Animal Allies Visit 122We l

We learned more about empathy for animals, how to approach dogs safely, and how to interact with them.  The dogs' wagging tails let us know they liked us as much as we liked them.

March Updates

We had a forester from St. Louis County visit.  She not only taught us about trees, but also got us thinking about future careers in the outdoors and science.

 March came in like a lion and out like a lamb....  oops, well, maybe. 

 Second graders really "dug"fossils.  Future paleontologists?

 First grade "chemical engineers" worked through the process of making play dough.  The ingredients varied with each batch.  Good old salt-flour dough won out as the most marketable.  Shaving cream and corn starch was a close second.

 We Jurassic, Triassic, and Cretaceous murals for the Science and Art Fair.  

 Designing ants kicked off the insect unit for Grade 1.

 Graphic organizers are a key piece in understanding concepts in reading and science.  First graders had their first experience making a diagram.

 Snow pants are in the closet and spring is in the air!

Tapping Maple Trees

We found the biggest maples we could tap.

Thanks to Mrs. A. for bringing the equipment!

Adding real world knowledge to our classroom understanding of volume and measurement.

A big pay off for the first day!

By tapping five trees, all students were involved in some part of the process.

By weight:  Day 1 - 26 pounds, Day 2 - 0 pounds, Day 3 - 26 pounds.
Theories offered for Day 2:
1.  The sap froze in the tree.
2.  Someone stole the sap. 
3.  Animals drank the sap.
   4.  It got too cold.                

Read Across America

We were delighted to celebrate Read Across America month lots of fun reading activities.  Harry Welty is our local storytelling treasure, snow sculpture artist, and school board member.  Mr. Welty has visited our school many times and each time leaves the children with a fondness for good literature and lively storytelling.  

Valentine Fun

We used candy hearts for loads of learning activities and fun.  We estimated with them, graphed them, patterned them, counted them, charted them, sorted them, and ate them.  We also read the messages and giggled a lot!

            We had creative 26 creative Valentine boxes which were created at home. Here's a small sample.