Month: May 2018

It has been an incredibly productive week in room 3! We’ve had some great times with math, reading, art, and even helped our community.

A lot of our math and science work this week centered around our change exploration, but we did other work that was super fascinating. We worked on sorting our animal cards and had a blast exploring what we knew about animals and symbols to sort them correctly. Yianni was surprised there were so many mammal cards and wondered if there were actually more mammals in the world. Jerome thought that the amoebas and other ‘protozoa’ were by far the weirdest group of animals. Teddy was helping sort the cards and noticed that they needed to make a new pile because there was a new symbol they hadn’t seen before. Sokrates recognized that the symbol for mammal is actually part of a cow (the udder) and I explained why that was a good symbol for mammals. We not only practiced sorting, we learned a lot about animals and did a lot of great comparison work.

Our reading study this week continued to focus on poetry, but this time we studied the form of a poem, not a specific poet. We studied humorous poems, narrative poems, free verse, and rhyming poems. We wrote our own poems and Anja’s rhyming poem about a bat that got fat and lost his hat was probably the most popular, but we really enjoyed making our own rhymes. However, the class favorite, and the one that Paolo said he just couldn’t get out of his head, was The Dance of the 13 Skeletons by Jack Prelutsky. We really loved saying the refrain together and feeling the beat of the syllables. We also continued practicing tongue twisters and feeling how our mouths moved and pronounced the words.

Our art explorations this week focused on making prints, which was a huge hit. We spread paint on the table, first with our hands and then after with brushes and sponges, and then pressed the paper to the table to get the print. Niki realized she could make a copy of the print by pressing the paper to a second piece of paper, although there wasn’t as much paint on the copy. Bisola noticed that, when someone sprayed the table with water, the colors blended even better, so that was cool. Paolo compared the lines in the paint to the wrinkles in his skin, which people thought was a good comparison. This was not only a great way for us to practice blending colors, but we also got to experiment with a new technique to make designs!

We had a great time making bags for Amelia’s friends for children staying at the Ronald McDonald House. Don’t forget to keep practicing for the program on Friday! We have Field Day on Tuesday, so students should wear the white shirts sent home this week along with whatever shorts they’d like. Enjoy Memorial Day and the three day weekend everyone!

Just a quick update about our latest explorations. They’ve been very centered on things that roll, like marbles and beads. Today we had more experience with stringing beads, but the coolest thing about that was how much growth the class has shown since the first time we did it. They were so much more confident and skilled at handling the beads and stringing them; even better, we had just a fraction of the mess we did last time! We also made marble paintings, but this time we changed it up a bit. While last time we just used regular marbles, this time we had big marbles and golf balls too. It was interesting how the bigger marbles didn’t get as stuck in the paint, while the dimples on the golf balls made cool patterns as they rolled. This is always one of our favorite explorations, for good reason.

The other cool thing from the day was based on our Langston Hughes poem, Merry Go-Round.  In order to talk through it, we had to talk about Jim Crow and segregation. It was another tough discussion, but the class did a great job talking about why they thought it was wrong. They even talked about how they would fight against it and how bad they felt about the child not being sure how to ride the Merry Go Round. This is a very heavy discussion for our class, but they did a great job and I actually almost teared up during the class. Thank you for raising such great human beings.

We’ve only got a little bit to get ready for the program, so make sure your child is practicing the dance and their lines! Have a great weekend.

Today’s class was pretty simple (salad and wraps), but that’s because we spent a good bit of the class talking about our preparation for the next class, which will sadly be our last. We also talked about what we wanted to see change next year, so I’m excited for that!

When I explained what we were having, Eliya really touched me by asking if there were options for Maeve, since she knew Maeve didn’t eat meat; love that kind of thought and concern (Maeve was just fine with her veggie wrap, btw). I explained that they would be able to have two each, but Ella thought it was smarter to make one first and see what she liked before making all three. Maeve was the cream cheese guru, explaining how to use the flat of the knife to spread the cream cheese. Juliana was thrilled that there was cabbage in the coleslaw and liked eating it plain. Janki thought outside of my recommendations a little bit and was pleased to report that the blue cheese dressing for the salad also tasted good on the wrap. Nathan has been worried about some of the stuff we made, but he knew he was going to love this, since he loves ham. Tempess tried the other toppings, but she decided that she liked her wraps plain; I like that she was willing to try things and then make up her mind after. Christina was quick to explain that, even though blue cheese dressing looks like ranch dressing, they are very different and they need to try it first before putting it on the salad.

I’m excited to share what the class chose next week and also thrilled that they managed to stay within their budget again. Great job everybody!

Today we had a perfect little picnic! Since our letter for the day was ‘P’, we went to the Park and had a Picnic on this Perfect day. Jerome reminded the class as we settled in that we shouldn’t litter. Paolo pointed out that there was a trash can at the park, so we could keep the park clean and pick up after ourselves. Gia and Niki took the opportunity to finish their snack quickly and practice their cartwheels, which seemed like a trade off they were happy with. Tove was thrilled that, during the picnic, she saw a worm, a roly-poly, and a few ants; what a successful nature exploration.

The rest of our day was taken up with some great poems and art explorations. Our trip to the bank was great, especially when Timo noticed that some of his pennies looked different; they were actually super old wheat pennies from 1930, which was pretty neat. At the bank, Sokrates talked about what was holding down the pen, while Bisola thought about how we should wait in line. We also really enjoyed making a mural for the first time, with everyone experimenting with different brushes and rollers. It was a great day for learning!

Today was a great day, but we had a rough conversation. In our poem exploration, we are reading Langston Hughes “Poems for Children”, which has some tougher themes. First, we had to discuss the basics of slavery in order to understand “Aunt Sue’s Story”. I think this was a hard thing for the class to understand, but we did at least start understanding this piece of our history. Then, when we were reading “Negro Dreams of Rivers”, we had to explain that Negro is a word we don’t use now but wasn’t a bad word when it was written. These were heavy discussions, but the class did well and were very reflective.

Our other investigations were equally weighty but rewarding. As part of our art observation exploration, today we looked at Las Meninas and shared what we saw.  Anja said that a lot of people wanted to be the little girl in the middle, since she looked like everyone was looking at her. Rebecca added that she wanted to be the little girl because she was dressed like a princess. Sokrates pointed out that the inside of the room was fancy like a church, but it was too small to be a church, so he didn’t know where it was. When I asked what the class saw about the girl, Anja thought she looked like she must be happy, since she was a princess. Niki pointed out that her actual face looked a little scared, so maybe she was scared because she had to go to the ball and didn’t want to. Jerome thought maybe she was actually looking sad and explained it as because she was the smallest person in the room. Rebecca responded that, even though she was small, she was still a little kid and would still be growing. Tove thought that the girl standing above her was the ‘princess’s’ older sister, and felt bad that the princess was sad and was leaving the room. Teddy pointed out that, while the girls in the center of the room were easy to see, there were actually people hidden in the darker areas of the painting, which led us to discuss what they might be doing. This was a great discussion, as we really started using what we saw in the painting to justify our interpretations of the painting.

Our other big work of the day using the balance to compare the weight of objects in the classroom. Paolo noticed right away that one big block weighed more than 2 little blocks, which actually surprised me. Bisola pointed out that, if there is the same thing on each side, it should be balanced. Timo used this when he figured out that, if he had three blocks on one side, he needed to have 3 on the other. Jerome explained the the line on the dial pointed to the side that was lighter, not the one that was heavier. Yianni was curious about what would happen if nothing was on it, but also wanted to investigate if his hands weighed the same. Teddy was surprised how many different things he needed to use to balance the 3 crayons on one side. Tove explained that hers didn’t balance because, even though they were both blue bears, they were different sizes. Gia suggested that she use the yellow bear, since it was the same size and the color didn’t matter. We had a blast using the balance and can’t wait to see what we get to work with tomorrow!

Hi everybody, wanted to let you in on some of the cool work we did last week. Our airflow was a fantastic little exploration, as we took it really deep. We spent two days learning how paper airplanes work, coming up with different designs, using different materials, and comparing how they flew. We found out that it was really easy to fold the tissue paper, but the planes didn’t fly as far. We worked together on finding different designs and seeing the best way to through the planes. We thought about flying them outside, but the rain ended up keeping us inside. We did a final test in the gym, but there was no clear winner through multiple trials. Thankfully, while no one won, everyone learned a lot!

We also did a lot of practice on our song. Everyone is getting far more comfortable with the lines of the song and we are starting to really drill down on our lines this week. Check out your child’s line here. We’re going to start some scenery prep, so the time is really running down!

(this is a surprise for the kids, so please don’t read it to them. We will have a dog visitor in Ms. Anna’s classroom on Wednesday. The dog is really well behaved, but if you don’t want your child interacting with it, let me know.)

Have a great night everyone!

Today was an awesome day. We definitely had a great time with the standard stuff, like working downstairs and counting our change, but we had so many new experiences I want to highlight those instead.

First, continuing our air mini-exploration, we today experimented with straws and puffs. I set everything out and made a game board, but then I stepped back and let them find things out on their own. Bisola realized that the puffs were light enough that she could actually inhale and stick them to the straw too, which was fun. Paolo decided that, instead of just trying to blow the puffs into a specific spot, it was better to compete against someone in an air shoving match. Jerome thought that the straw would be better than the coffee stirrers at blowing things, since more air would come through them. Sokrates was struggling to blow one of the heavier balls across the table and asked some people to help him, since more people would mean more air. Rebecca realized that the larger cardboard weren’t just a thing she could blow through, but was also something that would roll when blowed; Teddy liked playing with the larger tubes, but thought it was tougher because they kept rolling more than the puffs. Yianni was one of the first to realize that the little coffee stirrers could be launched out of the larger straws, which quickly became the most popular activity in the class. Timo took that activity and realized it was so accurate that he needed to make a harder target than I had for the class, which ended up being a tube he put up on one of the shelves.

Second, we experimented with a new way to paint: aluminum foil! Gia was one of the first to realize that the paint would get stuck up in the crinkles of the crumpled foil and then come out later. Niki loved the way it would scratch and would make dots and spots, but Tove felt it was harder to blend the colors. That worked for Anja, since she is coming to realize she sometimes comes to regret losing a particular shade when they all get blended together. This wasn’t radically different than anything they’ve done before, but it was different enough to get them thinking. (And they’re going to be seeing the foil again tomorrow, so that should be fun)

The other big news of the day was more experimentation in open gym with the ramps and pathways. There aren’t any big quotes, but the class dug the challenge of the day, which was going for height instead of length. The marbles were certainly going fast today!

Hi everybody, going to be quick today. We did all the normal stuff (change, painting, started reading “The Swamps of Sleethe” by Jack Prelutsky), but just wanted to highlight a mini-investigation we’re going to be going over for the rest of the week; air flow.

Today, we started simply enough by blowing bubbles, something everyone has done before. I did ask some questions that pushed the thinking deeper, which got some interesting responses. Jerome thought that using the bigger pipe to blow through would make bigger bubbles than the straw, but Sokrates didn’t think they looked any bigger. Yianni realized he could blow above the water to move the bubbles around, while Rebecca liked popping the bubbles with the straw, even though sometimes it just slid in without popping them (she wasn’t quite able to figure out why that happened…). Bisola realized that, if she wanted to make a lot of bubbles, she had to blow faster so they wouldn’t pop as fast. Timo wanted to try blowing with two straws at once, but it wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped. Jerome also noticed that the bubbles were only coming up where he was blowing and weren’t really spreading out, which he thought was interesting. We’re going to be exploring this more tomorrow, but I wanted to get everyone in on the ground floor. Have a great night everyone!