Alive...Or Not?

We have completed one week of our Yeast Labs in Science and are trying to determine if yeast is alive.  It was a very interesting week as we did experiments with yeast in conjunction with the five characteristics of living things.  We have completed four of our labs and will be finishing up the fifth lab this week.  Students have been looking at yeast and deciding if it acquires materials, adapts, responds, and is made of cells.  Next we will look at whether yeast develops and reproduces.  Then we will ask ourselves, after all of our observations, is yeast alive?

Last week ended with our annual Jog-a-thon and everyone was very excited.  All of the students did a great job running or walking their laps in the back field. 

We have all been adjusting well to our schedule and transitions are running smoothly.  

I am trying something new with our 5/6 English this year.  We cover grammar on Mondays, Wednesdays, and part of class on Friday.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays we are doing Writer's Workshop.  Students work through the writing process during this time at varying rates and they may be working on different writing assignments.  I am finding that this works well since some students work more quickly than others.  It means that they can continue on to the next assignment and not have to do busy work while waiting for their classmates to finish.  I am also able to spend time conferencing with students individually about their writing as they are working through the process.  So far we have written a short narrative about "The Best Part of Me" and have looked at how to properly write paragraphs.  This week we will be moving on to writing another type of narrative - an autobiography.  Every Friday we do a picture writing prompt we call "Friday Write".  This is to get us thinking creatively, using our imagination, and attempting writing on various topics.  It is a favorite time in class each week...ask your child about it!

I hope you have a great week!