Week 20 Highlights!

We celebrated Valentine's Day this week as well as invite Beecher's Cheese Pure Food Kids Foundation to come and teach us how to make vegetarian chili and hold a nutrition workshop in our classroom!  Both were fun days where we got to make food/snacks and get lots of hands-on experience in our pseudo Room 307 Kitchen!  Take a look at all of the pictures of students chopping (look at their chopping skills!) and helping to make our chili - the onion group had to take many breaks due to the tears! :)

For our Valentine's Day snack, we made Sweetheart Buddies and although it wasn't the most nutritious snack, it sure was delicious!  It got pretty hectic with everyone helping to make it and I forgot to take action shots, but here is the finally product!  We had it with some strawberry milk... yum.

Updates:

-In our current writing unit, students continued revising their Civics informational pieces and focused on writing strong introductions and conclusions.  All students should be finished with their first drafts and ready to start publishing this week!

-All math groups are working on their current decimals units!

-Students were excited to begin working with their very own microscopes during science this week!  They had the chance to examine small pictures called microfiche under microscopes and will start observing microscopic organisms soon.

-For our fantasy unit in reading, we continued our read aloud of Gregor the Overlander and met with our book club groups.  Students are expected to finish their reading and the book club assignment by the time the book club meets each week.  There is a lot of accountability within the group to finish and produce quality work and have a meaningful conversation.

-Last but not least, this week, Ms. Trapp taught a philosophy lesson!  Students participated in their first ever philosophical discussion.  They had a chance to hear some of Plato's Myth of Gyges and talk about what makes something right or wrong.  We will continue to have philosophy sessions once in a while with Ms. Trapp - it really makes them think!

Reminders:

-Black History Biography Projects should be well under way at home.  If not, please start now!  Rubrics will go home this week!

-100th Day of School is on Wednesday, February 18th!

Week 19 Highlights!

Hi 307 Families!  Ms. Trapp here.  February is off to a busy start in 307.  Here are some of the highlights from the week:

-On Monday, Leschi hosted two community members for the first Black History Month assembly, Dr. Danielson from the Odessa Brown Clinic and Dr. Dawn Mason, a former Washington Representative.  They both gave encouraging and inspiring talks to our Leschi community.

-On Thursday, the 4th and 5th grade classes participated in the Global Reading Challenge.  Two students from 307, Erica and Tali, won with their team the Reading Rockets and will be representing Leschi at the semi-final challenge!

-Students met with their Kindergarten and 1st grade buddies in Ms. Chin's class on Friday to work on a Valentine's fraction activity.

Updates:
-This week in reading, we started a new Fantasy unit!  We began a new read aloud, Gregor the Overlander, and started our fantasy book clubs.  Ask your student about their new book club book!

-Science started back up this week with our new Microworlds unit.  Students worked on making scientific observations and will begin using microscopes next week!

-Students began making revisions to their information text drafts in writing.

-This week in math, we started learning about decimals!

Reminders:
-Black History Night is coming up on the 26th of this month.  4th and 5th grade students at Leschi will be completing a Cereal Box Biography!  It will be a fun project to share information in honor of courage African Americans in our history - details coming home this week!

-5th grade families: permission slip for FLASH went home on Thursday - please be sure to sign and return them to indicate whether or not you want your student to participate.

-Mid-Winter Break is coming up!  There is no school on February 16th and 17th!

Weeks 16, 17, & 18 Highlights!

What a busy month we had in January!  So many events, assemblies, the start of many new units, and holidays!  Some big events that we had in January were:

-Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly and service project - all of the 4/5 grade classes helped to clean the bathrooms at Leschi and made them beautiful for the rest of the school!  It was hard work, but we were inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how he was a great role model for everyone.  He stood up for what was right and we want to do the same at Leschi.  As 4/5th graders, we need to set a good example to other students so here are some of the pictures of our hard-working students!

-Toy Company Store Opening - was a BLAST!  Mrs. Savage's 2/3 grade class came to purchase our products and many companies even sold out of all of the products!  We can't post the pictures that we took during the Toy Store Opening because there were other students here from a different class, but here are pictures before the opening and some of our products that we made.

-We visited the Seattle Public Library to hear Sundee Frazier speak.  She is the author of Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It.  She was a very dynamic speaker and we were able to learn a lot about how she became a writer.  

-For writing, we started on writing our informational text based on all we learned about civics.  Students are working through our flash drafts and organizes our writing into subsections to clearly share what they know.  

-In math, we are finishing up fractions and beginning to learn about decimals!

-We also wrapped up our informational reading unit - learning all about text structures, and comparing and analyzing text. 

-Science is starting back up next week: Microworlds!

Week 15 Highlights!

Happy New Year, 307 Families! Ms. Trapp here. It was great to be back in the classroom this week after a refreshing break. 2015 is off to a busy start. Here are some of the highlights from this week:

- Math: Stanford started a new unit on multiplying and dividing fractions and Yale began a new algebra unit. Princeton and Harvard continued their work with adding and subtracting fractions.

- Reading: We continued our nonfiction unit this week and focused on finding the main idea and summarizing. Students also started meeting with their Global Reading Challenge Books Clubs. Ask your student to tell you about what they are reading for Book Club! We also got our Book Club Sets Donors Choose project funded! Here are some of the new books we got!

- Social Studies: In Social Studies, we dug a little deeper into our Civics unit and how the different branches of government work. Students are looking forward to running for positions in our own class government next week!

- Toy Company: Companies finished making their products and started to think about how they will market them to Ms. Savage’s second and third graders.

Next Friday, Leschi will be celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with an assembly. All of the 4th and 5th grade classes will be working together on a community service project to put into action some of the values of Dr. King. We will be working together to clean and beautify all of the student bathrooms around Leschi next week.

Reminders:
- In a couple weeks, we will be going on a field trip to see Sundee Frazier, the author of Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It. If you haven’t already, please fill out the permission slip and return it with your student!

- Wednesday, January 14th is a 2-hour early dismissal. School will be out at 12:50.

Weeks 12, 13, & 14 Highlights!

Welcome back to school in the new year! December was such a busy month and I fell behind on updating all of you on what's been happening in the classroom - my apologies! However... our class bloggers have been doing an amazing job keeping up for me. Here are the past updates for December:

December 5, 2014

Hello, this week has been a great week from start to end. Given from coming back from the exciting Thanksgiving break, we have eased into the classroom vibe successfully and enjoyably. On Wednesday, we had dental screening to keep our teeth clean and healthy. Unfortunately, there has been a sickness going around taking Ms. Staab out for a day. We missed her too, on Thursday for a student teacher training meeting, but on Friday, today she teaches again!

This week, we have been studying the Preamble to the Constitution, on behalf of our Civics unit. We have read many books about the Constitution, and learned the meanings in the Preamble phrases. This week, we have been researching the seven regions of the USA and played Kahoot, a trivia game that was used with Chromebooks with our teams that studied the regions.



December 12, 2014

Hello everyone we had a normal good week. We have been playing Kahoot, an online trivia game that we have been using to test our knowledge on Civics. Kahoot has been a success in Room 307!

If you haven't heard about our new social studies unit, it is Toy Company. Toy Company is where we form groups to make toys, and along the way, we learn about the economy of making a business. Here are the business names:

Silly Boys makes Silly Putty in different colors.
Keychain Cutesies makes trinkets and keychains.

Doll Accessories makes dresses, etc. for dolls.

Stitched & Stuffed makes stuffed animals for all genders.

Essential Origami makes origami.

A Mile of Crayons use crayon scraps and reform them into modern molds.

We will have an update on how the companies are doing next time!

December 19, 2014

Hi everyone, this week we have been soaking up the last bit of school until break. We are looking forward to the holidays and have been making the most out of fun. We have done gingerbread houses, K/1 Buddies (help them make their gingerbread houses), and our first class auction!

During auctions, Ms. Staab or Ms. Trapp gives us the cash in our bank accounts (from our bonuses, salary, other earnings). There are lots of fun toys and candy getting auctioned off to the highest bidder. This is a time where most people spend most of their money. How it work is Ms. Staab raises a toy in the auction and people bid and the last person with their paddle up gets the toy/prize. We had some other interesting prizes besides toys. There were a few "No Homework" passes, Starbucks drink, switch desks with Ms. Staab/Ms. Trapp for a day, etc. It was a lot of fun! We look forward to the next one. Happy winter break!

Your Class Bloggers,

Noah & Lillian

Week 11 Highlights

Hello Room 307 Families!  Ms. Trapp here.  It's hard to believe that it's almost the end of November... where has this month gone?!  Before I recap our week, I just wanted to say a thank you to all of the families who let me participate in their student's conference this past week.  It was a wonderful opportunity for me to get to learn more about you and your students.  I'm very excited to get to know each family better throughout this year!

We ended the week with a fun field trip to 826 Seattle which recently changed its name to The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas.  Our class was actually the first group to visit after they changed their name!  Students worked collaboratively as a class to create their first own Choose Your Own Adventure story.  We wrote the beginning of the adventure all together and then broke up into groups to create the different story pathways.  Each student received a published copy of the class book - ask your student to share their copy of The Mysterious House at the End of the Cul-de-Sac!

We also held our second annual Thanksgiving Feast Potluck on Friday!  Students enjoyed a delicious meal together and shared some of the things they are thankful for.  Thank you to all of the families who made our feast possible!

Here are some of this week's other highlights...

Highlights:
-In math, we have switched over to small group and individual instruction.  Students are really enjoying the personal lessons as we continue our work with fractions.
-We introduced the USA Studies Weekly newspapers we will be reading as part of our nonfiction reading unit.  This week's theme was geography.  Students read about different types of maps and analyzed map perspectives.

-In Toy Company (our economics unit), students worked on creating names and slogans for their companies.  They also started designing their products.  In the coming weeks, students will put together formal product proposals and begin producing their toys.

Reminders:
-There is no school the week of November 24th - November 28th due to parent teacher conferences!

-We had a Dental Education presentation on Friday - please return the form if you would like your child to receive a dental checkup (during school hours) and teeth brushed with fluoride!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Week 10 Highlights

Hello Room 307 Families!  Ms. Trapp here.  This week was a busy week in 307 as we dove into a number of brand new units.

Highlights:
-In social studies, we began our new Civics unit by discussing the three branches of government in the United States.  Students sorted the different roles of the branches and made mobiles to represent the system of checks and balances in our government.  We ended the week by simulating the process for a bill to become a law.  Here are two students working on their three branches of government web-quest!

-In math, we are transitioning into more small group and individualized instruction as we begin our fractions unit.  This week, students worked on finding like and equivalent fractions, and began adding unlike fractions.
-We started a mini-unit in economics, Toy Company, this week as well.  Students spent time thinking about all of the different departments a company might need to run successfully.  Students chose which toy they were passionate about and began working together to create a charter for how their company would run.  Ask your students about their new company!

-This week, we also started a new nonfiction reading unit.  We did a scavenger hunt of nonfiction text features and learned how to take notes from nonfiction text. 

Reminders:
-Have your students wear their Discover Dance t-shirts on Monday to support the second graders who performed at McCaw Hall this weekend!
-If you have not done so, please turn in the pink permission slip for the field trip this Thursday to 826 Seattle!