The Erickson & Aaron Edition

By Ms. Erickson and Dr. Aaron

Pop! Pop! Pop! Can you hear the sounds of good readers from Ms. Erickson’s class-books keep us poppin’! We began the year discussing genre and we realized that there are so many different kinds of books to read! Mrs. Bandura introduced us to the Cottage Lane library with numerous new series and titles to explore.

          As a class we are exploring the genre of nonfiction. This genre is quite challenging because so much information can be given in just two paragraphs! We have been using magazines, newspapers, resource books, and encyclopedias to find headings, subheadings, photographs, etc. found in nonfiction text. As a class we are working towards writing an informational article comparing two individuals who inspired or changed the way we live today.

          Ms. Erickson’s science classes began the year “lighting” up the classroom with knowledge. We started investigating how magnetism affects our lives everyday. Did you know that magnets can float on a pencil? We performed an experiment that actually made ring magnets hover by alternating the sides of the magnets to repel each other! It was really interesting! Electricity was our next topic to tackle and it was exciting to work with light bulbs, D-cells, wire, and switches. Magnetism and electricity have a few similarities and as a class we looked at the link between the two ideas. To really get our brains around this idea, we created electromagnets using a rivet, wire, and a battery. We turned a nonmagnetic rivet into a magnet! How cool?

We have now moved on to our Ecosystem Unit where we have jumped into learning about the living and nonliving things that surround our community. We can’t wait to learn more about the animals outside our windows and the lakes that flow through our backyards!