Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! This week was a short one of course, just two and a half days. In that short time though, we managed to spend time with both 6th grade classes and Ms. Matteis's first grade class. On Tuesday, Ms. Ward brought her sixth graders in so that we could show them our social studies slides and related art projects. Each student’s presentation focused on a particular state in the U.S. and what can be learned about that state through five different maps: a political map, a physical map, and three different thematic maps (one historical map was required, along with two choice thematic maps). On each of the map slides, there were 2-3 bullets of information gathered about the state through that particular type of map. (For example, a state’s landforms might be mentioned next to a physical map of the state.) In addition, students used lines and patterns to create a visual of their state in art class, so the kids had those out next to their Chromebooks when Ms. Ward's class came in. We also thought it'd be fun to challenge the sixth graders to a little competition, so we came up with questions for a scavenger hunt that they worked on as they went around to each fourth grade project. It was a cool way to celebrate the hard work put into this assignment, and I hope the kids were proud of themselves.

Between Book Club, instruments, and the Turkey Bowl, Wednesday flew by. After instruments, we did a gratitude activity with the first graders. Each first grader was paired up with one or two fourth graders, who helped their younger peer make a "gratitude pie". It was a cute, simple craft, and it was nice to see our students being so kind and attentive to the first graders. They were great role models!