Hello. Happy Thursday! We have been hard at work studying all types of rocks and other types of geographic features. Today we did a google team search on all different types of rocks and what their characteristics were. I am not sure how the activity did grade wise, but the group discussions were worth A's. It was especially funny to hear the kids try to pronounce the different types of rocks. They worked together very well and were able to get the activity done. Then we read a book called Agate. It was about a moose that had very low self-esteem. He looked at all his friends, like Ruby, Opal, Diamond, and Emerald and felt he was not as pretty or strong as them. The book proceeded to the point that the moose became depressed. His friends finally said, STOP! They taught him that he is an agate, beautiful on the inside just like the rest of them, and that he just needed to be a moose. This tie in to science was more than academic. It taught character. I stress the importance of talking to your children about self-esteem. This is the age that they do feel they are unique. What is so often harder for them to discover is that being unique, like a moose or agate, is being different and being proud of those differences. Please help me in reminding them every day that they are so special just the way they are, and that they should be proud of their make-up.
Two reminders for tomorrow...Students need to bring in a rock. If they can find the name, great. If not, we will work on it here. Please do NOT bring in special, special rocks. We will be conducting rock testing, (including scratching, floating,etc). Rocks may get damaged. The other reminder is that report cards go home tomorrow. I encourage you to have a discussion about their citizenship marks, positive and negative. Their report cards will be their weekly reports this week and are due back Monday.
Have a great evening!
