Animal House

This week we decided it would be fun to grow our own farm pasture by planting a "field" of grass. I have never done this activity before, but was happily surprised by students eager to build a farm stable out of popsicle sticks once the grass grew. Skill such as "how plants grow" were learned, as well as "animal habitats", "sorting items (animals)", "forming structures using building materials" were met through this activity. 

"I am building a house for the pigs to sleep. They need a cleaner place to sleep because they are so dirty!" -Hayden

Shreyans said: "My sheep wants to eat the cow. Sheeps eat cows a lot!"

Bora said, "My cow is eating grass, your sheep only eats what is left over."

Ummmm.......

I'd say it's wrong, but it's really SO cute to see how interested our class is in Ms. Laura's impending due date :) These girls were pretending to need to go to the hospital to have their baby while on recess. Stronger connections have been made as we talk about what it's like to care for babies because Gabe, Rishabh, and Hayden's parent's have all brought new family members into this world this year, giving other students a clear idea of what it is like to help raise their siblings. What a fun real-life experience to bring to our young ones. 

Chemical Reaction

The class seems to be addicted to this chemical reaction! It is automatic and undeniable.... What happens when colored lemon juice is poured on to baking soda? It fizzes, bubbles, and oozes. It never gets old! This is one science project that is sure to keep kids busy for a good while! Aila says, "It looks like a lot of bubbles in a bath". She also asks, "why isn't it all the same color?" 

Sight Words

Sight words are the words that are most often used but often cannot be read phonetically. We practice them in class by using books with predictive text, in order to provide repeated exposure to  these words. The idea is that the more they are practiced, the more they become a part of our  memory bank!

Here you will see that Maliya has played Sight Word Dominoes with the words we have learned in class! Only the same words can touch each other at any end. Great job Maliya!!!!

Happy Children's Day!

All students made a windsock of a Koi fish in representation of success for all children on this special holiday.  Here, Yuito is making a "fish face" so that he can look just like his windsock! 

Happy Children's Day- a holiday in Japan to celebrate the prosperity of the future of all children! 

Chair Wash

Ever taken your car in for a wash? Our chairs need the same thing from time to time... With the FANTASTIC weather we had today we decided to do a little Spring cleaning by washing our chairs! Students mixed a solution of shampoo and water, using green sponge pads to scrub each char clean. Who knew this would be such a hit?! 

Let There Be Light!

I put out a station this week in which students could explore light, as well as the colors of the rainbow. 

A reflective tray was set out, along with other reflective materials such as mirrors, cd's, and metal, along with reactors like colored lights, solar lights, and prisms. I let students discover at their own pace the magic of what light can do. There were revelations such as reflection, rainbows, distortion, magnification, and color variation.

Eating the Parts of a Plant???

This week we learned that we often eat ALL parts of a plant... Ask/share with your children what the part of a plant is when they are eating it. I believe that bestowing responsibility and knowledge about our planet and its fruits help build a sense of responsibility on our newest generation! We had been naming the parts of a plant for a couple weeks when I introduced that we can also EAT what we grow!!! This was quite a revelation when we discovered what we grow: ROOT: carrot, SEED: sesame seed, STEM: celery. LEAF: spinach, FLOWER: broccoli