Milking Lesson

Due to a whirlwind day, this isn't a complete run-down!

Grammar- Today was another review day.  The class reviewed prepositions and prepositional phrases.  We talked about how prepositional phrases can be adjective phrases or adverb phrases, depending on the word that they describe.  After doing a few together, the class diagrammed sentences involving these phrases.

Writing-  There were some students who were still working on their proposal letters for the persuasive writing assignment.  Those students turned their letters in today, and all of them were approved.  We briefly discussed different organizational techniques that they can use to plan out their papers.  The class will be working on their papers at home.  While they do, we will have some mini-lessons during our in-class time.  Today's lesson was on letter writing.  I talked to the class about the importance of thank you cards.  I explained to them that I play a game with my kids around the holidays.  They pretend like they are opening a gift.  Then, I tell them what is inside their pretend gift.  Their pretend gifts aren't exciting, or even good gifts! Sometimes it's a package of socks, a dishrag, a rock, a pickle... anything!  Then, my kids have to say say "Thank you" and make up something nice to say about the gift.  For example, they could say, "Thank you so much for the pickle!  It is going to taste great with my sandwich tomorrow!"  The class practiced this skill.  If you can be thankful and think of something nice to say about a dirty shoe, then you can show gratitude for all gifts that you are given!  The students came up with a real example of something that they were given recently, or a favor that someone did for them.  Then, they learned how to format a Thank You letter.  After writing their letters, they each were given an envelope.  They learned to properly address the envelope.  If they knew the address of the person they were sending it to, I put a stamp on their envelope and sent it out today!

Social Studies- Today's social studies lesson dealt with America's role in WWI.  After discussing and reading about the reasons for America's participation, the kids worked in groups of two to put copies of newspaper clippings of events leading up to America's entering the war into chronological order.

Agriculture-  To prepare for the upcoming birth of the baby goats, the class learned how to milk a goat or cow today!  I explained to the kids the technique needed to successfully, and safely, milk.  If you just "squeeze" the teat, the milk will flow back up into the udder.  Therefore, you have to first squeeze with the top of your hand, then "roll" the squeeze downward, helping to force the milk out of the teat.  The perfect way to teach this technique is by filling latex gloves with milk.  We poked a small hole in one of the fingers, and the students were able to work on "milking" the glove into a bowl.  If you do not do it correctly, the milk goes right back up instead of out!

After our lesson, the class recorded the vocals to their agriculture promotional music video.  They did an AWESOME job!  We will be working on recording the video portion when we return from Spring Break.