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We spent this week in outer space! We learned about the sun, moon, stars and all of the planets. One week was hardly enough to cover all of this interesting information. The kids had so many great questions, we may have some future astronauts in class! We wrote about “if we went to space”, we learned the order of the planets, and even made a spinning model that shows us how the Earth, moon and sun revolve around each other.

This past week we also saw a lot of “lasts” in first grade; last spelling and math test, last homework, last DOL. We had our step-up days, too. We got to visit the 2nd grade classrooms and learn a little bit about what school will look like next year. Then we got to be the big kids with a visit from the kindergartners to hear all about 1st grade. A bittersweet time; we are so excited to be 2nd graders but are not ready to say goodbye to 1st grade.

Shout out to Ms. Scovil for the incredible art show! The students art work was beautifully displayed and it was so fun to see all their hard work this year! Be on the lookout for all of the masterpieces to come home next week.

Next week will be full of celebrating all of our hard work this year (and a little cleaning and organizing)

Here are some important dates to keep in mind for next week:
Monday- we will have a visit from the fire truck at 2:00. Make sure kids bring a change of clothes and a towel.
Wednesday – Class party at Playformance. We will leave school around 9:15, parent drivers needed and all parents are welcome to join us! Lunch will be provided and we will eat at Playformance.
Thursday – last day of school. 11:50 dismissal and there will be NO AFTERCARE

We spent the week learning all about bats. We read Stellaluna, a story about a bat who is adopted by a bird family when he becomes separated from his mom. Later in the week, we read the story Night Song about a little bat that discovers he can “see” using echolocation. After this, we did a listening activity in the park which mimics the way bats would use echolocation to find their food. The kids closed their eyes for 2 minutes and wrote down everything they heard. It was interesting to make note of all the sounds we hear in a day without realizing it. We read several non-fiction bat facts and wrote bat facts. The kids voted on whether they thought bats were cute or creepy (cute won out) and on Thursday we made bat fliers and went to the park to watch them fly.
On Friday, we got together with our 4th grade buddies and make pumpkin catapults! The kids and their buddies were given 10 popsicle sticks, 6 rubber bands, a spoon and a candy pumpkin. They had 10 minutes to create their catapults and then tried to launch their pumpkins. They took measurements of how far the pumpkins went and added the distances up to find an average. Such a fun activity for all of them and having those older buddies help us with the bigger math problems was a perfect match.
In math we continue with our unit, “How many of each/ How many in all”. We are learning there are mulitple addition sentences that can equal the same number. For example, if we have 15 balloons and some are red and some are blue how many combinations could we have. The kids have to come up with all the ways they can make 15, very helpful as we are always trying to lock in those number facts.

This week we will going on our first field trip!! Please remember that the kids need to be in St. Michaels uniform (red shirts and khaki bottoms) and need to bring a bagged lunch as we will be eating at Brandi Fenton Park after the field trip.

Dates to remember: ( please note that half day dismissal times have changed for lower school)

10/28 – Field Trip – Tucson Village Farms 9:30 – 11:30; 10/29 – Halloween Party/ Parade 1:00 – 3:00; 11/5 – Field Day half-day 11:50 dismissal; 11/8 – Grading Day – No School; 11/17 – Half day -11:50 dismissal (staff development)