This week has been exhausting and fun. The children have been in high spirits, mostly, but emotions are running high. Today (Thursday), I carved out some extra "free time" this afternoon, and we just played with art supplies and Lego, ate fruit icepops, and then played Poison Dart Frog - all while listening to some nice Desmond Dekker. It was just what the doctor ordered.
We finished our Please Wash Your Hands! science experiment and I got the pleasure of throwing away three nasty pieces of moldy bread. For several weeks now, students have carefully made observations and drawings of "germy bread" - bread that was handed around to each child after they touched all the classroom surfaces, "washed" - bread that was handled only by me, with washed hands, and the "control" - the bread that was touched only with a napkin (no human touch at all since baking). We definitely saw that the germy bread had different kinds of bacteria growing on it - lots of variety - while the other breads were moldy too, they were less so, and with much less variation. Some children really understood the purpose of the control, and others were not quite ready to grasp the concept. That's okay! Working with scientific methodology is just playful practice at this point - and we'll get lots more practice as we continue to experiment and explore.
This week was especially exciting because we finally finished our current chapter book, The Witches, by Roald Dahl. It kept the children's attention through to the very last page. As we do with most chapter books, we each wrote a book review. Drawing/writing about favorite characters and scenes helps children learn about literary elements - which will then encourage them in their own writing.
And having them honestly give their own opinion, with no judgement attached, can be a powerful thing to a small child. I usually have to say a few times, "Don't tell me what you think I want to hear! What do you really think about the book? Tell me the words you would use to describe it to a friend." That said, it secretly tickles me when all the children give 5 stars to a book I've loved forever.
In math all of this week, we've had so many great conversations around numbers that we can attach to ourselves. On Monday, my math students were greeted with about ten numbers written on the black board - numbers like 3480, 11, 17, and 1. I told them that each number had personal significance for me. I then gave clues and the children had to guess what number the clue referred to. For instance - one clue was - the number of years I've worked at this school. (Yes, 17! I can barely believe it.) We brainstormed all week, and then put our ideas into books.
First you read a number on a page ...
And then you turn the page to find out what the clue was!
Here's the proud author. She's a number ONE in my book.
We celebrated a birthday this week, too! Our Alex celebrated in 7th birthday by bringing in a delicious sweet treat for the afternoon and also donated a very funny book for the birthday book shelf. If you haven't seen this book, check it out! Future students will enjoy this book for a long, long time.
On Tuesday, Mira came in to share a tradition with both 1st and 2nd grade classes. We made beautiful window stars with kite paper. Sometimes these are referred to as Waldorf stars. Whatever they are called, they are gorgeous, and easy to do.
And of course the Bake Sale for the Birdies was a lot of work, but a big success. I did the computer "paperwork," and we are officially sponsors of two beautiful raptors at the LSNC.
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