Heart It Races 2-16-18

We started our heart investigation today by looking at how exercise changes how our heart beats. We knew that our activity had an impact on the heart, but it was exciting to see it in action. When we were looking over the activities they were going to try, Niki said that laying down is the easiest, so it should have the lowest number of beats in 15 seconds. After attempting it, Rebecca agreed and showed how her number of beats was really low. Paolo’s heart was actually slower when he was standing, but he said he was breathing really slow, so maybe that made a difference. Timo predicted that the running would be the hardest, but it was actually the jumping and hopping, which Teddy showed with his count. Jerome commented that he could actually feel his heart beating up and down, which made counting it even easier. Tove definitely agreed that she was tired after all that hopping, so it made sense her heart was working hard. While this is definitely only the beginning of our cardiovascular investigation, it was great to see them finding their own pulses and talking about the work their hearts were doing.

Our chapter was pretty interesting, even though it was just the owl and Mrs. Frisby talking. Anja thought it was a happy chapter because Mrs. Frisby found out that the rats might be able to help move her house and save Timothy. Yianni agreed that it was good, but didn’t get how the rats would be able to move the house. Sokrates, on the other hand, thought it was sad because the owl talked about how his tree was dying and it would kill him too. Paolo added that the owl was quite old, so it was sad that he was going to die. The chapter asked more questions than it answered, but we’re excited to see what the rats can do to save Timothy.

Our hundreds charts are almost done! Gia was very proud to point out how much better she is at counting and making her numbers after all this. Teddy explained to the class that he knew 81 went in this box because the numbers above it were 71, 61, 51, and so on. Anja was a little frustrated that she lost her old 100s chart, but she decided she would just do the 8s from today and then work backwards when she had time. Bisola also realized that, even though she made a mistake and had to cross it out, she could still use it and read it. The class is really starting to see the hundreds chart as a tool they can use and as something meaningful, not just a series of numbers.

Today I got to talk with Yianni about his favorite part of the day. “I really like reading time. We get to learn a lot of stuff, like what the rats are doing. I liked hearing about the guardian (we talked about the rat sentry the owl told Mrs. Frisby about) and I hope it all works. Stories are fun.” I hope it all works out too.

Winter clothes and toys should have been sent home today, so let’s make sure next TUESDAY (3 day weekend for President’s Day) we come back with any winter clothes we want here and a full change of clothes. Have a great weekend everyone!

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