Isn't it great...it's week 8!

This week Wednesday was National Grouches Day! So we started our morning off with a little song from the grouchiest grouch of them all, Oscar! :)

Wednesday was also Global Hand-washing Day! We took the time to review our discussions with Nurse Shilpa from the beginning of the school year. We also caught this fun and informative video! Here are some staggering hand-washing facts.

• It is estimated that washing hands with soap and water could reduce diarrheal disease-associated deaths by up to 50%
• Researchers in London estimate that if everyone routinely washed their hands, a million deaths a year could be prevented 
• Handwashing can reduce the risk of respiratory infections by 16% 
• The use of an alcohol gel hand sanitizer in the classroom provided an overall reduction in absenteeism due to infection by 19.8% among 16 elementary schools and 6,000 students 

We are beginning a project with Mrs. Labak our tech and data coach in the building to kick off our study of science. She will be coming in a few days this and next week during reading workshop to help us create our own books about solids and liquids using the fantastic app Book Creator. We are so lucky we have the bucket of iPads in our room to use these hands on and creation apps. We want the children to ultimately have independence with them, so we will be working in small groups experimenting, exploring, and creating with them. Ultimately the first graders will be doing this all on their own!