Bringing It All Together

There are lots of ideas that we re-visit throughout every year at Country Classroom. We talk about the active work of being kind. We develop our problem solving skills and work to let people know what we are feeling. We work to listen to each other.

This past week we started a month's long exploration of India. We read a book about Raksha Bandhan, the Hindu holiday celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters. In Thread of Love, the author explained that this special bond can happen between any two people (not just those in a family) and suggested making thread bracelets for someone you love. It was one of those times when I was very grateful for the multiage classroom as older kids helped tie, explain braiding, and cheer on our younger students as they made their bracelets. It was a challenging process for many, but I was happy to see many of those big ideas coming together.

Morgan's PK and K Class

* Enjoyed the outside and the blooming nature!

* Joined Tracy's class for a bunch of math-y games outside like "What Time Is It Mr. Fox?" and "Sharks and Ships."

* Explored shaving cream, oil pastels, coffee grounds, play dough, watercolors, and kinetic sand!

* Played some dominos and learned a new bunny hop game.

* Enjoyed pots and pans for shields and play cooking outdoors.

* Ran up and down the hill while being timed and learned about being a "good sport" to others that are not as fast.

* Talked more about our flowers growing at Country Classroom along with what we are growing at home.

* Sang songs and learned finger plays about Spring!

Tracy's 1st - 3rd Class

All of our math classes are working with fractions right now. Everyone is working on dividing shapes into equal pieces, naming fractions, and comparing them.

In writing, we finished up our letter writing and are going to be making nature journals. If anyone has some fabric pieces (about the size of a sheet of paper), we would welcome any donations as we create our own hardcover book.

In reading, we have been working on developing our fluency. Hearing everyone read with expression (ah, the many voices!) is such fun. We have also been actively stretching our vocabularies each week, looking for any unknown words in a book and doing our best to figure out their definitions. Do they sound like any other words that we know? What can we learn from context clues? It's rare that they get stumped.

Theresa's 4th - 6th Class

We are in the home stretch of the school year. We are moving towards completion in all of our subjects.

In math, the eldest students are preparing for their 7th test, which will be on Tuesday. The test will include solving equations for unknown variables. All the kids know, "What you do to one side, you also do to the other side!" I am going to give all of the 4th - 6th students "A TEST," in the next few weeks, so they can get some practice in test taking skills.

In writing, we focused on non-fictional sequence paragraphs this week. We also started on our end-of-the-year reports, which the students will present to their families at our student-led teacher conferences on May 19. It has been very fun to talk to them about what they have learned during their time at Country Classroom. Many of the things they have learned are different from what I would have expected them to learn!

The younger readers have started the book, "Skylark," by Patricia MacLachlan. The older students will be starting "Tuck Everlasting," by Natalie Babbitt as soon as it comes in. In the meantime, we have been reading non-fiction articles.