Monday, May 27, 2019

An assortment of activities from the last several weeks

Time is flying by during this last month of school! We've done so many fun projects, had special guests, and learned new things. Here are some highlights:

For several weeks we had a Wonder Table where students could bring in items from home or outdoors that made them wonder. This table was a big hit. I brought in several jars of old spices, for example, and the kids had so much fun trying to guess what they were. We also looked at a wasps nest, shells, and stones.




Lots of math learning this year! We've learned about 3D shapes, adding numbers to make 10, and much more.





We've also had many trips to the library this year, one of our favorite "specials" classes! Below are some book favorites.





Every day we practice writing, including daily Writers Workshop time, as well as writing about books we read, like in the pictures below.




Every Friday we play in the front yard, and recently the kids have loved painting with water.



We've had multiple special guests come read to us, and also started reading our own writing to each other!



We have a guest naturalist coming several times this month to teach us about insects. This week we learned about how to identify an insect (as opposed to an arachnid or other creature - six legs and three body parts!) We also went on an insect hunt and wrote a small report on what we found. As part of our science unit we adopted pillbugs, which we'll study more next week!














Sunday, May 19, 2019

Learning about birds with the Audubon Society

This month we were lucky enough to have two visits from the Audubon Society to teach us about birds! We learned all about owls, including practicing different owl calls and learning to listen for prey like an owl. The instructor brought a real (stuffed) owl for us to see, as well as owl feathers and owl pellets that we got to touch and explore. The next week she brought binoculars and we went on a bird walk around the neighborhood! The kids were so engaged and we saw quite a few birds, as well as different types of flowers and trees. Here are some pictures!
































We also made owl masks on Forest Friday - pictures below!