Spring has sprung! And we ‘sprung’ into March 2024 with as many activities, projects, and fieldtrips as possible before heading on Spring Break! From our trip to Frosted Faces Foundation (a rescue organization that supports senior dogs) to research projects on places in the community, Leprechaun trap building, AND an egg hunt. . . it’s been a fun and full month of activities!
Monthly Highlights:
- Leprechaun Traps – As a yearly tradition, we took time on the last Thursday before St. Patrick’s Day to learn about traditions, study simple machines (like the pulley!), and apply our learning to making Leprechaun traps in the hopes that we would (finally!) catch one of those sneaky guys! Unfortunately, we did not end up catching one, but we did have some amazing contraptions and teamwork happen all over the classroom.
- Frosted Faces Fieldtrip – Nothing is more meaningful than having opportunities to connect our students’ passions (and the teacher’s, too!) to the classroom. With the goal of teaching the younger generation about responsible pet ownership, dog advocacy, and rescue, we headed to Ramona to tour the Frosted Faces Foundation building, AND take some of their senior dog residents on a walk/hike! We had SO MUCH FUN and many students left with hopes of adopting a pet of their own, returning again before the end of the school year on a second fieldtrip, or coming back with their families for another volunteer shift!
PS: You can see the fieldtrip recap video (which is a tear-jerker!) here.
- “Pit & Children’s Lit” – We hosted our THIRD book reading event this month, St. Patrick’s & Leprechaun-themed, of course! It was special to see friends—old and new—connect with one another and read together. We’re looking forward to next month’s and the future events to come!
Mondays:
- English & Language Arts: Our writing projects this month were focused on the community, and specifically different jobs in the community. We focused on firefighters in particular, and read several stories (fiction and non-fiction) about arial firefighting and what being a firefighter really entails. A big skill we worked on this month was summarizing and taking notes on what we read. We did a lot of scaffolded (teacher-led) practice to build these skills and learn to take our own important notes. From here, we did our own mini-research, writing, revising, and presenting of our learning to classmates.
- Math & Reasoning: In math, we brushed up on our regrouping skills because remembering the structure for 2 and 3-digit subtracting can be tricky. To help us learn, we did a lot of “rotate the room” and station activities. We also worked on graphing, fractions practice, clocks, money, and diversifying our concepts to not burn out on a specific skill/area.
Tuesdays:
- English & Language Arts: Our big project this month was selecting a place in the community that the student thought was the best, most fun, or most helpful. After choosing, they had to do some research (which we did in class and some students were even able to conduct interviews!) to help support their arguments. We spent several class sessions gathering our evidence and reasons, highlighting notes that would help support our argument, drafting, revising, and then finally presenting! This persuasive project was really meaningful (and you can see more about it here [part 1] and here [part 2]!)
- Math & Reasoning: Math in March 2024 was primarily looking at 3-digit adding/subtracting with gamified learning! We also started a unit on measurement, using rulers and understanding the differences between inches and centimeters (metric system).
Wednesdays & Thursdays:
- Foundations: In our Foundational Class, we did a lot of vowel sorting this month! Our students also created birthday writing sheets for Miss Marisa’s birthday (which was a fun way to make writing and spelling relevant!). Other things we worked on this month were contractions, balancing equations, and ‘lucky’ addition and subtraction.
- Social Studies: In Social Studies, we focused on the three branches of government, spending time each week really diving into the different parts, roles, and the ‘checks/balances system’ that keeps everything regulated. Students loved doing role playing, creating ‘tree’ diagrams, and making doodle notes to help retain the information.
- STEM: In STEM this month, we focused on adaptations and habitats, learning the two different types of adaptations (structural and behavioral) and how different animals have or use these adaptations to survive. We created unique animals with different adaptations and habitats, too!
Other March 2024 Updates:
- Miss Marisa’s Birthday ‘Park & Play’: We had an impromptu park playdate for Miss Marisa’s birthday, which was a great way to get together, take a little break from our normal recess routine, and play in a bigger space. Our Park & Play days are always such a blast!
- Egg Hunt: On the last day before our Spring Break, we did an in-class egg hunt which was just as fun as it was crazy! Students loved how tricky the eggs were hidden in such a small space, and each egg not only had some money or stamp, but also a picture of a dog from our fieldtrip! And, and fun fact. . . one egg wasn’t found until the Tuesday AFTER we came back from break!
- PS: You can find more of our updates by bookmarking our Microschool Page, connecting with our Parent Page, and subscribing to our newsletter (below!).
