In honor of Earth Day, we read the book The Lorax.
We marveled at how beautiful Truffalo Trees are, and felt sad when the last one was chopped down.
We talked about the Once-ler, and how he only uses things once, is wasteful
We all promised that we would all do our part to reduce waste and recycle.
To remind us of our promise, we made Truffalo Trees (pom pom pencils)
Kellen impressed me with his hot glue gun technique and volunteered to help others with their glue.
Although the students enjoyed this craft, what they REALLY hoped to do was to plant a tree seed.
sigh. I'll see what I can do for next time.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Friday, March 10, 2017
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
This week, we read the tale about the King of Didd who is bored of the same weather (snow, rain, sunshine and fog) and asks the royal magicians to create something new to fall from the sky.
Oobleck is the green sticky disaster that falls on the kingdom.
The lesson? We all make mistakes. Sometimes we make choices that have disastrous results, and the only thing to do is to "fix it". We discussed different ways to fix mistakes.
Oobleck is the green sticky disaster that falls on the kingdom.
The lesson? We all make mistakes. Sometimes we make choices that have disastrous results, and the only thing to do is to "fix it". We discussed different ways to fix mistakes.
- Magic words like "I'm sorry"
- Take responsibility for our mistake
- replace or repair anything that got damaged
Then it was off to the kitchen to squish gooey Oobleck through our fingers.
We also did a weather experiment and made it rain. Water in a jar, with a white cloud of shaving cream. Add drops of food coloring moisture to the cloud, and then watch the colored "rain" fall from the clouds! The kids had it raining rainbows!
Friday, March 3, 2017
Happy Birthday, Dr Seuss!
Most of the Seuss books we have read have been made up, silly stories.
This week, I told them a TRUE story. The story of how Theodor Seuss Giesel became Dr. Seuss.
We learned that little Theodor grew up on Mulberry Street, feasted on books, and loved animals. His mother read to him every day, and would even make up stories to make him laugh. She would often comment that she expected him to attend college and maybe become a doctor. His father was head of the parks department, so that meant he ran the zoo!
Ted was often in trouble at school, because he would get caught doodling when he was supposed to be working on math. He liked to draw and sketch, but only took one art class in his life. He walked out of class and never returned when the art teacher told Ted that he was "breaking the rules" by his exaggerated interpretations, and that he would "never amount to anything if he didn't follow the rules". (I told the kids that if they ever heard me talk like that to remind me of Dr. Seuss)
After getting kicked off of his college newspaper for a fraternity prank, he decided to still submit his comical stories penned with the name "Dr. Theophrastus Seuss" . He was now the doctor that his mother always wanted him to become.
Dr. Seuss saw a man on the subway wearing a pompous hat, which inspired the tale of "Bartholomew and the 500 hats" and Ted started a hat collection of his own. He often wore wild and silly hats to parties, and while writing his stories, he was known to put on a crazy hat to offer inspiration. And yes, he owned a red and white stove pipe hat!
We each put on a Dr Seuss hat and got to work with pencil and paper in creating our own exaggerated characters with silly, made-up names. What fun!
This week, I told them a TRUE story. The story of how Theodor Seuss Giesel became Dr. Seuss.
We learned that little Theodor grew up on Mulberry Street, feasted on books, and loved animals. His mother read to him every day, and would even make up stories to make him laugh. She would often comment that she expected him to attend college and maybe become a doctor. His father was head of the parks department, so that meant he ran the zoo!
Ted was often in trouble at school, because he would get caught doodling when he was supposed to be working on math. He liked to draw and sketch, but only took one art class in his life. He walked out of class and never returned when the art teacher told Ted that he was "breaking the rules" by his exaggerated interpretations, and that he would "never amount to anything if he didn't follow the rules". (I told the kids that if they ever heard me talk like that to remind me of Dr. Seuss)
After getting kicked off of his college newspaper for a fraternity prank, he decided to still submit his comical stories penned with the name "Dr. Theophrastus Seuss" . He was now the doctor that his mother always wanted him to become.
Dr. Seuss saw a man on the subway wearing a pompous hat, which inspired the tale of "Bartholomew and the 500 hats" and Ted started a hat collection of his own. He often wore wild and silly hats to parties, and while writing his stories, he was known to put on a crazy hat to offer inspiration. And yes, he owned a red and white stove pipe hat!
We each put on a Dr Seuss hat and got to work with pencil and paper in creating our own exaggerated characters with silly, made-up names. What fun!
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Green Eggs and Ham
What a fun morning we had! We read the classic book "Green Eggs and Ham", then teacher Jenn dished up green-dyed scrambled eggs and ham slices.
We would ask each student "Will you eat them here or there? Will you eat them any where?" etc.
and challenged each apprehensive eater to try eating something new.
Some discovered that "they do! they do! They DO like green eggs and ham!"
While others turned up their noses, and refused to try them. Not even with a fox, on a box, with a mouse or on a house.
We would ask each student "Will you eat them here or there? Will you eat them any where?" etc.
and challenged each apprehensive eater to try eating something new.
Some discovered that "they do! they do! They DO like green eggs and ham!"
While others turned up their noses, and refused to try them. Not even with a fox, on a box, with a mouse or on a house.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
HORTON hears a WHO!
This week, we celebrated the world of Dr. Seuss by watching the movie, Horton Hears a Who.
We were able to watch half of it this week, and will finish the second half next week.
During the last few minutes of class, we had a mini-discussion about why Horton was mocked for believing in a world that existed on a speck, and why it is so important to let our imaginations be free to create.
The question was asked "If you could invent/create something, what would it be?" We heard many fantastic answers, but I think my personal favorite was "A house that could clean itself"!
We were able to watch half of it this week, and will finish the second half next week.
During the last few minutes of class, we had a mini-discussion about why Horton was mocked for believing in a world that existed on a speck, and why it is so important to let our imaginations be free to create.
The question was asked "If you could invent/create something, what would it be?" We heard many fantastic answers, but I think my personal favorite was "A house that could clean itself"!
Thursday, October 22, 2015
WaCkY WeDnEsDaY
Today we celebrated all things "wacky". We began our adventure reading the book, Wacky Wednesday and really enjoyed finding all of the wacky, crazy things found in the illustrations.
Then we walked to our classroom, opened the door - and BOY were things WACKY in there!! There were shoes on the walls, cups hanging from the ceiling, a die stuck to a map, the table was turned upside down, and the chairs were topsy-turvy. Teacher Jenn grew purple hair, and Nalani's hair turned into all shades of the rainbow.
Next it was the students turn to use their imaginations and create their own wacky scenes. Each was given sketch paper and crayons, and there was much giggling heard as humans with chicken legs were created, strollers growing from trees, upside down words, and wacky houses were drawn.
A cupcake with wacky colored frosting was enjoyed by all. So. Much. Fun...I cannot wait to see what kind of fun is to be had next week!
Then we walked to our classroom, opened the door - and BOY were things WACKY in there!! There were shoes on the walls, cups hanging from the ceiling, a die stuck to a map, the table was turned upside down, and the chairs were topsy-turvy. Teacher Jenn grew purple hair, and Nalani's hair turned into all shades of the rainbow.
Next it was the students turn to use their imaginations and create their own wacky scenes. Each was given sketch paper and crayons, and there was much giggling heard as humans with chicken legs were created, strollers growing from trees, upside down words, and wacky houses were drawn.
A cupcake with wacky colored frosting was enjoyed by all. So. Much. Fun...I cannot wait to see what kind of fun is to be had next week!
Thursday, October 15, 2015
the FOOT book
This week, we read the foot book, which focuses on OPPOSITE words...
(We are glad we don't have duck feet or fuzzy feet like some of the illustrations in the book).
After reading, we were pretty much foot "experts", so we tested our knowledge by matching the animal to his foot prints. It turns out that it is difficult to distinguish cat tracks vs dog tracks. And who knew bears had five toes?
Our next activity was a "memory" type game. To win, we needed to match the opposite words: up/down, morning/night, quick/slow, etc. Mark was our proud winner, who walked away with six pairs of matches! What fantastic memories we all have.
(We are glad we don't have duck feet or fuzzy feet like some of the illustrations in the book).
After reading, we were pretty much foot "experts", so we tested our knowledge by matching the animal to his foot prints. It turns out that it is difficult to distinguish cat tracks vs dog tracks. And who knew bears had five toes?
Our next activity was a "memory" type game. To win, we needed to match the opposite words: up/down, morning/night, quick/slow, etc. Mark was our proud winner, who walked away with six pairs of matches! What fantastic memories we all have.
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