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| Shackleton Projects |
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| Carrot Planting Activity |
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| Invertebrate Study: Porifera Art Project |
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
3/27/19
Friday, March 22, 2019
3/20/19
Today was one of those teaching days that I live for! Yes, we learned about invertebrates and vertebrates, about radial, bilateral, and asymmetry, about similes and hyperboles, and more... but my absolute favorite lesson of the day was a surprise. You see, last week, I gave these students a hefty at-home work load. They had a lot of writing to do, a presentation to write and create, literature questions to answer, chapters to read... it was a lot, and I knew it! As one student finished up his presentation, he looked up and announced, "I just want you all to know that I lost my Nintendo Switch privileges over these paragraphs. I didn't want to do them, and I got in trouble!" With that, the class all just stared in amazement. I could tell they were all thinking, "What? I'm not the only one who struggles with assignments?!" I thanked the brave student for his honesty, and took this time to have a very real discussion.
I explained that I knew this week was a tough one... but I wanted to push them just a bit. I asked the class to raise their hands if they had cried, struggled, gotten mad, or gotten in trouble due to assignments in the past month. Everyone except two raised their hands, and a wave of relief crossed the room. We talked about how struggles and bumps and painful work weeks are important to help us grow. If we were never challenged, we would never improve. As a teacher, I believe that it is important to have balance in the classroom. Too much of a challenge is overwhelming and stressful, which is not conducive to learning. Too little challenge creates academic stagnancy. I like to intentionally and appropriately challenge and reward in order to help the kids grow and improve without feeling inadequate or full of anxiety!
We also talked about how everyone seems to feel that they are the only ones struggling, and that everyone else surely has it "together". They were surprised to know that even adults do this! I asked them, "How many of your parents cry out that everyone else's houses are clean, so why can't we keep OURS clean?!" They all laughed. This was the case for everyone! We all seem to put others up on a pedestal and think that we are the only ones that can't be perfect. In my opinion, the lessons learned from today's impromptu lessons were incredibly important. I love my job!
The geography presentations on Asia were excellent! We enjoyed oral presentations, Power Point presentations, posters, and even some amazing food from the Philippines! We're wrapping up our Asia unit next week.
The class just wrapped up Shackleton's Stowaway and completed multiple essays along the way. As a fun wrap-up, we are putting away the pencils and creating dioramas of a scene from the book. This book was a challenge for many of the students, and they did an amazing job! We have only one more literature book left this year: Swiss Family Robinson!
Py
sanky eggs have been completed! The kids spent their art time today melting off the beeswax to reveal the beautiful colors underneath. This class rocked their pysanka this year! I am so impressed. It takes patience and focus... and delayed gratification. I love teaching the art of pysanky!
I explained that I knew this week was a tough one... but I wanted to push them just a bit. I asked the class to raise their hands if they had cried, struggled, gotten mad, or gotten in trouble due to assignments in the past month. Everyone except two raised their hands, and a wave of relief crossed the room. We talked about how struggles and bumps and painful work weeks are important to help us grow. If we were never challenged, we would never improve. As a teacher, I believe that it is important to have balance in the classroom. Too much of a challenge is overwhelming and stressful, which is not conducive to learning. Too little challenge creates academic stagnancy. I like to intentionally and appropriately challenge and reward in order to help the kids grow and improve without feeling inadequate or full of anxiety!
We also talked about how everyone seems to feel that they are the only ones struggling, and that everyone else surely has it "together". They were surprised to know that even adults do this! I asked them, "How many of your parents cry out that everyone else's houses are clean, so why can't we keep OURS clean?!" They all laughed. This was the case for everyone! We all seem to put others up on a pedestal and think that we are the only ones that can't be perfect. In my opinion, the lessons learned from today's impromptu lessons were incredibly important. I love my job! 
The geography presentations on Asia were excellent! We enjoyed oral presentations, Power Point presentations, posters, and even some amazing food from the Philippines! We're wrapping up our Asia unit next week.
The class just wrapped up Shackleton's Stowaway and completed multiple essays along the way. As a fun wrap-up, we are putting away the pencils and creating dioramas of a scene from the book. This book was a challenge for many of the students, and they did an amazing job! We have only one more literature book left this year: Swiss Family Robinson!
Py
sanky eggs have been completed! The kids spent their art time today melting off the beeswax to reveal the beautiful colors underneath. This class rocked their pysanka this year! I am so impressed. It takes patience and focus... and delayed gratification. I love teaching the art of pysanky!
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
3/13/19
After milking the goats, feeding the animals, and giving the baby goats their bottles, the kids climbed back into the building for some Farm News. We talked about the new feeder pigs, the eggs that are due to hatch, and the goat kids that have already gone to new homes. We will be able to snuggle the others for another week or so before they are all off to new owners!
The kids and I have been talking a lot about the mechanics behind milking machines. Today, I gave each group of students 2 small jars, 2 small tubes, and a syringe that would be used as their "vacuum pump". I also covered one of the jars in Press and Seal wrap to create an airtight seal. The other jar was partly filled with colored liquid. The groups had to create a vacuum system that would move the liquid from one jar to the other but not allow liquid to be sucked up into their "pump". It took a little work, but each and every group succeeded!
At home, the class worked on writing formal business style letters. These letters were penned as if written by one of my animals, and they were writing to file a complaint with the management... ME! This assignment, although fun, gave the students an opportunity to practice proper letter format. As expected, these were a riot! My animals sure did have a lot of griping to do!
The class then reviewed the vocabulary from the last few chapters in Shackleton's Stowaway. This book has been a fantastic way to teach the class about Antarctica and the surrounding waters, but also to understand the harrowing nature of Ernest Shackleton's expedition on the Endurance. As our characters trudge through the harsh conditions, the kids are learning about different animals, landforms, and survival topics that they can add to their field guides. Recently, the class learned about the danger of frostbite. This was a perfect addition to the "Survival" section of their guides! We ended literature studies by discussing their reading comprehension questions and reading a chapter out loud, together. This week, they will be finishing the book!
Next, the kids celebrated reaching their book report goal with a pizza party! The whole class enjoyed pizza, but the students who completed the book reports were able to choose a prize for dessert. They then ran off the extra calories and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine!
The students' pysanky projects are wrapping up! Today the kids added the last of the beeswax to their eggs. Next week, they will melt off all of the wax to reveal the beautiful colors underneath.
I wanted to integrate map skills into our study of Asia. Although we had already discussed latitude & longitude, map keys, and the compass rose, I took this opportunity to explain how to read a map's scale. The kids used slips of paper to measure distances between different countries in India. They used these slips of paper against the scale on the maps to determine the distance. They will be working more with this at home to further review this new skill.
Today's science class consisted of a lesson on the parts of flowering plants. At home, they were given videos and websites to help them complete a sheet on the functions of each part. In class, we used this sheet as the bottom flap in their notebooks. They added the top flap; a diagram of a flower which they created by pasting the different parts in the proper places. They will be labeling these parts at home. Next week, we will wrap up our plant unit and move to Kingdom Animalia!
The kids and I have been talking a lot about the mechanics behind milking machines. Today, I gave each group of students 2 small jars, 2 small tubes, and a syringe that would be used as their "vacuum pump". I also covered one of the jars in Press and Seal wrap to create an airtight seal. The other jar was partly filled with colored liquid. The groups had to create a vacuum system that would move the liquid from one jar to the other but not allow liquid to be sucked up into their "pump". It took a little work, but each and every group succeeded! 
At home, the class worked on writing formal business style letters. These letters were penned as if written by one of my animals, and they were writing to file a complaint with the management... ME! This assignment, although fun, gave the students an opportunity to practice proper letter format. As expected, these were a riot! My animals sure did have a lot of griping to do!
The class then reviewed the vocabulary from the last few chapters in Shackleton's Stowaway. This book has been a fantastic way to teach the class about Antarctica and the surrounding waters, but also to understand the harrowing nature of Ernest Shackleton's expedition on the Endurance. As our characters trudge through the harsh conditions, the kids are learning about different animals, landforms, and survival topics that they can add to their field guides. Recently, the class learned about the danger of frostbite. This was a perfect addition to the "Survival" section of their guides! We ended literature studies by discussing their reading comprehension questions and reading a chapter out loud, together. This week, they will be finishing the book!Next, the kids celebrated reaching their book report goal with a pizza party! The whole class enjoyed pizza, but the students who completed the book reports were able to choose a prize for dessert. They then ran off the extra calories and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine!
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| The kids made a banner and cards for Ms. Sydney's graduation! |
The students' pysanky projects are wrapping up! Today the kids added the last of the beeswax to their eggs. Next week, they will melt off all of the wax to reveal the beautiful colors underneath.
I wanted to integrate map skills into our study of Asia. Although we had already discussed latitude & longitude, map keys, and the compass rose, I took this opportunity to explain how to read a map's scale. The kids used slips of paper to measure distances between different countries in India. They used these slips of paper against the scale on the maps to determine the distance. They will be working more with this at home to further review this new skill.
Today's science class consisted of a lesson on the parts of flowering plants. At home, they were given videos and websites to help them complete a sheet on the functions of each part. In class, we used this sheet as the bottom flap in their notebooks. They added the top flap; a diagram of a flower which they created by pasting the different parts in the proper places. They will be labeling these parts at home. Next week, we will wrap up our plant unit and move to Kingdom Animalia!
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