Earth Science

Essential Questions:

1.  Does the sun warm all surfaces the same?

2. How can we reduce the impact of the sun on an area?

First, we went outside and felt different surfaces on the playground.  We made a chart describing the temperatures.  

Next we did a little experiment with a heat lamp to learn if the sun heats soil, sand, water, and air the same.  And we wanted to compare the difference between these things in the sun and in the shade.  (Picture of experiment to come).

Our Data:

We noticed that at room temperature (in the shade) all temperatures were similar.  Temperatures under the heat lamp (sun) varied a bit.  Sand was the hottest which lead us to our engineering design project.  

Kids worked in small groups to plan and create a shade for a sandbox.  The goal is to decrease the impact of sun on the sand while still allowing people to play in it.  

Sexton Mountain is an Active School

Being active throughout the day is important for both children and adults.  Not only does it promote a healthy physical lifestyle, but it also helps our focus and attention during class.  We make sure to take lots of breaks throughout the day.  We've been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and playing on the field a few times a week.

Details, Details, Details

In writing we have been focused on drawing pictures and adding details to tell a story.

 
In reading, we have been practicing reading the pictures in fiction and nonfiction books.  We can learn so much by looking carefully at the details in the pictures.

When we drew our self portraits we paid close attention to the details of our features.

A little bit about Mrs. Hiatt

Summer time for me is a time to connect with my young family.  We added a puppy to the mix in July.  While on a family vacation about a week after we got him, he broke his pinky toe.  This caused him to be in a splint for 6 weeks, which was basically the entire summer.  There is never a dull moment around here, that's for sure.  

Miles just turned 6 and started kindergarten this year.  He loves it.  There is a lot of new responsibility that he is adjusting to, and I am so proud of him.

Earlier this spring we did a fun integrated unit on the sun, moon, and their relationship with Earth. 

Science Questions:

Why does the moon seem to change shape?

Why does the sun seem to move across the sky?

Writing:

Adjectives 

Poetry

All About Books

Reading:

Features of nonfiction text

Note-taking, gathering facts about a topic

Comparing and contrasting the sun and moon

For the art project, we added flour to white paint to create texture and used bottle caps to make craters.

We tracked one full moon cycle by recording our observations.

We wrote non fiction books about the moon.

"The Moon Facts"

"The moon seems like it is yellow or white. Really the moon is grey."

For the sun art project we used 3 good sized blobs of red, yellow, and orange paint.  With plastic wrap on top, kids spread the paint around and then peeled the plastic off.

Poem in Your Pocket

On April 21st we all brought poems to school tucked into our pockets and took them out throughout the day to read to each other.