A short but BUSY February!!

 Hello Families, 

I hope every one enjoyed a restful break filled with whatever your soul and family needed. I cannot wait to see everyone tomorrow!

It felt like I hadn't written a blog update in so long, it's been a month. We have done SO MUCH. I will make the descriptions as brief as I can, because I have so many awesome pictures to share. 

There are kids building still, all the time and June made a picture using our connect four game.

These are one of my favorite projects we've done so far. We wrote acrostic poems using our names, and things about ourselves. These are JUST SO PRECIOUS.

These are a few snapshots of our math stations: working with number lines to solve addition and subtraction problems, filling in blank number lines, playing a game where the goal is to make different combinations to the number 20 and we practice fluency on chromebooks using a program called xtra math.

This group of pictures is from our awesome trip to the Retreat Farm. Thank you to the chaperones that were able to join us. We got to see Carlos the bull, Sassy the donkey and the two goats. We had sugar on snow, we slid down the hills in the woods, played with the outdoor kitchen and had a little bit of playground time. We had a beautiful day and so much fun!!

In science, we have been studying properties of matter. Why are certain clothes made with certain materials? What properties do they have, that make them useful? We all agree that wool is best for a winter day because it is insulating. We did experiments to see if styrofoam, tin foil or cloth (socks) would keep our hands safe from something hot. There are pictures of students sharing their ultimate clothing designs, too. They got to pick what the weather was and if they were going on a camping trip, what would they wear. They also had to say what material and WHY!!

Then, we built on this knowledge by talking about different building materials. They had to think about if they would use wood or metal to build a house for themselves and defend WHY. They had really good ideas about what materials would be sturdy, and asked good questions about what would happen to wood over time. Would it rot? Would metal rust? There are pictures of our three building challenges: a TALL tower using marshmallows and toothpicks, a two story building using paper, and a sturdy house with 2 windows, one door and a roof out of legos! When we return from break we will discuss which materials were the best and easiest for building with, and of course, WHY.

Looking at REAL blue prints for buildings in Boston. My dad owns a glass company, we normally use a lot of these for scrap paper. But this time, we studied the different parts and labels (windows for glass, where would doors go?). 

More math station pictures and a few pictures of when we made the bath tea with our gardener, Tara Gordon. She will be coming in weekly to do projects with us, as it is almost planting time!

Ok, we are almost caught up! Thanks for sticking with me. These few are of our trip to the Vermont Wilderness School at Austine Campus and really warm playground day. 

Stay tuned for information about our TENTH ANNUAL TULIP TROT and our second round of parent teacher conferences coming up at the end of the month.

Be well, 

Ali