Happy Friday!
This will be a short post since it feels like it has been a short week! We had a lovely day at the YMCA with swimming, yoga, nutrition, and tennis. It was a great winter activity and I think the kids had a lot of fun. Of course Wednesday's snow day made the rest of the week a little crazy, but we managed!

Here are some highlights:
VINS visited on Thursday and brought a barred owl, a kestrel, and a hawk. The kids asked a lot of great questions and our presenter told us a lot about various structures these birds have and how they function to help the bird survive. This ties in perfectly to or current science unit about structure and function!

Our Valentine's Day celebration was a lot of fun! Thank you all for sending in so much food and drink, and a special thanks to Lori Tourville who volunteered to help me with the silly games and general order!  I think everyone ate lots of appropriate junk food and had fun.

Today we had a "Senses Circus." Our young scientists went from station to station, using their senses to smell, taste, touch and see/hear different things. The task was to pay attention to how their brains told their bodies to react to each thing. I saw some great reactions-- from pleasure to gagging!  Once again, this goes with our Structure and Function unit, and kids are learning a lot about how their brains and their nerves work together!

In math, we have worked on making a chart of 10,000! We have discussed how many 10's are in 10,000, and we are learning to move around in our number system. Next week we will practice adding and subtracting using large numbers -- using efficient strategies like the US algorithm!

We are in finish-up mode with reading and writing -- trying to get units finished before break. There will be information coming home soon about report cards and conferences. I hope ALL of you will schedule a conference since it will be our last official meeting before your kids head off the BRMS (gulp!)

Have a lovely weekend