Setting our Butterfly Friends Free

Mrs. Lynch and Mrs. Fleming’s PreK classes set their butterflies free in the Bioswale today. The winged friends were raised from caterpillars in the classroom, transformed into a pupa or chrysalis,

and finally emerged as butterflies. Now they get to enjoy a new adventure out in the wild. Great job PreK students!

 

Here come the Chicks!

Today, first graders “candled” eggs to find out how many of their 2 dozen eggs are fertilized. By shining a light on the eggs they can see blood vessels and watch the viable embryos move. We are on Day 13 and the chicks eyelids have just formed, they have a developed heart, arms, legs and the feathers are starting to grow. Our chicks should hatch on June 7th or 8th.

Planting Season on The Roof

Classes have started planting seed in the classroom garden beds on the roof and the PreK students are planting their patio berms. We are hoping for some samplings before school gets out and should have a ton of produce when we return to school the end of August. The Garden Committee is looking for families to sign up for a week to water, weed and harvest over the summer (2 visits during the week would be great). Let Mrs. Neseralla know if you would like to help. cneseralla@crec.org. We especially need a family the week of August 7th.  

NGSS Weather Phenomena

Students in 3rd grade are piloting the first elementary NGSS ( Next Generation Science Standards) unit. They are exploring weather phenomena and Terry Wilson, CREC Elementary Science Curriculum Specialist, came to lead a lesson. There were great discussions about what was going on in these desert and tropical photos.

 

The Moon Will Never be the Same

On Friday, our amazing lunar team made sure the last three Discovery classes saw the lunar and meteor samples. Now, all of the students in the school had the chance to hold a piece of the moon. They may never look at the moon in the same way.

Out of This World Presentations

The Swanson team showed their outer space knowledge as they presented to PreK and first grade. The fifth graders were poised during their public speaking and kept tight security on the national treasure. The younger students were an excellent audience and everyone was impressed with the extensive knowledge of the first graders. Many knew Neil Armstrong’s famous quote when he first stepped on the moon, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Lunar Stars

Students from Mrs. Worley’s classroom did a stellar job presenting the NASA lunar and meteor samples to the PreK and 2nd grade students today. All the students were able to touch rocks from the moon’s surface that were brought back from one of the Apollo missions. The second graders thanked the 5th graders for their hard work and told them they were brave to present in front of a large group. Three presentations down and six to go. The final presentation will be on Saturday at the Children’s Museum.