Hello everyone, 

Most of our week was spent finishing our lost cities research projects. The students have created unique, detailed projects. They were so creative in choosing how to represent their research. Students spend their time building small models of artifacts, creating descriptive essays, colorful posters, and intricate Google Slides presentations. They’re very proud of what they have made and are excited to present their work to the class on Monday. 

For math this week, we focused mainly on polygons. The students were given a variety of shapes and were asked to sort them based on their sides. Some shapes were ones they had seen before, such as a regular octagon, but others were more unique. The students really had to focus on how many sides the shapes had, not just where they thought they belonged based on how they looked. It was also a great opportunity for the students to apply their knowledge of Greek numbers to help them figure out how many sides certain shapes had, such as a decagon. 

In addition to this math activity, we also took time to review coin counting with a game of Coin War! The students were given decks of cards with different coins on them and had to determine who had the higher card based on the value of the coins. As they went, they added up the money they acquired on their cards as extra practice adding decimals. 

On Tuesday afternoon, I was out of the classroom. However, the students still had a fun time learning with Coach Medina reading an awesome Super Science article. The students read about how people in Vermont make maple syrup! They also learned how the weather and temperature play a big part in the sap collecting process, and used that information to analyze a table to determine when the best days to collect sap would be. 

In addition to all of this, we had an exciting field trip to the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago! The students were given a guided tour of the museum, then we had time to explore on our own. The students were amazed at the size of some of the artifacts. They were also amazed at how old the items were! The mummy was one that we were particularly impressed by. It was a great experience and a wonderful way to wrap up our Egypt exploration! 

As the year comes to a close, we’ve also participated in some of our end-of-the-year activities. We helped paint the sculpture that Plato will display in Greektown. We will talk about the artist who inspired it, Iasonas Megoula, next week. We’ve also started practicing the all-school song for the end-of-the-year program. The students are doing a great job singing with strong, clear voices. We’re excited to show everyone! And, of course, the students had a wonderful time playing games with their buddies at the carnival! 

Have a great weekend!