Please note that I am starting a new system to help students and families keep up with math homework. As mentioned during back to school night, students are expected to finish whatever work they don't complete at school at home. Whenever a student has math work to finish at home, I will make sure that s/he will put their math book in her/his backpack and I will highlight the pages that they need to complete at home.
In science, third and fourth graders are studying ecology. We started this unit discussing what ecology is, and what ecologists do. We spent a week studying soil ecology - students learned that fungi, bacteria and invertebrates are important decomposers. They studied the school's compost and also learned about the importance of mycorrhizae fungi for plant health.
Last week the kids started making a 3D map of California illustrating the different biomes that are found in our state. We will be studying the different biomes in more depth in the near future. Next week we have a guest speaker: Andrew J. McElrone, Peregrine parent and ecologist at UC Davis, and we are also going on a short field trip on Friday.
Fifth and six graders are studying geology. We also started this unit by discussing what geology is and what geologists do. After that, students learned about the rock cycle and did a hands on lab using crayons to simulate the different types of rocks and the processes that form them. Last Monday we visited the geology department on campus. We got a tour of the rock yard, and had the opportunity to see some fossils in the paleobiology lab. Fifth and sixth graders also started to work on a 3D model of CA - their models summarize the different geomorphic regions of our state.
On Friday, September 16th, Tabatha Yang visited Peregrine elementary. She brought a lot of interesting insects for the kids to see and hold, and she also showed the crows how to organize their insect collections.
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