Batty for Bats

 Prior to reading our first book for the week, Bats by Gail Gibbons,  we made a chart that showed what we already knew about Bats, this is called our schema.

 

 After reading Bats, we wrote down our new learning.  WOW, was there a lot that we learned. 

Later in the week we read the story Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.  

We used our schema to make book to world connections.  

Stellaluna was a fruit bat, we know that fruit bats are Megabats and live in South America and Asia.  This was a book to world connection. 

Stelluna could see at night, we know that bats can see at night and some bats use echolocation to help navigate through the night sky.  This was another book to work connection that we made. 

Through our bat investigations we learned that Bats have senses like us humans, but they use them in very different ways.  One things specifically, is that bats have a very strong sense of smell.  Mother bats will use their sense of smell to locate and identify their baby.  Just like Stellaluna's mother did!

So we decided to test this out!  Mrs. Wanke gave each of us a cotton ball with different scents.  We had to use ONLY our sense of smell to find other classmates that had the same scent as us.  This was harder than expected and gave us an appreciation for how strong their sense of smell really is!

 

Pirate Day 2024

  

ARRR MATEY!

We came to school to find Mrs. Wanke dressed like a pirate and there was a treasure chest locked up!  The treasure box had three kinds of locks securing it.  One was a number code, another was a litter code, and the last one was a key lock.  We wanted to know what we had to do to see what was inside the treasure box. 

Mrs. Wanke explained that we would have to do a series of challenges to learn the codes and earn the key!  We were ready and motivated to complete these tasks!

Our first challenge of the day had to deal with our spelling!  Mrs. Wanke gave us a sheet of paper to write CVC words. On this page four spaces were circled.  If we successfully spelled the words, the circled spaces would reveal the letter combination for our letter lock! 

We all cheered when we got the first lock unlocked!  

Our next challenge was a STEM challenge. We had  to work with our partner to create a pirate ship that could actually float and sail across our ocean (kid pool)  carrying 5 pennies.  

We were only given certain materials.  Aluminum foil, 3 strips of masking tape, a small ball of clay, a coffee filter, and a straw.  

We worked hard with our partners to develop a plan to build a ship that would sail.  

After everyone build their ships, it was time to see if our boats would float! We would blow the ship across...so our sails had to work!

Getting ready to set sail!

OH NO, it sunk!

Another crew ready to set sail!

Another ship sunk!

Will this crew's ship make their voyage across the ocean?

Not this time!

This ship looks promising?  Will it make it?

YES!!!  Our first ship made it across!

One last crew will attempt to sail across the ocean.

Uh oh, another one succumbs to the ocean!

We learned so much from our failed attempts that we decided to take what we learned and use that to build new and improved ships.  So back to the drawing board.  Mrs. Wanke gave us a new set of materials again to make some changes to our initial designs!  Will they sail across the ocean this time?

ALL OUR BOATS MADE IT ACROSS!

We learned so much from our first voyages that we were even able to carry lots of cannon balls, which added SO much extra weight!

When we finished this challenge we earned a the letter K.  Mrs. Wanke explained there would be two more challenges to earn the letters E and Y to spell the word KEY. She went on to explain that when we spelled the word KEY, we would get the key to open the lock. 

After lunch and recess we came back to the room ready for another challenge!  We worked as a team to create a giant 100's chart with gold coins!  Some of the gold coins were already in place for us, but SO many were missing!

This is what the hundreds chart started like.

We ALL worked super hard to get this put together.

WE DID IT!  We made the entire 100's chart!

Since we all worked hard and showed great problem solving, team work and perseverance, we earned the next letter in the word KEY. 

Our next challenge was another were math challenge.  Our first math challenge was to find the missing part in the number bond. Each correct answer gave us a letter for the code below.  The secret code spelled out the three numbers for the combination lock. 

Once again, the room erupted in cheers when the lock opened and the chain feel off!  Only ONE more lock to go!

Our LAST challenge was to create our very own buried treasure map.  We had to follow specific directions to create this map.  

Check our a few of our maps! We are great at following directions. 

HIP HIP HOORAY! WE DID IT!

This was a VERY difficult challenge!  We worked so hard and persevered, which meant we earned the last letter of the word KEY!

We could barely contain ourselves when Mrs. Wanke opened the treasure box.  

Inside was GOLD OREO cookies!

We had such a fun PIRATE day!