Seeds, Straws, and Shakespeare

After the pledge, the kids took turns reading their "Pot of Gold" stories.  The imaginations on these guys is just unreal!  They all pay such close attention to each others' papers... and give such supportive feedback.  No wonder they all started loving to write!

Spelling-  We spent some time today going over this list, as it seems harder than last week!  We discussed the special sounds found in the words, as the "rule breakers".  Afterward, we worked more on those pesky cursive "o"s and "a"s, as well as "u" and "v" as we wrote some of the harder words in cursive.  My favorite sentence of the day was, "We lose a numerous amount of pencils in our classroom!"  So true, so true.

Grammar-  Today was a review of contractions, as well as commas in a series.  The kids learned a new contraction today.  They were amazed that each time they use the word "let's", they are actually meaning "let us".  How funny it was for them to catch themselves all day and restate their sentences.  "Hey guys, let us go outside and play!"

Math-  The class learned a new term today:  congruent.  We discussed congruent and similar shapes.  After completing a worksheet to put the meaning to memory, we got out straws, scissors, and a ruler.  I showed the class how the lengths of a triangle's sides determine the angles.  For instance, they each cut two piece of 5" straw, two that were 8", and two that were 11".  Then, they created two congruent triangles.  We measured each of the angles using a protractor.  Then, the students chose any two straws and created a 60 degree angle.  I showed them that the missing side could only be a certain length in order to work!  They measured to find out how long the missing side needed to be.  By manipulating the straws, they were able to visually see how increasing the angle increased the length of the missing side.  Although it was NOT in my plans, we also took it a step further, learning that the sum of all angles in a triangle always equals 180 degrees.  It was like MAGIC!

Agricultural Ed.- After math, we took a walk over to the garden, where we sat on the back of a trailer and planted vegetable seeds!  We recycled egg cartons and used them as seed trays.  Each child had a different vegetable to plant, and they had to read the back of the package to figure out the depth to plant the seed.  We discussed the differences among the seed depths, as well as differences in harvest times.  The trays look great!  Hopefully, they will grow big and strong and we can transfer them into the garden!  Afterward, we sat under a tree and ate a picnic lunch.  It was gorgeous outside, and it felt great to be out soaking it up!

Social Studies-  The kids reviewed what they read about the Articles of Confederation.  They then did an activity separating the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.  It's funny how cutting the material into strips of colored paper makes a learning experience way more exciting!

Reading/Writing- We reread part of our Hamlet for Kids book today.  I'm telling you.... These kids are eating. this. up.  The fact that they are so enthralled with Shakespeare is so exciting to me!  He may have lived almost 400 years ago, but he sure can keep kids in 2012 begging to read more!  After we read and discuss a section in the book, the children have been writing a continuous summary of the play, in their own (rhyming) words.  I usually keep the summaries in class, passing them back out to the kids each time we read on.  I cannot WAIT for them to finish their versions and read them aloud!

Art- Today was a bit different that usual.  Today, I taught the class, AND Ms. Nancy, how to make pysanky eggs.  Pysanky is the Ukrainian art of egg dying, which uses wax and a series of very strong dyes.  The kids used kistkas to melt the wax over a candle, or they used a white crayon, to apply wax to the egg.  Then, the egg was dipped into a dye.  Then, more wax is added to the areas that they wanted to keep that color.  The process continues, with darker and darker dyes, until we finally melted off all of the dye and exposed the beautiful creations!