Inside the Wildcat Watch: In the Classrooms
- S/R Elementary School Staff
- Jun 3, 2015
- 3 min read
Kindergarten
Kindergarten Graduation was held Thursday, May 21. Congratuations to all of our graduates!
First Grade
First grade had a wonderful day exploring sea life at the Dallas World Aquarium on April 17. Students laughed at playful otters, counted penguins, quietly gazed at a jaguar and gasped at a giant manatee. Students came face to face with crocodiles, sloths, owls, monkeys, rays and sea turtles - among many other amazing animals. As they walked a trail leading through a rain forest, they had a look of wonder on their faces. The biggest moment of astonishment came when we reached the shark tank, a 40 foot tunnel where sharks swam around and over our students. Students stared in awe at the amazing creatures swimming gracefully around them. It was a day to remember. Now we are gearing up for the remainder of the school year. Our first graders have come so far this year and their teachers are so proud of the little readers they are becoming.
Second Grade
In 2nd grade science we are studying life cycles of plants and animals. We are observing the life cycle of ladybugs and butterflies. If you would like to do this at home go to www.insectlore.com.
For 2nd grade Language Arts we are continuing to work on learning lowercase cursive letters.
Second grade has been learning all about sharks. We have enjoyed reading about the different species. We learned that most sharks are not aggressive toward humans. The largest fish, the Whale Shark, is actually very gentle. People can actually swim and interact with this gentle giant. Some species are aggressive carnivores with rows of large, serrated teeth.
Sharks are different from other fish. They have rough, sandpaper-like skin and they have no bones! Their skeleton is made of cartilage. Some sharks lay eggs. Did you know that their egg case is called a Mermaid’s Purse? These are just a few interesting facts we learned about sharks.
We are also continuing to learn to write in cursive! Practice, practice!
In math we are learning single digit multiplication and division.
We are getting ready to be third graders!!!
Third Grade
Now that the STAAR tests are behind us, we are gearing up for our final writing adventure of the year--our animal research projects. Each child will choose an animal from a list I have compiled of species indigenous to Texas. The most exciting part is that each student gets to create a shoe box diorama to represent the habitat of their chosen animal! Speaking of shoe boxes, consider this a shout out for shoe boxes. We have 75 3rd graders and, so far, I’ve collected only 26 boxes. If we don’t get enough, some kids will be making dioramas out of folded paper. If you are the parent of a 3rd grader, keep a box at home for your child and send any you can spare to school for the kids who have none. I can’t wait to see all the creative genius!
In math class, we learned how to analyze attributes of two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional solids in order to develop generalizations about their properties. One super fun project we worked on was painting two-dimensional shapes. On the first day, students used black paint to draw the shapes in all different sizes. One the second day, they chose two different colors to add to their painting and they turned out beautiful. Now, their “Mathematical Masterpieces” hang in the hallways of our school like murals. We had a blast!
