of water with a small vegetable oil spill. They tested out several tools and materials that could be used to contain the oil or remove the oil. They used sponges, pipettes, felt, yarn, rubber bands, cotton balls, spoons. Be sure to ask your child what was the best material to remove oil from our "river"! The children will use this information next week to engineer the most effective way to clean our mock oil spill. They will brainstorm, design, and test their plans and reflect on changes they want to make. Did their methods remove the oil the best? What could have worked better?
We had our last Hands on Nature lesson this month...in fact, it is the last one ever! Hands on Nature does not continue after third grade. Thank you very much to our dedicated Hands on Nature volunteers for sharing your joy and love of nature with us each month! This month we focused on flowers. The children had the opportunity to dissect flowers and compare the flowers and their structures. They learned vocabulary for the parts of a flower and even had a chance to do some dandelion artwork!
In math, we started our last unit of the year. During Unit 7, we will be working on multiplying one-digit numbers by two-digit numbers and fractions. This week we used base ten pieces and arrays to multiply numbers by 11s and 12s. Be sure to ask your child if he or she can tell you about the number patterns we found in the products of these equations!
Please note there is information in your child's backpack regarding the PTO Jog-a-thon. The Jog-a-thon is on Friday, June 2nd. Also, on Thursday, Shelburne Farms will be visiting the third grade at SCS to do a bread baking event. Team Esprit will be outside for most of the morning so please make sure your child is dress appropriately.
Have a great weekend!
The PTO Jog-a-thon is always one of the highlights of the year! Today was no exception! Team Esprit was on the move at 8:45, running laps in the Davis Park neighborhood. We had a great group of runners! Each lap was a half mile. Be sure to ask your child how many laps he or she completed this morning! The fun continued with lunch outside and a dance party with a DJ. We also had our last Mix-It-Up day for the year. Miss Niles' class met up with their fourth and eighth grade buddies to play board games and Miss Deb's class created and colored mandalas with their buddies!
During science, we continued to be environmental engineers. We were given a task to help solve an environmental problem in a fictitious town, Greentown. The frogs and plants are dying in the ponds and marshlands and the children had to test pH levels of soil and water from the area to determine the pollution problem in that town. After measuring the pH levels, we discussed the changes in the levels of pH in soil and water and brainstormed reasons why those changes