More about pushes & pulls

We finished up our science unit on Pushes & Pulls this week. The kids loved it and were sad that it was over! After investigating the question "What makes things move?" we moved onto to studying how to make things move in certain ways. For example, we studied what happens when you put an object in the way of a moving ball, and what happens when you roll one ball towards another one. Our culminating project was to discuss and map out the best way to move a large ball cart from one end of the school to the other. The kids were really invested in designing a solution to the challenge and used all their knowledge of pushes and pulls to execute a perfect plan!

Investigating how to make balls move in certain ways

Drawing models of what happened

Making our map to answer the question "How can we use pushes and pulls to make a path for the ball cart?"

Executing our plan using the map we designed

Making our own models of the plan

100th Day, goodbye to a friend, and Read Your Heart Out

Friday was a big day at school! It was the 100th day of school (which was rescheduled multiple times due to all our snow days!), Read Your Heart Out, and a goodbye party for one of our dear classmates. We also had an all-school assembly to celebrate Black History Month which I will post about soon. Thanks to all our guest readers who came for Read Your Heart Out on African American community involvement day. Below are some pictures of the fun!

Making 100 day hats and 100 day trail mix

Our guest readers who came as part of African American community involvement day!

More reading buddies pictures

I absolutely love Reading Buddy time! We do it every Friday now, and students are paired up with a third grade student who reads books to them, both books they bring along and books the kindergarteners pick out. The kindergarteners love being read to in a one-on-one situation, it gives the third graders practice with their reading fluency, and it helps both classes get to know more students in our school community. Here are some pictures of the buddies together!

Valentine's Day fun

Last week was another exciting week! We had a Valentine's Day party that involved making Valentine's Day bags; handing out our valentines; a party with lots of treats, crafts, games, and a science experiment; and finally time to open our Valentine gifts. Below are some pictures of all the fun! Thanks to the family members who volunteered, sent in treats, or provided Valentines.