Our topic for this year’s speeches is: what is the most important lesson you learned in 2020? We have begun brainstorming and creating our thesis statements. Please feel free to watch the speech above for inspiration, presented by a very courageous and confident 9-year-old about the dangers of plastic use!

We are using our microscopes to examine different plant and animal structures. The video above is what frost looks like under a microscope. What do you observe?

Today, we learned about the friendship between Ella Fitzgerald (famous Jazz singer) and Marilyn Monroe (famous actress). We read the book Making Their Voices Heard, a book by Vivian Kirkfield, which details how Marilyn and Ella worked together to support each other when they experienced prejudice.

In the 1950s, Ella Fitzgerald was not allowed to perform at certain concert halls and lounges because she was Black. Marilyn had always admired Ella’s music and her spirit, and wanted to be an ally and support her friend. Marilyn knew what it was like to be treated differently because she experienced prejudice and sexism. Marilyn promised the owner of the Mocambo club that if they let Ella perform, Marilyn would be in the audience… which meant lots of photographers and reporters would come to the Mocambo as well.

Being an ally means having empathy for the experiences of other people, and standing up for them. Being an ally means using any privileges and power that you have to make sure no one faces injustice. Being an ally means saying something instead of being a bystander or a silent witness.

How can we be an ally for someone in our lives?

Today, we examined why having diversity in children’s literature is important. We did a ‘scavenger’ hunt through our classroom library to try to find books that had characters that were similar to/different from us.

We noticed that, oftentimes, different cultural/racial communities do not have as much representation.  Here are some things that we noticed:

“The Gauntlet is the first book I’ve read with a Muslim main character”

“We should try to find more books with multi-racial characters like The New Kid”

“There are lots of book about Black history. I hope we can get more about women’s rights”

“Do we have any books with blind or deaf characters?”

“I hope more books will be published that have Indigenous characters (without stereotypes)”

What do you think? Have you read a book with a character that represents you (culture, race, gender, family, etc.)?

Take a look at the graph below to get some more insight into diverse representation in children’s literature publishing!

 

Today, our Scientists did Part 1 of our plant Science lab! We dissected different fruits and vegetables, examining them for seeds and different structures. We made observations about: tomatoes, raspberries, sugar snap peas, oranges, potatoes, papayas, seedless cucumbers, and green peppers.

What observations can you make about these fruits and vegetables? How do seedless fruits/vegetables grow and reproduce? What structures/parts of plants to we eat?

Today, our class read Sincerely Emerson, a true story about a young person who wrote a letter of appreciation to a postal worker. We brainstormed different groups of people who we might write a letter of gratitude to, including front-line workers, healthcare workers, veterans, bus drivers, farmers, patients in hospitals/hospice, firefighters, etc.

Next week, we will be learning how to write a letter of gratitude to distribute to members in our community. Check out the video with the real Emerson about why she chose to write letters and the power of kindness!

This week, we were able to do our own (tasty) experiments testing the chemical reaction that occurs when you mix ice-cream and soda!

We created our own hypothesis (which soda creates the most bubbles? does adding the ice-cream or soda first create more bubbles?) then tested our ideas. Finally, we were able to drink our delicious chemistry experiments!

 

To make an ice-cream float at home, you will need:

-ice-cream or sorbet (we used vanilla)

-soda (we picked either cola, root beer, orange soda, or cream soda)

-a cup, a straw, and a spoon

Take 1 scoop of ice-cream and put it into your cup. Carefully pour the soda on top. Pour slowly, as it will bubble and expand quickly! Then, you can sip or eat with a spoon.

 

 

As we continue our Ice-Cream Science, we learned the history of the popsicle! The popsicle is credited as being invented by an 11-year-old who accidentally created it by leaving a soda (with a stir-stick in it) outdoors overnight in the cold!

Today, we learned about some influential Black inventors throughout history. Stay tuned for more updates as we learn more during Black History Month (February)!