Our Fat Larva Friends

This is just one of 4 tobacco hornworm larva that we are studying and raising on your donated tomato plants and fruits. Hoping this week, they might change to their pupa stage so we can see them as moths. Thanks for your donations from home!

Peck Farm Fun

More Pics from Peck!

Our Trip to Peck Farm - 9/18/12

We took our first trip of the year to go visit the butterflies at Peck Farm. Our insect discoveries included beetles, ants, grasshoppers and more. We enjoyed catching our own insects for observation, touring the silo painted with murals that charted the history of the area, from prehistoric times to today. Inside the Peck Farm house, we played with animal puppets and held bones, pelts and pieces of nature. Our last stop in the butterfly garden was a highlight, getting to see so many chrysalides and new adult butterflies. Very colorful! (pictures forthcoming... technical difficulties)

Working with Our 5F Buddies

We started our first round of Fifth Grade Buddies this week. Initially, we spent some time getting to know our new buddies. Soon, we will begin to show our older friends how we use our new Reading Buddies (strategies we learned, to help when we find a work that we don't know in the text). Our buddies from Mrs. Foster's class are going to help us practice using those strategies when we find books that are "just right." We will also find other fun things to do with our 5F buddies, but for now, we're going to use their expertise in reading to help us be stronger readers!

Number Stories Are Fun!

Remember when we used to struggle with learning how to pick just the right strategy for solving "story problems?" Well we're already on our way to thinking and working on Number Stories in 1C. We teamed up this week, to create number stories in pairs, and solve them in our own ways. Great thinkers!

Grace McWayne Spirit Week

We celebrate Homecoming Week by spreading a little school spirit. Your child can participate by wearing the following on each day (Sept. 10-14). Monday: Go Grizzlies! Wear Grace McWayne Grizzly colors of blue and yellow. Tuesday: Favorite Team Tuesday: Wear your favorite team shirt (Go White Sox!) Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday: Funky hair styles, mismatched clothes, inside out, polka dots and stripes, bright colors... have fun! Thursday: PJ Day. Wear your favorite pajamas to school. Friday: Go Bulldogs! Wear Batavia Bulldog red and gold, or your favorite sports team apparel. Note that students can bring 50 cents for a donut at lunch.

Math Explorations

We have been learning rules and routines for how to work in small groups, large groups, and in this Math Exploration activity. Students need to have experiences with different math tools, through exploration, in order to better prepare for learning with those tools. Here, we see students using stencils, pattern blocks, base 10 blocks, geoboards, a scale, calculators, and attribute blocks. They are doing a fine job of working to maintain their volume level, as well as working appropriately with the tools.