How would I describe last week? Well it was fairly short because we were off on Monday, had early release on Wednesday (well the kids did anyway), and went on a field trip Thursday afternoon. The week started with kids coming to school in shorts and ended with boots and winter coats. So I guess it was just another week at Prairie Crossing Charter School!
As a thank you to all of the 3/4th graders for collecting thousands of dollars in donations to the American Heart Association, Mr. Flinn hosted a fun Jump Rope for Heart activity in the gym. The kids had a great time jumping rope with groups, individually, jumping the whip, or coloring ways that they can keep their hearts healthy.
Meanwhile, in PE, the kids have been working on basketball. So far they have only worked on dribbling, but they should get to shooting this week.
The field trip was great fun. We went to the Waukegan Public Library and met up with students from another school in Waukegan. The theme was outer space and everyone had so much fun designing their own constellations, putting puzzles together wearing multiple pairs of gloves (like an astronaut), and learned about different types of space craft. Our kids did a great job with their younger friends. We look forward to the Waukegan classes visiting us in few weeks!
This week we’ve been continuing to work on fractions in math. Everyone seems to be understanding the topic. We have been incorporating a lot of hands-on lessons throughout this unit. We also showed them how to play some math games about fractions online. They each have a link in their Google Classroom that they can use.
We took advantage of the weather early in the week and went outside for Phenology. Some students were in shorts, outside, in February! Some days it is easy to get everyone back inside during Phenology, but this week I was willing to let them stay out even longer, because I got to stay out too!
But the weather changed quickly last week and by Friday, we were jumping in puddles at recess.
In reading, they finished up Pachelot. Everyone loved the book and now we have a copy of book 2 being passed around the class! They have also been listening to a Patricia Polacco book. Then they had to make a trading card on the computer indicating how Patricia, the character in the book, changed over the course of the book. If you haven’t read Patricia Polacco books I highly recommend them. She writes about her own experiences in such a wonderful way. You learn about her teachers, family, friends, and many others. The books are usually emotional and watching the kids listening so intently is one of the highlights of my day. There were multiple adults in the room when Ms. Hahn was reading the book this week and we all kind of look at each other afterwards and say “wow.”
And finally, this week quite a few kids who had won the trash free lunch contest got to sit at my desk. They all seem very comfortable sitting there. Grace even used her Hawks Tickets to purchase the use of a teacher chair for the entire day. Luckily we have an extra chair in the room, but I did have to throw in my seat cushion too! But make no doubt about it, I’m happy to give up my space (and cushion) to these kids.
As per usual, even on a short week we were able to get a lot done this week. We are hoping that last weeks high temps return soon. Have a nice week!
~ Mrs. Steinbeck