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.
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