We're already getting into the groove! Each day will begin by a student holding the flag and leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. We will be taking turns throughout the year. Also, we posted our "star chart". Each time we go over work from Homework Hideout, and the children complete and bring in that assignment, they get a star. Once a student gains enough stars to complete his or her chart, they are able to choose from the prize box!
Spelling/vocabulary- Instead of waiting until we split into small groups, we played a big spelling review game of hot potato! These words are difficult, and the kids are doing a great job! They will be working with their lists at home tomorrow, and doing at-home assessment on Monday. We will be getting a new list each week, which previews the key words they will be learning in all of their other classes that week!
Handwriting- Once our organization was complete, the students split into their math and handwriting/grammar groups. In handwriting, each class worked on learning, or perfecting, the cursive letter "e". Although the ones who are learning cursive are working on developing each letter in class, they will be working on improving their manuscript penmanship as they work at home.
Grammar- Today, we discussed singular and plural nouns. Most of the student already knew that there were different rules for turning singular nouns into their singular form. Usually, you just add an "s" to the end of the word to make it plural. However, if words end in s, sh, ch, x, or x, you must add "es". The students also learned (or reviewed) that words that end in a consanent followed by a y are changed to plural by turning the "y" into an "i" and adding "es". But, if the noun ends in a vowel followed by a "y" (as in 'boy'), you only have to add an "s"! We will continue today's lesson in an at-home video lesson tomorrow.
Math- In math class today, the students reviewed place values up to 1 billion. After Ms. Jennifer's lesson, the class got in line to play a place value game. Each student got a turn to give the place value, and the value, of a number that Ms. Jennifer pointed out. If they were correct, they were able to move up a floor tile toward the goal line! Hooray for kinetic learning!
Science- Thursdays are science days with Ms. Gail! The kids learned the definition of chemistry. They learning about the periodic table, as well as atoms and their smaller particles (protons, neutrons, and electrons). After discussing the different elements, Ms. Gail explained to the class that they will be working on a poster or construction paper assignment, at home. They each get to choose an element that they would like to display. Then, they have to come up with a shape that represents their element (for instance, a salt shaker for sodium). They will cut construction paper or poster board to that shape. On it, they will be displaying information about their element. These will be shown off in class next Thursday! Afterward, they played a matching game, like Memory, with the terms from today. What a great first day of science!
Social Studies- Mr. Dennis discussed with the class the differences that existed between the North and the South. These included economic, cultural, and Constitutional differences. For instance, a major conflict was the desire for States' Rights as opposed to a very strong central government. The students applied what they learned as they completed a chart on the subject. Mr. Dennis leads a hard class, but in the end, these kids are going to know their stuff!
Agriculture- As the first day of agricultural education, I introduced the meaning of agriculture, and the importance of agriculture to our state and to the world as a whole. We discussed Georgia's most important agricultural commodities, and talked about where our meats come from! No, farming is not always pretty. Getting a cow from the pasture to a burger isn't exactly roses, but the students hopefully were able to think about the big picture... that we all must eat and we are blessed to have chicken, pigs, cows, and other animals that provide us with protein that our bodies need.
The children spent time coloring pictures of the scene they picture when they hear the word "farm". They drew rolling hills, red barns, smiling cows, and blue skies. Beautiful! However, we did discuss that not all farms look like this! Some farms don't raise animals at all! Some farms only grow fields and fields of soybeans. Some farms are small, local farms, with naturally grown food. We discussed why the cost of this food is higher than the food at the grocery stores. We also discussed large factory farms, and how, although their practices are not always what we would like them to be, the world population needs so much food that we cannot all eat from our small local farms.... nor could everyone afford more expensive milk, eggs, or produce. It's good to discuss all aspects of an equation, and there certainly are a lot of factors that go into agriculture!
The kids learned that they will be getting ready for Inman Farm Heritage Days on September 21st. Our class will be hosting a fundraiser... a farm animal exhibit! Each child will become an "expert" on one of the animals in our exhibit. We will have chicks, chickens, rabbits, donkeys, goats, and more! Just ask your kids what purposes rabbits serve on a farm... They LOVE this!
Writing- Our goal in writing is this: Make writing FUN! We want kids to love to write, not to be miserable about the idea. In order to do this, they have to get comfortable writing... so we are going to write often! Each day, the kids will have a short writing prompt. This is nothing big or detailed. They are just writing one paragraph.... but they only have 10 minutes! After 10 minutes, we share what we have written. Today's prompt was: "The Perfect Sandwich". It took a little while to get over the shock of having to think and quickly write their thoughts onto paper, but with time, it will help them to lose the fear of committing to paper... and just WRITE! We will work on being picky later. For now, it's all about letting go!
Drama- In drama today, Ms. Rose helped the children chose their roles for "The Polar Express"! They worked through nailing down the parts and even got through blocking out the first three scenes! These kids are going to love this class.... and LOVE getting The Polar Express ready to leave the station!
The children did such a great job completing their literature assignments at home! Ms. Gail went through the pages with them, discussing important concepts. Then, they read chapter 8 in A Bridge To Terabithia. Because we are reading above grade level, and because good literature often delves into difficult topics and concepts, we spent some time explaining why the author uses improper English, as well as some bad language that we would never use. Characters in books do not always act appropriately. They do not always act or speak as we do. The students understood this, and accepted it with maturity! As someone trained in teaching sensitive subject matter, I truly appreciated Gail's responsible discussion. Children rise to meet the expectations set for them!
Agricultural Education- Today was a split lesson in ag class. First, we learned about chicken embryo development. Our eggs are in the incubator! The students learned the timeline for chicken eggs. At day 18, we will take out the egg turner and increase the humidity. This is called "lock down". Then, three days later, the eggs should hatch! The class learned terms such as pipping and zipping, humidity, and candling. In two weeks, we will be candling the eggs to see the chicks growing inside! The maran eggs are very dark, so it can be hard to see through the shell. Hopefully by that point the embryos will be big enough for us to see movement! 
