This is why I went into teaching.

We were busy cleaning up centers and I looked up and saw this.  It's enough to make me cry.

Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow

I have been teaching the new plants/seeds unit for many years.  This is the first time a child brought in an acorn just ready to grow.  A. M. was digging in her garden and came across a barely sprouting acorn seed.  She brought it to school for further study (as any young botanist would).  We kept it in a barely closed ziploc bag with a bit of moisture in it.  Sure enough, it's beginning to grow. 

I couldn't think of a more symbolic ending to a wonderful school year.  

Birding

Our state standards include the science of building and engineering.  Is there anything as masterful as a bird building her nest with just a beak? 

A student brought this nest to school.  His dad had found it in his boom truck and knew that the mother had abandoned it when they began work on the job site.

We've been having trouble with birds at our feeder leaving quickly and hitting our classroom window. This was VERY bothersome to our class.  After a bit of research, the young ornithologists decided to create silhouettes of predators to "wake up" our birds. 

New Plants

Lots of Growth - We've been learning that new plants do come from seeds, but also come from roots, cuttings, runners, and bulbs.  

Butterfly Release

Sweet Freedom

One little butterfly just didn't quite want to leave our sweet class.  

Good-bye painted ladies!  Take care!

Butterflies Emerged

Amid much excitement, the painted-lady butterflies hatched!

Fortunately, the marsh marigolds were blooming at the same time in our School Forest.  We donned our puddle boots and gathered a butterfly bouquet.  We have happy butterflies and happy, young entomologists who love observing and recording their findings.

Centering on Centers

We practiced telling time and recording on a student-created chart.

We dug out the big books which seemed so challenging last fall and now are easy-peasy.  What a great feeling!

This is a Science/Math/Geography center.  Partners gently tossed the globe to each other.  Partner 1 stated where his/her right thumb landed (land or water).  Partner 2 drew a t-chart on the board and recorded the findings with tally marks.  We kept the data from each group and discussed which category had the most results.  What conclusions did we draw from the data?

A new twist on Twister... We added numerals to the dots and "odd" and "even" to the spinner.  That's a lot of tangled up math fun.

The tangram challenge is a perennial puzzling favorite.