April Happenings
Trashion Show
Under Valerie's guidance, each student created outfits, accessories and costumes out of recyclable materials. Students also helped create brochures, seed balls, and a backdrop for the performance, all out of recycled materials. Each student proudly strutted down the runway to show off their creations. Paige and Jack bravely took on the role of announcers, describing each outfit to the audience. It was a very exciting performance, enjoyed by the rest of the students and teachers at Orchard.
Set Up and Rehearsals
The Show
Published Student Authors
Students had the choice to participate in writing a paragraph for the magazine Growing Up in Santa Cruz. The paragraph was about what they have appreciated while going to school during the pandemic. Those that chose to participate had their thoughts published in the April edition. It was very exciting to see our students work in print!
Language Arts
We are wrapping up a unit on the book Holes. Our unit was full of a variety of response to literature and vocabulary activities, and the students are currently working on a fun final project of their choosing.
For Earth Day the students revisited persuasive writing and chose to create a poster or write a letter centered around an environmental issue of their choosing. A few of the students will be sending their letters to President Biden.
Below: Holes drawings of the story’s scenery and character caricatures. Earth Day persuasive projects.
Math
Our main focus in math lately has been on multiplication and division. The students have been learning and practicing a variety of strategies for these through various games and activities. Last week, each student completed a poster showing how to use a place value chart to break up a long division problem into smaller pieces. Some of the students were so excited by long division that they have been challenging themselves with extra large problems such as 87654321 ➗9 .
Next week each student will reflect on their own personal growth through this unit, and then we will be diving into fractions.
Science
The class is currently learning about energy. Students analyzed where energy comes from using a variety of basic toys and observing their types of movement. Lab teams then built swings to explore potential and kinetic energy. Up next, we will turn our focus to buried energy, and where fossil fuels come from.
Social Studies
The class studied the Age of Exploration, and each student completed and presented a poster about a famous European explorer. Posters included a fun textile representation of their explorer, a timeline of their life, a map of the explorers voyages, and other important information. Up next, the class will discover the colonization of America and our focus will shift from the world to US geography.
Other Happenings
Our class continues to enjoy spending time together during snack and through a variety of large group games at recess. One-on-one races, Horse Game, and soccer are the current favorites. The students accompany Jane to the garden at least once a week, and they just started circus arts with Rock every Friday afternoon.
