Heart Dissection

Fourth and fifth graders were excited, and a little nervous, to cut into the pig hearts today! Working together, each partnership got to follow the flow of blood as it enters the heart un-oxygenated, flows through to the lungs, comes back in and back to the body, fully oxygenated. They got to cut, poke, and peer at the heart with the help from class parents and our guess expert, Dr. Quinn. Students noticed that the hear looks very different in reality than it does in diagrams and that it was often hard to tell things apart. They also expressed how the blood flow process made more sense now that they were able to get their hands on it.

Reading

This week we began our Roald Dahl author study with a new read aloud and independent reading book. Our new read aloud is “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, and the class began reading “The BFG”. Students are enjoying Dahl’s witty sense of humor, and intricate character development. They especially enjoyed hearing his descriptions of Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Mike Teavee, and Violet Beauregarde, the wretched golden ticket winners in the famous “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

Writing

Our final unit of study for writing this year is Literary Essays. During this study students are reading closely to develop ideas and thesis statements about books. They are working with a partner to dive deep into a beloved picture book to really get to know it and find evidence to support their thesis statement. These skills not only help them to become better writers, it also teaches them to become more alert readers.

Important Dates:

• Thursday, May 25                             Kayaking/SUPing 11:00 – 2:30
• Monday, May 29                               Memorial Day, No School
• Thursday, June 1                              Graduation, 11:30 Dismissal
• Friday, June 2                                   Field Day, Last Day of School, 11:30 Dismissal