Welcome back!

I imagine and hope that your spring breaks were filled with adventure and productivity! Coach D., Jack, Elijah and I road tripped to North Carolina on our own sort of adventure. I was thrilled to see forsythia, daffodils, Bradford pear trees, red buds and lots of star magnolias. And the grass! Grass on which you can run barefoot. What a luxury one would never realize until grass stabs your feet. All in all, you can't top our beaches, though. Florida is a beautiful place for sure, and we were happy to be home after a lot of driving. I look forward to hearing more of the students' tales about their spring breaks--and got a taste of their adventures today--whether they were lucky enough to hang at home or lucky enough to travel.

During the week before break, the fourth graders were privileged to be taught about the planets in our solar system from Mrs. Owen's first graders. The teachers conducted research in partnerships about a particular planet. Then, they created visuals to support their presentations. The students practiced presenting to their peers prior to our visit. Without a doubt, the first graders were well prepared for our visit!

The fourth graders circulated to each of the seven first-grade presentations within a 40 minute period. During this time, the first graders delivered their presentation seven times! They were troopers. The fourth graders were charged with considering what was most effective and impactful about each presentation, as well as recording as least one new fact they learned about each planet. Fourth graders were, of course, encouraged to ask lots of questions, which they did with enthusiasm. I was so proud of their eager and supportive participation. All of their written responses were focused on what the first graders have been learning about presentations, and the responses were then shared with the first graders.

From the participating first grader who happens to live with me: "That was so fun! I loved being a teacher to bigger kids. They listened to us, and I knew a lot!" Enough said.

 A highlight of the year so far has most definitely been the owl pellet investigation we did the week prior to break. After students became so interested in the owls that have nested in a Lower Division tree, we decided to learn more about owls. Owls ingest their food whole, and then eject the undigestible portions (feathers, fur, bones) as a pellet, a compacted mass of material. Dissecting owl pellets is a supremely active and interesting way to learn about what owls eat. Students have been finding pellets on campus, but they are not good for student investigation because of the chance they might carry disease. To be safe, we ordered sanitized pellets from a science supply company; these pellets are completely safe and their smell is much less offensive (although Will and Sammy might disagree on this point!).

Many students were hesitant about the process at first--the idea of undigested bones and fur is not particularly appealing! However, once they saw the pellets and realized how innocuous they really are, they dived right into their investigation. The promise of excavating something interesting motivated them as well, and every student--no mater her/his hesitation--participated. Yay! Students uncovered hundreds of of bones in our ten owl pellets, including skulls, jawbones, hipbones, vertebrae and shin bones. Using both paper charts and an iPhone application (yes--there exists an owl pellet iPhone application), students were able to identify many of the bones they found. The pellets we studied were from the northeast region of the United States, and the diets of the owls from which these pellets came consisted of a great many. . .  rats! Then, students then used the information at hand to help them reconstruct the pieces of rodent skeletons and attach them to paper. Fun, fun, fun! The other fourth grade classes will dissect pellets this week, and thanks to our work, they will all have iPads to use, complete with the super cool owl pellet app that we used on my phone. We will be crashing their investigations, for sure.

We are collecting donations of change for the upcoming Relay for Life event. We decided as a class today that the minimum donation should be 25 cents. Students may, if they choose, bring a quarter or more a day to donate and build our class paper chain. The collection will end next Friday, March 30th.

Upcoming important events:
March 21: Ident-a-kid photo ids (for those who have signed up)
March 26 - 30: Students may wear purple all week!
March 30: Relay for Life
April 2 and 3: WrAP testing