Sunny Lessons for a Rainy Day

Another exciting week has begun!  In order to prepare for Inman Farm Heritage Days, the students must put the eggs into the incubator this week.  Although Agriculture class is not typically on Tuesdays, we did discuss the temperature and humidity needed to incubate fertilized eggs.  These splash and blue copper Marian eggs will begin their 3 week development today!

We discussed our new spelling list for the week, specifically looking at words that end in "tion", like reaction, combination, and decomposition.  The kids were particularly excited about learning to spell "spontaneous", for some reason!  We took turns coming up with sentences for some of the different words, and hopefully they will use them at home this week!

In handwriting, the class learned or worked to perfect their letter b's and c's.  We have been taking a letter or two at a time, and really focusing on their correct form.  Before writing them down onto paper, we often sky-write them.  Then, when they commit it to paper, hopefully they will start (or restart) with correct form, as to not create bad habits!

Our common and proper noun lesson continued today, as we learned to capitalize the names of the days of the week and months of the year.  Did you know that the seasons are not capitalized?  The students do!  In addition to working on proper capitalization, the students had a lesson in Greek and Roman dieties.  We discussed the origins of the names of the days of the week, which are named for these, as well as Norse, dieities.  The names of dieities are also proper nouns, and must be capitalized!

Ms. Jennifer taught the 4a math class about prime numbers today.  They began with a basic multiplication/division review using a visual aid, so they could understand how prime numbers are unable to be divided by anything other than 1 and itself.  The class end with a review game over the concepts in class, so far!  The 3a class also worked on a review of the material that they have covered so far.  Ms. Jennifer came early and set up a very awesome game out on the lawn.  Then... the rain came!  She changed gears, and they were able to review 1 and 2 digit numbers indoors.  What was that spelling word for this week?  Oh, yes!  Spontaneous!

We had a monster match-up today in writing class!  Last week, the kids drew their own monsters.  Then, they wrote descriptive papers about their drawings.  Today, the class read their descriptions out loud, in groups.  Each table had to listen to the description from their peer, and try to draw the same monster!  Needed less to say, the kids really learned to value descriptions.  They also understood the importance of order, sequence, and clarity in writing.  I explained to the class that we will be working on making writing fun... And taking their writing to an all new level!  I am hoping that they will thrive off of reading their creative works aloud to their classmates.  Writing can be such a daunting task for most children.  My goal is to take the stress out and inject it with positive peer interaction!

Spanish-  In Spanish class today, Ms. Rose began by reviewing the letter sounds, greetings, and days of the week.  They learned about feminine and masculine articles in Spanish.  We just discussed articles in grammar today, as we learned that they do not need to be capitalized in titles, unless the article happens to be the first word in the title.  In Spanish, the articles can be pretty tricky!  Finally, the class worked on writing the date, correctly.

Social Studies- The students read their biographical poems that they wrote on a famous abolitionist!  They all did such a great job with this!  Not only did they research their subject, they followed direction for the poem, put it all together, and then gave a presentation for their classmates!  Great job!  Afterward, they put their knowledge of the Underground Railroad to use as they completed a comprehensive review sheet.   On Thursday, they will be doing a skit together on Harriet Tubman!

Art- Ms. Nancy switched gears today, in light of last week's agriculture lesson on sunflowers!  She brought in a beautiful bunch of sunflowers and taught a lesson on Van Gogh!  The students learned about Van Gogh's famous paintings.  Then, they learned about the properties of water color paints.  Water colors are translucent, and can do many things that aren't realized!  Did you know that if you add salt to water color paint, it will create crystal patterns on the paper?  The class went followed Ms. Nancy's directions as she guided them through some water color techniques.  Then, they all worked on their own sunflower paintings!