A Fabulous Week!

I don't know where to begin...

This week has been an incredible week for learning both socially and academically.  In the interest of time, and the fact that it's Friday afternoon, I'm going to list learnings, vocabulary, quotes, and announcements.

Learnings:


-Gentoo, Rockhopper, King, and Little Blue penguins.  Ask your kids about the weight, height, colors, egg production, and unique features of these amazing birds, as they've been collecting data and reading non-fiction pieces (highlighting important facts) about each type.  Still to come: Chinstrap and Emperor Penguins.

-Making text to self and text to text connections with fictional texts and learning that our connections, combined with our schema, helps us to better understand (comprehend) what we're reading.  A pretty big idea.

-How to work in small groups.

-Vowel diagraphs and the sounds of /ee/ and /ea/.  Think Eats bread and steak.

-Looking for word parts to decode (chunking)


-They seem to love learning about punctuation!  Namely, periods, exclamation points, question marks, and quotation marks.

-Re-reading their work and checking their spelling.

-Just how powerful using humor, your brain, and ignoring someone who may not be treating you nicely, can be.

-The difference between tattling and warning, NOW problems, and NOT NOW problems, and being a problem solver.


Vocabulary:


-regurgitate
-preen
-stanza
-fledge (fledgling)
-pointillism
-limerick (great for Valentine's Day)
-twerp
-pokey (prison)

Many of these words are from Matilda and our penguin study.

Quotes:


During our pointillism study today, Sam asked the kids to imagine themselves in the future - twenty years from now.  After discussing where/how they saw themselves, they were sent off to sketch a picture of themselves doing just what they imagined.  The following is a list of what some your nippers will be doing twenty years from now:

Alahna: a dentist
Sienna: a shoe maker
Ethan: a zoologist
Idalee: a teacher, mother, singer
Tre: an explorer
Sophie: in a rock band
Leo: playing the drums
Emily: a piano playing solo singer
Alexander and Samuel: power rangers
Maxine: a mermaid

Quote:  After going over to Alahna and asking her to tell me about her picture, she explained, "When I grow up and turn seventeen, I'm going to be a dentist and have very shiny teeth."  Her picture is priceless

Today's NAP Outing

Another incredible day outdoors!  Blue skies, comfy temperatures, Chickadees singing, and the light!


Today we ventured out as scientists, with thermometers in hand, ready to measure temperatures.  We measured the North Branch (34 degrees F), deep snow (22 degrees F), inside our jackets (66 degrees F), air (on the way up, 36  --  on the way down, 40).

We also talked about, explored, and tested the many types of materials, surfaces, and textures, we could use to make sleds.  The children created the most wondrous sliding structures using all manner of recyclable products and duct tape.  The concept and learning behind all of this is Newtonian (motion).  We're starting out small, but it didn't take them too long to realize that there is a connection between weight and distance; after many trips down the hill on our bottoms, "Mrs. F went the fastest!"


I can't say enough about these outdoor classrooms.  The children are in charge of their own learning!  There is little class management, and left on their own to explore, I've found that they're in charge of their own learning, both academically and socially.  Not to mention all of the benefits of being outdoors, schlepping our belongings up hill, eating together, and the space... I can't say enough about the space!  Lastly, outside in the open, there is no need for differentiation.  Mother Nature does that on her own...

Enjoy the pictures~

Amy drops a thermometer into the North Branch

At 9:20 am, it measured 34 degrees Fahrenheit.  

We had some visitors.  Idalee counted 10 males and 10 females.

Here we are using our thermometers in/on the rocks and ice on Hubbard Park Drive.

Ethan and Sophie go spelunking!

Sofa Lofa and I on our way back down Hubbard Park Drive.  I'm the lumpier one.

Amy gathers all of us to talk about and observe the materials we're going to use to make sleds.

We shared a group snack of local cheese, bread, and apples.

After sliding down the shelter hill, like penguins (except not on our tummies), we showed off our creations.

Some Highlights from the Week

For our second lesson on Pointillism, we made color wheels with 'Nilla wafers and primary colored icing.  SamTk teaches our class every Friday afternoon.

SamTk and Sienna

Idy is working on her secondary colors

Dilly is sampling some primary blue

Samuel is working and sampling his secondary colors

A completed and delicious colorwheel