Tackling Big Things

We spent some time this past week reading the manual for our Nurture Right 360. The children took turns reading the various sections as we assembled the whole thing, set the temperature, and noted how many days until the eggs were likely to hatch. It was a group project, and there were some definite debates. Where was the best place for the incubator if it needed to be out of direct sunlight, away from drafts, off the floor, in a place with good ventilation, and not likely to be bumped? We eventually decided on an acceptable location, and the children have been very aware of making sure we jump gently for our various exercises and dances throughout the day. "Don't hurt the eggs!" has become a refrain. I could have set it all up and left them out of the process, but then they might not be quite as invested as they are now. And I hope that in the future, they will know they can tackle some wordy directions and figure out what needs to be done.

Morgan's PK and K Class

*Enjoyed play dough and created many pretend cookies and cakes. Some of the children came up with different names for their bakery.

*Wrote letters and drew pictures for their friends and families, then worked on folding their creations to fit in envelopes.

*Played a few rounds of Connect 4 and Dominos. Then used the dominos for other creations. Some children had counted up to 30 for how many they could get to stand up on end before the dominos fell.

*Worked with markers, oil pastels, and colored pencils in their writers'' notebooks and on different textured paper.

*Explored shaving cream, shells with magnifying glasses, slime, and warm water.

*Read chicken books, did the chicken hokey pokey, and acted like chickens or roosters.

*Took turns checking on the chicken eggs in the incubator!

*Created our own stories using felt board characters.

*Worked on connect the dots to create a baby chick! Some of the children really enjoyed connecting all the dots to make a picture. One child was surprised that they could use math with art at the same time!

Tracy's 1st - 3rd Class

In math, we have been working to develop our Personal References for different measurements. It's helpful to have a true sense of how long a centimeter or an inch is. One of the best ways to do this is to find a series of things that are that measurement. I encourage the kids to find a part of their body that they can associate with a given measurement. We make similar collections for weight (ounces, grams, etc.) and even time (ex: What can we do in one minute? One hour?). I appreciate how Everyday Mathematics helps kids think about these measurements and talk about them as a class.

In writing, everyone has been working on their fiction pieces. Many of our kids have created some pretty expansive worlds and stories, and not all of them were able to finish their full narrative ark for Monday's publishing party. But we did all try to have some challenges that our characters have had to face... even if there are many more challenges coming in future sequels.

Our readers have been noticing words with similar roots. Malfeasance, Malevolent, and Mal from Descendants came up in a recent discussion. Another group was talking about different phobias they knew. Every time kids connect new words with words they already know, they are much more likely to remember the new ones.

Theresa's 4th - 6th Class

Finally the day of the Publishing Party is here! The kids have been writing, revising and editing for weeks. Often my classroom was a hive of writers, sharing notes, asking each other how to spell words, laughing. It has been a lovely experience. The kids are ready to show off their work tomorrow, and I am so proud of the effort they have put into these pieces.

Math continues to buzz along. The eldest kids are working on surface area and geometry. The 4th graders are creating graphs from data.

In reading, we are all in between books. I will be starting short stories with everyone on Monday.