Our Cozy Blanket

We used a fun monster fabric to make a tie blanket.  We donated the blanket to the silent auction.  We wanted to do our part to raise funds for our school foundation.  THANK YOU to all who bid on it!

Elf on the Shelf

Our elf's name is Tarzan.  He first arrived in our classroom about 5 years ago and was named through the voting process.  He is MUCH older than Mrs. Bartel, and has many children.  He left a note that he will return with his children on Thursday.  We can't wait!

Oobleck

For the grand finale of our States of Matter Unit, we read the Dr.Seuss book Bartholomew of Oobleck.  It's not one of his best known works, but it puts a humorous twist to a serious message that you don't mess with Mother Nature.  

After reading the book, we decided to make this mysterious substance that seems to have the properties of both a solid and a liquid at the same time.  

 The mess and the clean up was time well spent in fostering the love of science.

Solids and Liquids - Active Learning of Science Concepts - Let's get outdoors!

We explored the properties of solids.

Then we applied the properties of "flexible" and "rigid" to building towers.



After that challenge, E.J. said, "Hey, Mrs. B., could we try to make towers on the Nature Trail?"  Well, that got us thinking.  Maybe we wouldn't build towers, but we could build forts.    

                   The second graders jumped at the chance.  They dug right in.

The first graders combined three teams in one dedicated effort.  I've never seen such teamwork and cooperation.

 The energy and perseverance were amazing!  Given authentic work, they rise to the challenge.  Let's hope the weather holds out so we can continue reinforcing the principles of building and engineering.

We Love and Honor Veterans

Turkey Time - Holiday Math

               What a fun way to learn and reinforce geometry vocabulary.

Two Great (and totally messy) Units - Pebbles, Sand, and Silt for Gr. 1, Solids and Liquids for Gr. 2

Both units develop loads of vocabulary and science concepts.
Pebbles, sand, silt, boulder, pebble, cobble, clay, settle.

Making bricks and mortar (a.k.a. learning through mud)

Is all soil alike?  Look what we found in garden soil.

November News

As we were finishing our study of seeds, R.W. asked if popcorn is a seed, will it grow?  We took his question to the next step.  Yup, it grows.

That experiment generated other questions.

Nope, it did not pop in the microwave.  After searching the internet, however, we found it would pop in oil in a hot pan.

And, amazingly, it does grow.