Plant and Animal Cell Research

We have been studying plant and animal cells in science and students had to work with their partners to create a diagram of each, write a thick questions, and decide which part of the cell was most important, in their opinion, and explain why. 

Observing Mystery Object- Owl pellets

We observed this mystery object today!  Then we read a story to figure out what the object was and it is... an owl pellet!  Ask your child what an owl pellet is at home!  We will be dissecting these on Thursday to discuss the food chain and food pyramid!

Engineering Design- Egg Drop

Before Spring Break, we completed an engineering design task to celebrate Easter.  Students had to use the materials provided to create a vehicle for their egg to travel in from the second floor window to the ground level.  Their designs were pretty amazing and all but one egg survived their flight!

 

Raising Autism Awareness at CCES

We are raising awareness for Autism at CCES!  This morning we released balloons in honor of raising awareness and in honor of some very special individuals!  If you would like more information about the signs of autism and interventions, please visit:

www.autismspeaks.org

Tricking the Brain

I read an interesting article recently that our superintendent shared with us about how to increase learning and how the brain works.  By doing something out of the ordinary, like sitting in our chair backwards, we can stimulate our brains.  So during RTI (which is right after lunch), that is exactly what we did!  We sat in our chair backwards and faced backwards also- hopefully a double whammy! 

Look Out, Pretty Butterfly!

Students enjoyed a lesson today taught by Ms. Rachel that focused on looking at threats that butterflies face in order to live and thrive.  They read an article and completed a card sort of how the butterflies survive, even with those threats in their environment.  Then students used the ipads to research facts about each stage of the life cycle to create a poster and use a rubric to reflect on their work!

Jump, Jump, Jump

We're not talking about bunny rabbits here, even though it is close to Easter!  In class we did an investigation recently about the life cycle of a moth to learn more about how plants/animals survive, grow, and reproduce.  Students were given a mystery object to observe and collect data about, but what they didn't know, is that the mystery object would begin to move all by itself.  It was super exciting to hear their reaction of the jumping beans! 

 Once they finished their data collection, we read an article to figure out what in the world we were looking at and we jigsawed (students were given a color and they read that highlighted part in the passage).  We used our new ipads to read the article with a partner!  After they read, they completed a task and came back to their original group members to teach each other about what they learned from the passage.  Ask your child why the bean was moving and whether it is actually a bean!