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Plants, Landforms, Chumash Practice, and Weaving

Chumash

We are busy preparing for the Chumash Play next Thursday. Students have been memorizing lines and working on four songs and dances. This week we used the stage for the first time, and learned how to stand on stage and project. There is so much to prepare and remember as we get ready for next week’s performance, and the students are working super hard and helping each other. We can’t wait for you to see all our hard work next week!

 

Social Studies

This week we delved in to learning about different landforms. Second graders shared land forms they have seen and we looked at photographs of famous landforms, like the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. We touched upon what can create a land form, like water tearing away at land, and how land forms can change over time. Armed with our new landform dictionaries, the second graders have already began exploring our world map to see where landforms might be located.

Over the weekend, look up some pictures of different landforms, or visit some in your very own neighborhood!

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Science

This week in science, students kept close watch on their cucumber seeds which have nearly all sprouted into plants. They excitedly checked them daily; even the seeds planted in clay and sand have sprouted!  Students have been measuring plant growth and recording their observations in their plant journals and caring for their plants. They also monitored the cucumber seeds they planted in different soils in test tubes – it was amazing to see the plant sprouts and how long their roots were in the tubes.  Students made predictions and then conducted experiments with different soils to understand how water moves through humus, sand, and clay.  They had a special treat and watched “The Magic School Bus Goes to Seed” episode followed by discussion on plants.

Art with Iviva:

We are still continuing to weave on cardboard looms. Some of the looms are smaller than a piece of paper we would write on. Some of us are sharing larger looms with a friend to create pictures by “drawing” yarns through the warp (vertical) threads using the “under over” stitch we learned.

This week, we even got to use yarn we dyed ourselves. Last week, Iviva brought in dye she’d made from fresh turmeric. She explained that this root vegetable has a strong yellow–orange color. We got to see it and the dye Iviva had made from boiling it in water at home. Some of us have seen turmeric already, because our families cook with it. Others of us learned about it for the first time.

We dyed two types of yarn — wool and cotton. For the wool, Iviva explained that she had to use a cooler water bath, because the fibers of the wool can stick together in hot water, kind of like when our yarns tangle when we’re weaving. For the cotton, we used hot water from the sink. The results looked amazing, with the yarns retaining a deep amber hue.

A few of our smaller, finished woven fabrics are on display on a bulletin board. Look for them in the hallway outside the art room heading towards the second grade GS classroom.

Noam_4-15-18 Rohan2_4-15-18 Allie_4-15-18 Josef_4-15-18 JosefEliottNoam_4-15-18 RohanNoam_4-15-18 Elliott2_4-15-18 Ezra2_4-15-18Sam_4-15-18 Zelig_4-15-18 JacobB_4-15-18 Itay_4-15-18