December 14 Lunch Orders Due
December 17 Library Visit
December 24-January 4 Winter Break
January 7 School Resumes
Homework Due by Friday, December 14th
1. Read for at least 20 minutes every night.
2. Complete 20 minutes of typing practice.
3. Complete at least 30 minutes of math practice (click here for DreamBox).
4. Optional - Compete Opinion Paragraph of the Week
Prompt: Should teachers show movies at school? Support your opinion.
Upcoming Out and Abouts
This Wednesday, we will use our Out & About time to continue our study of electricity with a Toy Put Together Day! Students will use pieces from our Take Apart Day last week to make a new creation that has at least one complete circuit. Next week, we will have a presentation from Metro about about packaging and ways to decrease waste.
Volunteer Opportunities
Library Chaperones - Needed January 14th
Community Breakfast - Fruit and cereal/bagels needed for Friday breakfast in January and February
Hour Of Code
Last week, the Plovers participated in an event called Hour of Code. This campaign was a part of Computer Science Education Week. With technology changing every industry on the planet, computing knowledge has become part of a well-rounded skill set. But fewer than half of all schools teach computer science! Good news is, we’re on our way to change this. If you heard about the Hour of Code last year, you might know it made history. 100 million students have now discovered how accessible and fun computer science can be by doing just one Hour of Code.
The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. The Plovers tried out several self-paced tutorials, including a dance party challenge, which introduced computer science skills such as drag-and-drop programing, creative problem solving, sequencing and patterns, and basic algorithms. To learn more or try out some of the tutorials at home, please visit Hour Of Code Activities.
Weekly Review
Last week, the Plovers presented at All School Meeting and read a book called What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada. They also shared their business idea for a mini golf course that will re-use trash and recycling to make all of holes and clubs! The Plovers will begin building in January and the mini golf business should be open for Celebrations of Learning in February 2019! Here is the script that the students wrote to explain their business project:
So now we would like to share our own idea that might change part of the world. This is an idea for a business that Level 2 will create. We had lots of ideas and we’ve been learning a lot about how businesses and stores help the community. We even had our own imaginary businesses in our classroom and now we are ready to start a real business.
We’ve also been learning about recycling and reusing materials. We visited a place called the Metro Transfer Station, which takes trash and sorts it for the landfill. We saw things like couches, lawn chairs, blankets, broken toilets and electronics. Many of these things could have been recycled or reused instead of thrown away. We had a trash problem in our imaginary business community and had to come up with a new solution. So now we want to make sure that our classroom business helps with recycling and reusing things at school.
Another thing we learned about was fossil fuels, like oil and gas. Fossil fuels are used for electricity and making plastics. Many people use cars that need fossil fuels to go shopping and visit businesses that are not in Forest Grove. So we wanted to help by making a business that would stop people from driving to other towns. We also wanted it to be fun for kids and adults!
We talked about many business ideas that would use recycled materials and help people in Forest Grove drive less. Some of the ideas we had were a bowling alley, an arcade or carnival, a ninja warrior obstacle course, a robot store, and a book store. Our class discussed all of our ideas, but we could only choose one. And the winning idea was mini golf!
Last month, we had an Out & About to Glowing Greens, which is a place in Portland with black light mini golf! First we studied how it works and drew some pictures of the courses. Then we played and tested out ideas for making interesting courses. That’s when we knew that mini golf was the winning business idea!
Here are some other reasons why mini golf was the best idea. There’s no mini golf close to Forest Grove, which means families have to drive and make pollution when they want to play mini golf. Also, we can use recycled materials like boxes, cardboard tubes, water bottles, milk cartons and carpet to make the golf course. Our class also likes building things, so we are excited to make our own creations!
Lately, we have been learning about electricity and how to make things light up and move. We are thinking about how we can use electricity in our mini golf course. We are also trying to think of other ways to be creative. Here is a video about some of the weird and exciting ideas we have for our business! We will start building in January and it will open in February 2019! Hope you can come to our mini golf! Tell your friends!
Communication
Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Parents and students can e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also leave a voice message on the class phone or set up a time to meet with me before/after school.