9/26/19

It was a great day on the farm! The kids filed in and worked together to complete their animal care chores. They will continue to get the hang of these assignments before we rotate. By the end of the year, they will be experts at all of the animals!

The kids shared their flower assignments from home. I loved hearing about their hobbies, favorite foods, sports, and more!

The kids learned different goat related terms today. They learned to say "doe" instead of "nanny" and "buck" instead of "billy". We talked about kids, wethers, doelings, bucklings, and more. I explained that "wether" is a homophone.  This led us to discuss other examples of homophones.  For instance, when a pig has piglets, we say that she has "farrowed".  The word "farrow" is also a homophone... and the students thought it was funny that the word for an Egyptian leader would have the same sound as the word for a pig having babies!  

Next, the class broke up into two groups. One group headed inside to finish their ar
t projects, while the other made their way to the goat stand to help me trim the goat's hooves. The class was able to see how the goats jump up on the stand and love to pig out of grain during their pedicures. Unfortunately, this class also had a trim the stinky bucks.  It was a little smelly in our classroom for th
e rest of the day!

At home, the kids will be writing a little story about hoof trimming... from the goat's point of view.  I can't wait to hear them!

During science class, we reviewed the material from chapters 4 & 5.  They did a great job on their online quiz, and I believe we will continue those in the future.  We had a group activity, and then the class discussed different ancient numeric systems.  We used the Egyptian number system to press our birth years into clay.  These will be dried and sent home next week.

In grammar, the students were given corrections for the three lessons that were completed at home.  It's important for them to have time to look over the corrections and ask questions, if needed.  I will make sure to continue to give time for this at the beginning of each grammar class.  We discussed different types of nouns: ,singular plural, compound, possessive, and collective.  We also talked about different ways to spell plural nouns.  For instance, if a noun ends with s, z, x, ch, or sh, you must add an -es instead of just an -s.  We also talked about when to add an -s to a word that ends with a y and when to change the y to an I before adding -es.  In order to practice this, the class broke up into groups.  They were given singular words and worked together to form the plural using letter tiles.  I think this was a winner!  The kids loved it!




In literature, we talked about the last few chapters that they read in Indian in the Cupboard.  They turned in their reading comprehension questions, which will be given back next week.  They completed a quick vocabulary review before heading to form a big circle "around the fire".  Since they have been learning about the Iroquois customs, I felt it would be best to read their writing assignments "around the fire" instead of sitting at tables and in chairs.

At home, the kids wrote a story about what it would have been like if they had joined Little Bear and come to life in miniature.  These were great!  There were some incredibly funny and well-written stories, and the class loved hearing each others' ideas.  After each student read their stories, I gifted them with their very own "magic key", just like in the story.

9/19/19

It almost started to feel a little like fall this morning!  The class started the day outside, feeding and caring for the animals in their small groups.  Then, they came inside for the week's Farm News and to share the writing assignments that they worked on at home.  They did a great job with these, and everyone actually did it!  I told them that I was so excited that I would bring them a prize next week!

The kids are almost finished with their arts projects.  They should be able to go home next week.  

In science, the kids added more important dates to our class timeline.  They are really getting faster at determining where to put the cards.  We decided that I need to expand the timeline across another wall!

We reviewed the important material from chapter 3.  The students wrote down their top 3 more interesting facts from the chapter, which led to a great discussion!  We talked about issues with lunar calendars, the fact that our days of the week are named for Norse gods, 

Stonehenge, and so much more!  Next, the class shared their creative projects.  I loved the creativity!  There were posters, models, moving parts, shining lights... it was awesome!  

In grammar, the kids learned about nouns: common, proper, concrete, abstract, and collective.  We also talked about the fact that proper nouns can be made up of more that one word, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Valentine's Day, and Theodore Roosevelt.  In this case, each word must be capitalized.  Next, we talked about past, present, and future tenses of verbs.  Although the regular verbs were easy, some of the irregular ones tricked a few of the kids!  The English language is so complicated!  They will be working with these concepts over the next few days.

The class worked on a vocabulary crossword puzzle to review their Indian in the Cupboard material.  We went through each discussion question, talking about each one.  The kids are loving this book!  The teepees that they had worked on were now complete, and I gave them a writing assignment.  The class had to brainstorm what things would be like if Omri brought them to life along with Little Bear.  What would normal sized things be like for you if you were tiny?  In order to help them brainstorm, I let each one pick out a little plastic Indian of their very own.  They took these, and the teepees, outside.  They also took their notebooks.  I wanted them not just to play (although some honest to goodness PLAY was one of my goals!), but to get down and think about the world from the toy's perspective.  They will be using their notes to help them write down their stories at home.

9/12/19

In Farm Fusion, the students were given their animal care groups. They will be working with a group leader to care for the animals on their lists. We will stick with these groups for a few weeks in order to allow students to get the hang of caring for their set of animals. Then, we will rotate. By the end of the year, these kids will have learned a lot not just about the animals themselves, but about responsibility, frugality, and hard work!

Our lesson today was an overview of general health. We talked about how people, just like animals, need to be healthy. The class gave examples of things they do to stay healthy: eat right, exercise, take vitamins, etc. I explained that each of those things helps keep us physically healthy, but that we should also include our emotional, mental, and social health. I gave examples of how different animals need different things physically, but they also need to be with their herd or flock and not isolated, have attention and love, have things to keep them from being bored, etc. Children love taking care of animals, and I use this as a bridge to help them understand our own needs. At home, they will be choosing one of the animals on the farm and writing ideas of how to care for its physical, mental, emotional, and social health. We'll share these in class.

In art, the students continued to work on their layered farm scene. We will be finishing up the painting portion of this project soon and will be adding paper scraps and pieces of paint chips to create the details.

After lunch, we began our science lesson.  We talked about the ways that ancient civilizations made observations about the world around them and created stories to explain them.   We talked about hypotheses, testing, theories, and facts.  I love being able to teach this concept as it relates to human history, which is not usually the case in a science curriculum!  

The class learned the difference between solar and lunar calendars, how the moon creates tides, why we have seasons, and the phases of the moon.  At home, the students will be able to come up with a creative way to display one of these concepts.  I am excited to see what they come up with!

In grammar, the students were given corrections for lessons 1-3.  We talked more about simple and complex subjects and predicates, common and proper nouns, and how the subject of a sentence isn't always located at the beginning!  Everyone in the class was already familiar with the concept of sentence fragments, so we decided to play a game using the whiteboards.  Each student read the phrase on the classroom board and wrote "sentence" or "fragment" on their personal board.  On the count of three, we all raised our boards and learned the answer.  This was a great review, and the kids loved it!  Fragments and run-on sentences seem to be a big issue as children write, and it's my goal to conquer this by the end of the year!

After reviewing our vocabulary words and reading comprehension questions, the class talked about how Omri made a teepee for Little Bear.  Although the Iroquois lived in longhouses instead of teepees, Little Bear agreed that Omri's homemade teepee was acceptable for the time being.  In class, we made our own teepees!  In the book, the students learned that the symbols that were painted on the teepees were very important and had meaning to the Native Americans.  They worked to assemble and decorate their teepees.  The class will be finishing these up and taking them home next week.

First Day!

This is going to be one seriously fun group of kids!  I can tell already... this year is going to rock!

We began our day with an overview of the rules of the farm.  Then, the kids met all of the animals, learned their names, saw the new baby goats, and went through all of the morning chores.  Once all of the animals were fed and happy, we headed in for our lesson of the day.

Whether it’s planting, breeding, hatching, or expanding, many aspects of farming involve making plans well in advance. We talked about the importance of setting goals on and off the farm. I asked a few students to help me with a demonstration. The kids each threw a ball into the air and caught it 3 times each. The class took note of how few drops were made. Then, I asked each kid to throw their ball up three more times, but this time they had to try to catch someone else's ball. Of course, they missed almost every time. The class discussed reasons for this difference. Then, I explained that this is a lot like setting goals for ourselves versus when other people set goals for us. If we take an active role in setting goals for ourselves, we are more likely to reach them!  At home, the kids will be writing about a goal they can set for themselves this school year.  I can't wait to see what they come up with!

We began our first Farm Fusion art project, which will be a layered painting.  We talked about perspective and planning ahead to create a layered piece of art.  Today, they painted the backgrounds of two of the pieces that will make up the final project.

Before Farm Fusion time came to an end, the kids and I pulled all of the hatched guineas and ducklings out of the incubator to move them into the brooder.  They'll be babied for a while before joining the older chicks, keets, and ducklings in the larger brooder out back.

After a fun outdoor lunch and some free time, the kids came back in for science class.  I introduced the students to our new book and workbook, The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way.  We will be working our way through a chapter or two per week, diving into the ideas and concepts as they arise.  Today, I taught the class about B.C./A.D., B.C.E/C.E..  We created a giant timeline across the classroom wall, which we will add to each week as we work through the book.  It took a little practice, but the students started to get the hang of determining if 530BC came before or after 700BC, and if 250CE came before or after 100BCE.  We worked through many examples, and made a lot of progress! 

In grammar, the kids were able to work through the first couple lessons of material.  Most of these first few weeks will be a review, but I do not want to assume so!  My goal is to appropriately push them, but not to overwhelm anyone.  There is a sweet spot, and that's where I aim to teach!  We worked through the subject and predicate of a sentence, the four types of sentences, and different types of verbs.  At home, the kids will be completing three lesson in the book before our next day in class.  We will grade each lesson, review any concepts that are tricky, and teach some of the upcoming material.  We will slow down and spend time on anything we need to... the goal is mastery!  


In literature, the class began the book, "The Indian in the Cupboard".  This is a fun book to start out with!  The class was given vocabulary words as well as a set of reading comprehension questions.  My goal is to help the students not just to get a more thorough grasp on the material that they read, but to also use this time to help them improve in their sentence structure.  Today was mainly an introduction.  They will be reading chapters 1-3 at home, and then we will kick things into gear!