Snow Fun and Revolution

This last week was a little wacky weather wise. Our big kids came to school on Monday (and got some good sledding in), but they only had a half day before heading home and then missing Tuesday to a snow day. Wednesday morning was had a perfect unbroken snow scape courtesy of that storm. Our kids burrowed, climbed, sledded, and rolled their way through the snow.

Theme: American Revolution

We started to delve into life as an American colonist in the 1700's. One of our students mentioned, "We stole the land" which prompted a healthy discussion about the first people who lived here and how we would feel if someone came into our yard and declared it their yard. We used videos from Colonial Williamsburg, Philipsburg Manor, and Old Sturbridge village to see how people farmed, milled grains, made bricks, and printed books. We learned about some of the jobs children did like getting water from the well and some of the games they played like hoop and stick. We talked about apprenticeship, and I asked the kids to think about what profession they might want to pursue if they had a choice. I was tickled when their play at recess mirrored some of what we had been learning and included lessons in "soap making (note the snow soap below)."

We also spent a little time tapping into our royal selves, imagining what it might feel like to be king. We asked ourselves what we would do if we were a king or queen. What would we do? Where would we go? How would we dress? What would we eat? We made crowns. When I attempted to lay down some royal dictates, I was immediately met with revolution. Hmm...

Theresa's 3rd - 6th Grade Reflections

The big kids are super excited to start their fiction writing. Every writer has a different plan, but every kid is full of ideas. Last week we working on developing our characters. We pretended to be our characters, talked about what our characters would like to do, and imagined what our characters would like for dinner. This week, we are working on developing the setting.

We are also starting a new literature book. We are reading "The Watsons Go to Birmingham." The kids are starting the book on Monday and will be reading it for the next several weeks.