Repurposing

 

As we begin our third week of class, I have started our notecard parent communication.  Each week, I will be sending a notecard home with each and every student.  This is just a way to communicate with parents on strengths, praises, and also things to work on.  I hope this will help everyone to reach their highest potential for the class, both behaviorally and academically!  (Remember... I am writing something each day of class... for everyone!  This is a way to catch little issues before they ever become big ones!)

Ag/Health- Today was a fun day!  For the first two weeks, we talked about our total health, and factors that affect our health.  Today, we specifically talked about the environment.  Most of them already had knowledge of reusing, reducing, and recycling.  Today, I introduced them to the idea of "repurposing".  This is when you use an unused item for another purpose entirely. I had them explain what comes to their minds when they think of a farm.  What does it look like?  Most of the students had pictures of rolling green hills, silos, red barns... basically, Old MacDonald!  I explained that farms do not always look this way, or so picturesque.  They learned that many small, working farms reuse and repurpose throw-away items to save money, reduce waste, and to make things work with what they have available.  The kids were able to check out the repurposing of old truck campers.  These are excellent chick brooders!  They hold in heat very well, are wind and water proof, and close up tight to prevent loss from predators.  Do they look pretty?  No.  But, they are serving an important purpose and NOT sitting in a landfill!  The kids will be coming up with their own ideas for repurposing items during their at-home assignment.


There are so many great ways to incorporate health concepts into ag discussions!  Today, the class also learned to be aware of their surroundings.  We talked about paying attention to what is around you.  The floor could be wet, an alarm could be going off, there could be a suspicious stranger, or a friend may need your help.  To illustrate this, I told a story about one of our own turkey who was stuck under a bucket.  If I had not heard his call, wondered where it was coming from, and then slowed down (stopped milking the goats) and actually went to investigate, the turkey poult would have surely died in the hot sun! 


Spanish-  In Spanish class today, Ms. Cindy reviewed the parts of the body.  She drew a person on the board, and they worked as a class to label the parts.  This class is so FUN!  Ms. Cindy helps them to use Spanish words while they wash hands and eat snack, when they ask a question, when they want to use the restroom... all the time!  The class listened to a few songs, as well as a story in Spanish.  They are truly learning through FUN!

Art-  Ms. Nancy continued her lesson on texture today.  The class took their crayon papers from last week, and added a sand mixture.  This is a multi-step process!  Ms. Nancy worked with them in rotating "centers".  While some painted on the sand mixture, others worked on cutting and combining shapes to form faces for their cave-people.  Ms. Nancy was very impressed with the amount of research these students did over the week!  Excellent job!

In Social Studies, Mr. Dennis taught about the rise and rule of Hitler.  The students took notes over the information that was given, filling out a chart throughout the lecture.