It’s hard to believe it’s already the end of May. . . when they say time flies, they really mean it! May 2024 was a bit of a bittersweet month with saying goodbye to our friend, Willy, but it was also filled with joy! From exploring economics, fractions, and fossils, to taking a fieldtrip to People’s Co-Op, we’ve had a lot of fun.
As we head into June, there are so many end-of-year activities to look forward to! (And I’m sure they’ll fly by, too!)
Monthly Highlights:
- May Days – Every May, we embark on our “May Days” which are themed days to count down to the end of the school year! From ‘Crazy Hair’ & ‘Wacky Week’ to ‘Costume & Career Week’ (pictured above!) our students enjoyed the break from their usual attire!
- Park & Play (& A Bittersweet Goodbye) – This month we said goodbye to our friend Willy as he heads to Tennessee! Goodbyes are hard, but this one is bittersweet because we know Willy will thrive in his new state and school! We celebrated him with a Park & Play date and friend/family gathering on his last school day.
- Pit & Children’s Lit (Reading with Mom) – A huge thank you to everyone who came to our “Reading with Mom” themed event this month (click here to see cute pix from the event!). It was so fun to see mamas and grandmas spending time with their kids. . . and Styles loved all his snuggles, too!
Mondays:
- English & Language Arts: This month our Monday crew worked on a bunch of different writing styles and activities. We focused primarily on Realistic Fiction (both reading & writing) but also Informational Text and poetry, too! One of the biggest things we worked on this month was organizing our ideas (intro, reasons, evidence, and conclusion). These are higher-level writing skills that will only prepare them for the future! We also learned new vocabulary words this month, learned about Cinco de Mayo traditions, and went on a “book scavenger hunt” to synthesize information about plant and animal changes throughout the different texts we read.
- Math & Reasoning: A big focus of May 2024 was 2D & 3D shapes. We expounded on learning by identifying components of shapes (vertices, edges, flat surfaces, etc.) and not only labeled and categorized our shapes, but created our own, too! One of the favorite activities of the month was playing a shape manipulation game where students were given smaller shapes that they had to move, shift, and rotate to create new shapes. This was hard but so rewarding!
Tuesdays:
- English & Language Arts: Our Tuesday learners have been so busy this month working on list articles and organizing their writing with proper structure. A big focus of May 2024 was creating stronger writing by developing a thesis statement (or argument statement), reasons with evidence, and conclusion (with summary and concluding statement). Our students worked hard on their research, drafting, editing, and rewriting to perfect all stages of the writing process! This was coupled with reading and connecting different types of literature together to make cross-curricular connections.
- Math & Reasoning: One of our math units this month focused on reading and interpreting different graphs. We studied, broke down, and recorded information on all different types of graphics, including picture graphs, line plots, bar graphs, and more. Students became experts at collecting and organizing information and even ended the unit saying, “This is easy!” which is always great to hear. We culminated our month with a recap and review of our most essential skills: measuring, 2-3 digit addition/subtraction, skip counting/group counting to build into multiplication, graph-reading, 2D/3D shapes, and more!
Wednesdays & Thursdays:
- Foundations: In our Foundational Class, our big focus this month for Math was fractions. We did several activities for reading fractions, creating fractions, and understanding part-to-whole relationships. Our favorite activity was the ‘Pizza Fractions’ where students were given different pizza scenarios and had to either show what fraction of the pizza was eaten or left behind. This required careful listening and teamwork (plus creativity in coloring the pizzas, too!) In ELA, we worked a lot with adverbs and adjectives, opinion vs. fact statements, and ‘asking’ vs. ‘telling’ sentences. The beauty of these units is our ability to work at different paces and use partner groups to support more individualized learning!
- Social Studies: In Social Studies this month, we finished our Presidency & Government unit, ending with a mock election and excitement about our new roles in the classroom. Students were challenges to both create their own campaigns and vote for their candidates, creating a situation that mirrors real life!
Following this unit, we stared our Economics unit, learning all about jobs and income, skills, saving vs. spending, money (checks, cash, credit/debit and taxes), and much more! This all tied in perfectly with our field trip to People’s Co-Op, which created a wonderful bridge between in-school and out-of-school learning. - STEM: Shifting away from understanding what habitats are to how they change based on circumstances (weather, erosion, human influence, temperature fluctuations, etc.), May 2024 started a new focus — fossils!
In this unit, we discussed how fossils are created from layers of sediment, dirt, or Earth over time. We created our own fossils with modeling clay, baked edible cookie fossils (yum!) and even broke open our own ‘fossil rocks,’ pretending to be paleontologists! This was a great and hands-on unit to end the school year. . . and the students loved it!
Other May 2024 Updates:
- People’s Co-Op Field Trip – After learning about economics, saving/spending, jobs, skills, and income, we headed to People’s Market for an interactive and hands-on exploration of concepts. This was a fun fieldtrip and the students enjoyed not only “hiding out” in the reserved upper deck but also making art and going on their scavenger hunt! [PS: Check out our video recap here!]
- A New Friend Visit/Trial – This month our crew (warmly!) welcomed a new friend for a week-long trial. It was so special to see how she was able to fold into our lessons and feel included. We have such a wonderful group!
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