This Week

Hi Families!

This week was very busy! We had two different field trips. On Tuesday, the first years went to Blandford Nature Center. The program we originally selected was called "Birds of a Feather," but there was a miscommunication and Blandford ended up doing the "Seeds and Plants" workshop with our group. This was actually a happy switch-up, as the majority of the classrooms are currently working on Botany studies, so it was very applicable. The students went on nature hikes around the property on a seed/plant scavenger hunt.

Playing a game called Squirrels and Blue jays :)

We also had two Mystery Guest presentations this week. Brooklyn was Betsy Ross and Kyle was Galileo. 

Sylas also did a really cool hermit crab presentation and brought in his pet hermit crab, Spidey, but I totally forgot to take a picture! 

We also celebrated Earth day with several different lessons and this art project.

Today, the second graders went to the Civic Theater to see a presentation of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It was really well done and the students had a great time. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Beautiful Botany

Hi Families,

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing spring break. Mine was very restful, although I am happy to be back with the kids. (Your children bring so much joy and happiness to my days.)

This week marked the beginning of our botany studies. The first years are studying the needs of plants as well as animal life cycles. The second years are studying more advanced parts of a plant, and the third graders are studying the parts and life cycle of a flowering part. The third years were amazed to learn this week that flowers are both male and female. 

Second grade work--diagramming the parts of a plant

Stella working on her parts of a flower diagram.

Melina working on her life cycle of a frog. 

We also planted bean seeds and are now waiting for them to sprout. 

Just some beautiful collaborative learning. :) 

Kid Funnies of late. (Hope these are funny to you too... some of them maybe are only funny in context--you had to be there, kind of thing.) I still have to share:

Jon: "Looking at this map of Europe makes me want some cheese."

Henry: "I know that King Tut's wife was so sad when her husband died that she killed her own self with a snake."

Me (Prompting a discussion for our writing prompt): "What would you do if the hummingbird you rescued didn't seem to be getting any better?"
Brady: "Well maybe he is just faking it."

We also went outside to clean up litter on the playground. The kids were thrilled with the odd assortment of things they found outside--dental floss, a giant wad of sticky tack, and the ultimate highlight: a petrified frog. Caileb wanted to touch it badly and Harry yelled out, "No Caileb! It has rabies!"

I have tears in my eyes from laughter just typing this as we are sitting in the peaceful computer lab, everyone working quietly with headphones on, when Sylas yells out: "LOOK AT THE CAT!" which has apparently appeared on his screen. Oh these kids, I love them so.