Friday, March 29, 2013

Shirt Upcycling with Sarah

Upcycling is defined as the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials. Sarah (Mark's mom) is an amazing seamstress and offered to come in to the classroom again to upcycle the students' shirts - either old, stained, or otherwise in disrepair. There were lots and lots of scraps of material, stencils, crayons and markers to use. Students got right to work cutting out material to use on their shirts and then affixed the scraps either by hand-sewing or using one of the two machines set up.

Thank you, Sarah, for guiding our environmentally conscious students to make something new out of something old!











Trip to Leslie Science and Nature Center

We finally got to visit "our" owl. In December we held a "Bake Sale for the Birdies" and raised enough money to sponsor a barn owl for an entire year. Yesterday, we went to check to see how he is doing. We learned that he ended up at the Leslie Science and Nature Center because people thought it would be fun to keep him as a pet - and, as a result, he never learned what to do to survive in the wild. At LSNC, however, the barn owl is doing great - getting excellent treatment and seems to love and trust his handlers.

We learned SO much about owls and other raptors. The students asked really thoughtful questions, and Sarah - our guide for the morning - answered each one. We learned about the many adaptations that owls have, from extra bones in their necks to let them swivel their heads, to their wings which allow them nearly silent flight.

Besides the barn owl, we also met the barred owl and the tiny screech owl. We then toured the facilities outside to see lots of other raptors (all there because they can not survive in the wild due to injuries or other issues). Most beautiful of all, as Pearl eagerly agrees, is the majestic turkey vulture. Maybe next year.








Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Black-out or Erasure Poetry


Today the first graders had a little time to explore different things as the second graders enjoyed a sample Mandarin lesson with Fan.

I read a beautiful picture book called All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan. Afterwords, I showed them a page I had copied, and demonstrated how - by circling words or phases you liked and then blacking out the rest - you could make a type of poem. 

While only a few children attempted to do this with a different page of text, the children who did found it quite enjoyable. Here is what Niccolo was able to do - which, I have to admit, made my paltry attempt pale in comparison.

Here is what Niccolo started with:


Here is the finished poem:

  
We climbed
our 
                        tree
to eat fruit.

                I see the sun rise on one side.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Owl Pellets

The students were so excited to get to the end of the day - it was the time on our daily schedule labeled "What's in YOUR pellet?" After our nature walk with Faye where we saw the skins of a shrew, a mouse, and a vole - we knew that we may find some of the remains of these animals in our pellets.

Some of the children had a natural "Oh YUCK!" attitude when they first saw the pellets. We talked about how it was not owl poop, but rather the regurgitated clump coughed up by owls - the fur and bones that they could not digest. Also, the pellets were purchased at a science materials facility where they were put through a sterilization process. Nice, clean owl puke. After a few moments, each and every student got thoroughly excited and invested in the process.

As we expected, we found mostly vole remains. We had learned earlier that voles make up an astonishing 85% of the barn owl's diet. Some lucky children found multiple skulls in their pellet - others found mostly fur and other smaller bones. We used an identification chart to identify as many bones as possible.





Sunday, March 24, 2013

Snack Routine - Update for Spring

Here is the snack duty roster from spring break until the end of the year. Remember, there are 13 students in the class and we have an a.m. and p.m. snack. Fruits and vegetables of all sorts are very appreciated - but the occasional treat is fine. Popcorn and all-juice frozen juice pops are the most popular treats. 

Thank you all for making it a healthy year!

4/8 - 4/12            Kai 
4/15 - 4/19          Ava
4/22 - 4/26          Juliana
4/29 - 5/3            Ella
5/6 - 5/10            Mark
5/13 - 5/16          Pearl
5/20 - 5/24          Andrew
5/28 - 5/31          Eli
6/3 - 6/7             Samantha
6/10 - 6/12          Niccolo

Final Special Reader List of the School Year


Please mark your calendars - here is the new roster. It has been such a pleasure to listen to your children read all year!

Andrew and Juliana    March 28
Kai and Eli                April 11
Samantha and Ella    April 18
Leo and Niccolo        April 25
Olivia and Pearl         May 2
Mark and Antony       May 9
Ava and Andrew        May16
Juliana and Kai         May 23
Samantha and Eli      May 30
Leo and Ella             June 6

Saturday, March 23, 2013

What We're Reading Now - The One and Only Ivan

We're taking a break from William Steig (although we will probably return to him later as Dominic and Abel's Island were so well received) to read The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. This is a sweet/sad/touching story that had us hooked from the first page.

While this book is a work of fiction, it is based on a true story. You can read all about it by clicking HERE.










First Workshop of Poetry Slam Series - Wordworks!

Thanks to two S-K parents, Christine Hume and Amy Kulper, the first and second graders are participating in a three-part poetry series from now through the month of April (National Poetry Month). Yesterday, three members of Wordworks came to visit. Wordworks is a collective of collegiate poets and performers from across the state of Michigan. First we were treated to a poetry performance (kind of like a mini-slam) which even included a little beatboxing.

Tony Zick, Carlina Duan, and Ben Alfaro each took turns reading some of their own poetry and poetry written by others (including other children). Themes included using our five senses, writing about something you love, and metaphors.




Then students got busy starting their own poems, inspired by a poem "Underneath" by Jeff Kass. Jeff will be here himself at our next event, April 11th. Very exciting!




Thursday, March 21, 2013

Superheroes Strike Again!

Notice that fresh clean smell? Our Environmental Superheroes donned aprons and made buckets of our "green" cleaning solution. Here are a few adventures from our cleaning frenzy.






Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Spring Cleaning!


March is the perfect time to do some spring cleaning! Our room has become quite messy, and the cubby areas start off clean in the morning but are usually a muddy mess by the afternoon. What to do? Environmental Superheroes to the rescue!

Tomorrow, we will combine science and our environmental study to create a "green" cleaning solution. Please bring in used rags if you have them - all will be put to good (re)use. You child will bring home a bottle of the lovely stuff for you to use around the house. Enjoy!

The recipe we will use:

1 cup warm water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 T lemon oil
1 t tea tree oil
1 t liquid castile soap

Click HERE 
to go to a link with lots of other green cleaning solution recipes. 



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Will We Have Fun in Math Class? It's Very Probable!

This week we began a new topic in math class - data collection/analysis and probability. This challenging concept is actually very fun to teach, and is often one of the favorite math units for the students. I have a collection of great games and activities which will encourage our mathematicians to collect real, meaningful data - and to organize/analyze that data to draw conclusions and explain what they've learned.

We started our theme as we often do - with a great book. This is one of my favorites:
















We then started collecting data for one of the simplest ideas - using a coin, we played a partner game called Heads and Tails. One child was "heads" and one child "tails". Flipping a coin would tell students which coin could move. If the "tail" penny got to the tail of the snake before the "head" penny got to the head of the snake, a tally would be added to the simple H/T data collection table on the chalkboard.

After playing for a couple days, we noticed that there were many more tally marks in the "tails" column. We talked about why that might be. Several children could articulate that "It's just chance! Each time you flip the coin it could be either!"

As we continue to play this game, we will see if the columns become more equal.


From here, we will move to one-dice games and then two-dice games. We will also read a chapter or so of a chapter book called Do You Want To Bet? Your Chance to Find Out. Finally, we will hope to advise Mrs. Oats, president of a famous cereal company, if it makes sense for her to include toys in cereal boxes.





Friday, March 15, 2013

Circle of Life Nature Walk with Faye Stoner

Faye Stoner, the wonderful naturalist who works at County Farm Park, took us on another nature walk yesterday. Faye always likes to know what our students are studying and, whenever possible, links the topic with our walks. This month's theme was perfect as there are so many ways to learn about the circle of life while out in nature.

Our first stop was a maple sap collection bucket. Each child got to taste the icy-cold and delicious sweet water. Faye also let us taste the maple syrup she had made from the very same tree. The children learned that it takes many jugs of the sweet sap to make just a tiny bit of syrup.











Then Faye gave each child a stem of a plant that appeared to have odd lumps. We learned that these lumps are called galls. If you ever see a gall, you can be sure an insect has been there. Galls are a plant's response to a foreign object, such as an insect or a mite. An insect lays eggs, and the plant responds by forming a gall. The egg develops in the stem through its larval stage, forms a pupa, and finally emerges as an adult. Some of the galls we saw had a tiny hole in them, informing us that the adult insect had escaped. But some had no holes, so we "sacrificed" one and opened it up. Sure enough, we could see a larva.

The children excitedly told Faye about the larva in our room - our meal worms. Some of the mealworms are now in the pupa stage, and we are awaiting for them to emerge as their adult forms.

We next saw some rabbit scat. Faye told us that rabbits eat their "first poop" in order to get every ounce of nutrition from the food they can. Amazing.

Faye also showed us evidence of a small rodent home in the grasses. This could have been made by a mouse, a shrew, or a vole. Faye showed us taxidermy specimens of each so we could compare attributes. While some of the students thought this was very sad, Faye asked them to think about it another way:  Part of the circle of life is that some animals are necessary for others to survive. We will definitely revisit this idea as we dissect our owl pellets next week - we will find bones and skulls of all three.

Finally, we found the remains of a rabbit, seemingly freshly killed by a fox, an owl, or other animal in the natural hierarchy. All part of the circle of life.

Our hour went so quickly, but we said goodbye knowing that we would meet with Faye again soon. We are incredibly lucky to have our relationship with Faye, and with the beautiful nature park right in our backyard.




Thursday, March 14, 2013

Around the World with Music - AASO Trip

Yesterday we went to Hill Auditorium to attend the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. The program was called Around the World with Music. We had seats very near to the orchestra, which was quite exciting. If you are interested in taking the family again, you have an opportunity on Sunday. Click HERE for details!





Saturday, March 9, 2013

Science Friday - Mealworms

Our new monthly theme is "Circle of Life". We began by brainstorming what that may mean. The students immediately thought of how people get born, grow up, and die - but then new babies get born and the cycle starts all over again. (Luckily, I happened to have a short DVD called All About the Human Life Cycle which we watched and discussed.) Beyond that, we talked about how many things could repeat and never end - the seasons always go in the same pattern, and recycling and composting were mentioned as well.

This will be a science heavy month. One of our big projects will be raising and experimenting with mealworms, particularly related to their own "circle of life". We began our studies yesterday. Each child received their very own mealworm, and are fascinated to observe and document all of the changes. There were several exciting escapes (this was due to weak planning on the part of the teacher!) but I hope the mealworms are more settled now. Students practiced making close observations, making predictions, using magnifying glasses, and doing careful scientific sketches. On Monday, we will see if anything happened to our mealworms over the weekend!







I am looking forward to our nature walk with Faye Stoner on Thursday afternoon, and we will look for more signs of the circle of life in our beautiful park next door.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Flashlight Reading

So it is March 7th - must be time for Halloween books and flashlight reading under "tents", right?


Thinking Questions in Math Class

Thursday is generally a very enjoyable, more relaxed, day in math. We put away our Singapore books and do more hands-on, art-related, and/or game-type activities. Although it is a "fun" math day, that doesn't mean that learning doesn't go on.

One of thinking activities today involved manipulation of our place value blocks as we worked out some true/false statements about odd and even numbers. The groups were asked if the following statements were true:

An even number plus an even number is always even
An odd number plus an odd number is always odd
An odd number plus an even number is always odd

All children could "prove" to me that the first and third statements were true and the second statement was false by giving/showing me examples with the little blocks. However, it was definitely trickier to be able to articulate WHY.

If you do a quick internet search, you can come up with the following reasoning, and I certainly could have simply "taught" this to the children:

For any even number n, the following integer is odd (n+1), so for any odd number other than 1, you are adding the preceding even number, plus 1. Think of the odd number as an even number plus one and remember that all even numbers are multiples of two. Therefore: Any two odd numbers added together will be the same as adding two even numbers plus 1 plus 1.


Instead, I gave them gentle questions and thinking time, and this is what one child came up with. Enjoy and learn.





Saturday, March 2, 2013

Scholastic Book Order Time!

We Did It!

We successfully collected over 100 cans of food for the 100th day of school. Here, Mark is telling the rest of the school about it at the Friday Morning Meeting. Many thanks to the families of my class, Elaine's class, and Val's class.


Friday, March 1, 2013

Where Children Sleep


Please take a few minutes to visit our Where We Sleep projects. They are located right outside the classroom door. Along with the projects, I will be keeping the book that served as inspiration during Global Citizenship month. Enjoy!