Week 8

Weekly Greetings!

I hope you all got the letters home letting you know that the school day will be extended 10 minutes each day starting this week. Also, the picture retake day will be sometime this Tuesday.

As for a few highlights from last week, the class went out to look for any plants still living after the fall frosts to use for a short experiment. We found some pansies by the greenhouse, and larger weeds in the grass on the hill near the playground. Some students hypothesized that the plants would dry up when put in a plastic bag, but others thought the plants would create moisture. That was exactly what happened after taping the bag to our class window. All living things need water, and plants are a part of a delicate ecosystem that helps with that.

To review a Social Studies lesson on why the colonists felt the need for independence from the British, we did a simulation using M&Ms as money that was taxed by the king. When the king wanted more taxes, the students role playing members of the  parliament would order a certain amount to be taken from the colonists.  Tax collectors gathered the taxes, as students who were colonists got more upset at the loss of there M&Ms. I think they made the connection as to why people were unhappy with the British rule.

This will be the last week of the ecosystems unit in Science, and a focus on the importance of clean water for all living things has been directed toward an upcoming poster contest. The Alaska Rural Water Association is sponsoring a contest for students in the state, and the first place prize is $100.
On Friday, Sonya Bitz came in to help generate artistic ideas with the class, and they began a rough draft for the contest. We need to have them done with in the next couple of weeks to enter.

This week we will have a visit from Tim Loerenzini of the Tetlin Refuge to introduce students to some trapping techniques. 

I hope you have an awesome week!

Kind Regards,

Mrs. Brown