Our Celebration!

Posted Thu, 04/05/2012 - 13:59

We have been working on poems and character posters and water systems. Parents came in to read our poems and to see our water systems and water system maps. These are a few of the names of characters: Fox, Bat Man, Tin Tin, George and Martha, Flat Stanley, Fly guy and Mrs. Jewls. Grown ups comented on our poems. [by Ari, Talya and Lily]

To see our finished water systems and maps, click here.

Water Water Everywhere

Posted Thu, 03/08/2012 - 07:43

It's been weeks, now, that we have been studying water - how it moves, how to clean it, how to control it, how to protect it... We have explored buckets and pipes and faucets and filters. We have learned a lot about the history of the water system in New York City, and we learned how fortunate we are by comparing our system to the systems in Chicago and San Diego. Now, we are taking all that learning and putting it into our island adventure. We are designing and building systems that will get clean water to flow from a good source into the homes that we built on our islands back in December. Stay tuned, because we will be sharing this work with families soon. Here are some pictures of the process...

... But where will we live??

Posted Tue, 12/13/2011 - 08:17

Our island maps are mostly finished now. You can see them here.

So now we are beginning to think about what it will take to live on these places. After all - they're pretty neat - islands, rivers, lakes, oceans, cliffs, mountains... We think we'll stick around for a while. That means that we'll need some place to live!

We took a look at the way that the first New Yorkers built their homes. After some discussion in the classroom, we went to the Wyckoff Farm House - one of the oldest homes in all of New York State. That got us thinking.

In other news... we have begun to read some more terrific books - especially the "Fox" and "Nate the Great" series. And we are still working through "Nim's Island". Our island adventure stories are coming along really well. They are full of exciting journeys, animal encounters and tales about getting lost. And they are full of delicious language - of course! We are almost finished with our first drafts, and then we will begin the process of revising and publishing.

In math we have learned a few new games to practice combinations of ten and strategies for mental addition beyond ten. These games can be sent home if you would like them.

So what can you be doing at home?

  • Keep working on facts of ten. If you need games for this, send us a quick note.
  • Start talking, too, about what happens when 10 is added to any number. A great way to do this is to count change. If you have 43 cents - what happens when you add another dime?
  • Read mysteries and make predictions along the way. "What do you already know? So what do you think will happen next?"
  • Keep looking and listening for delicious language when you read and talk. Especially keep an ear out for descriptive language - language that tells what things look like, sound like, etc.
  • Start thinking about the ways that people live. What kind of houses do people live in? What kind of houses do animals live in?

Ezra Jack and Central Park

Posted Fri, 12/02/2011 - 08:03

We snuck in two more trips in the past week, and we've got another one coming next Friday. Last week, we went to the Jewish Museum to see the Ezra Jack Keats exhibit. Pretty amazing work. We also tried a bit of collage of our own at the museum and in the classroom. In the classroom, we moved on to reading some books about "Fox" by James and Edward Marshall. We have been thinking about ways that readers make predictions before they start reading and while they're going.

Yesterday, Thursday, we went to Central Park where we sat on, climbed on, jumped on, and picnicked on some real New York City bedrock. We sketched and wrote about the rock, and we tried to match it up with the samples that we've been using at school. Most of us thought we were seeing large amounts of schist, a bit of gneiss, and maybe some marble squeezed in there. We also found lots of granite, but that was mostly on the stations, buildings and sidewalks as we were were traveling.

Our fantasy islands are pretty much done now. We've explored all of the land and water forms, and we've been busy making maps of these places. We have also been writing more stories about the goings on there. Most recently, we wrote stories about getting lost. Stay tuned - because we will be publishing an island story, soon, and we will want you to come in to read and celebrate them.

So what can you be doing at home?

  • When you walk around the city and come across rocks - in buildings or in nature - look carefully. What do you notice? Can you tell what kind of rock it is?
  • Keep practicing tens facts! What two numbers add up together to make 10?
  • Predict! When you're reading and any time. Say something like this: "Well, I already know that ... and so what I think is going to happen is ..."
  • Maps! What maps do you see around the home or around the city? What do you notice about them? What are they used for and how?
  • Illustrations. When you're reading picture books, pay extra careful attention to the pictures. What materials did the artist use?
  • Ask about the stories the kids are writing. What animal did you encounter on your island? What happened in your 'lost' story?