Special thanks to all our Parent Crew for the love, treats, and encouragement during Bearwalk – we love you!

“What’s on Our Plate” Expedition

Crew have been exploring and applying their knowledge of California’s varied ecosystems. Using the Coastal Ecology Tour fieldwork trip to the coast’s tidepools, fens and redwood forests, they have been challenged to create mini-ecosystems representative of California’s ecology in our classroom. Projects will be on display during Celebration of Learning.

In addition, work has begun on our final product. Students have brainstormed ideas for our iBook and our production board is outlined with tasks. The month of December will be a flurry of authoring, editing, graphic designing and scientific illustrating!

MathDogs

We have been busier than a puppy in a roomful of squirrels!

Crew hosted Erin Ellis from the Humane Society of Truckee Tahoe to share the results of our Tennies and Tails event survey data. Our Kennel Club groups shared the results of the data collected in slide presentations. Clubs were required to choose appropriate graphs to represent the data sets and incorporate the types of graphs studied in class during our statistics unit.

At the start of our school year we were given a tremendous gift of three days of team-building camp at Walton’s Grizzly Lodge. All they asked in return was that we pay $10 per student and choose a local charity to receive that money. During an all-crew brainstorming and discussion session about many worthy Truckee charities, crew chose the Humane Society of Truckee Tahoe. Jackson and Sophia were nominated by crew to present our $240.00 donation from Walton’s Grizzly Lodge. They explained our math expedition and gave the check to Erin.

Going forward, McMains Crew MathDogs want to apply our learning in factors, multiples and fractions with this month’s design principle of Service and Compassion in a service project for our math partner, Humane Society of Truckee Tahoe. We want to assemble gift baskets for the Humane Society to be given to families who adopt dogs as well as for the volunteers to use with the dogs who are awaiting their new homes.

We are asking for donations of new dog items –  toys, beds, leashes, collars, boxed treats, dog food … anything a dog or new dog owner might enjoy. We could also use decorative gift bags or baskets, tissue paper and ribbon.
**If you can donate an item, please drop it off in our classroom.**

Adventure in Reading:

Book Clubs have been a rousing success with clubs participating in peer scored discussions, creating high-level discussion questions and keeping reading response journals. Readers are making connections between the text and their own experiences, the text and other reading, and the text and the world around them. Book discussion days are lively! Great questions and involvement are complimented with hot tea and cookies!

Each club is also creating a Book Word Wiki – an interactive collection of new and exciting words found in their books. Book Clubs are a rich adventure in reading!