Holidays Around the World

We have been busy preparing for our social studies unit of cultures with Holiday's Around the World.  We have been traveling all around the globe to discover the celebrations of different cultures. Mrs. White and Mrs. Guevin have been reading books about holidays such as La Boufana by Tomie DePoala. If you would like a listing of the stories we read, post a comment and I will put the authors and titles in. 

Today we watched a video about different family celebrations and holidays.  If you click on the links below you can see some of the clips we watched today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UNk2uxep7Q&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VfChLAADS8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sjC13dFRS8&feature=fvsr

We also had a guest speaker come and teach the kids about Swedish holidays and traditions.

Student number 1: I have learned a lot by watching the Elmo video and you can too!

Student # 15: I learned a lot watching the Elmo video on all the holidays that are celebrated.

Student # 7: Now I know about other Holidays before I only knew about Christmas.

Student 4: Kwanzaa candles are called a Kinara.

Student 9: I learned that the Kinara had seven lights.

Student 8: I didn't know some people celebrate all three holidays.

Student 2: I didn't know that a Kinara was even real.

Student 11: I liked to learn about the holidays and you will too!

Student 12: I liked the Elmo video because I learned about different holidays.

Today will be making potato latkes with a guest teacher!!!  We are so excited! 

Pioneer Day

Our Pioneer day was a huge success!  The students had the opportunity to make a log cabin, butter, quilt, pomander balls, silhouttes and learned a few new Pioneer games. 
 







Silhoutte's were so difficult because the kids had to stay so still.  Good thing we had a parent volunteer with steady hands!

 

Memory Quilts!



Making a Log Cabin

   We had many students come dressed as Pioneer children and they took Pioneer names for the day.  The girls wore their Calicos proudly and the boys wore their Pioneer hats with pride.




Mrs. Guevin's class is traveling on the Oregon Trail!

 

We got a wooden spinner to fly over the playground!







We hope your child enjoyed this culminating activity.  We reinforced our year long unit of Reduce Reuse and Recycle with using the baby jars over for making butter, using scraps of colored paper for our quilts and recycled paper for the log cabins.

Pioneers

 Welcome to our Pioneer unit!  We started off with smart board activities for vocabulary instruction.  Students were able to choose the items they thought they would need for a trip across the country if they were a Pioneer!

Packing the wagon is half the battle.  Students had to make sure they were prepared for the long journey.

We read a variety of books about Pioneers in our small reading groups.

 Students are encouraged to use personal voice when writing.

We had a great time playing Pioneer Bingo.  Everyone won a prize.  Ask your child to tell you about some of the vocabulary words on this Bingo sheet.  You will be surprised how much they know!

Mrs White's class is writing a Day in the Life of a Pioneer Journal.  We made the journal out of deer skin (recycled paper bags) and twine.


Mrs. Guevin's class will be learning about the difficult travels on the Oregon Trail and the students will be documenting their life as a Pioneer on the trail.

We also have watched a few clips from Little House on the Prairie.  Click on the link below to watch a the clip we did in school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV-o59ffbic

Coming soon is our Pioneer day.  Parents come join us for a half day full of Pioneer projects.  We will be rotating through different classrooms to make log cabins, story quilts, play Pioneer games, make butter and pomander balls.  Don't forget to send an orange, cream and cloves in for the projects.  Pioneer day will be here soon!  November 29th

Water Filters

On Tuesday, we made water filters.We tested different materials to see what worked best to filter the really dirty water. Mrs. Guevin made filthy, disgusting, mucky water. The class collected old two liter soda bottles and reused them to make the filter container. Remember, always reduce, reuse, recycle!  We used sand, cotton balls, screens, rocks and paper coffee filters.  We all agreed that sand worked the best for cleaning the water.  Some children found that using cotton balls with sand also had a cleaning effect.   We used the Engineering design process!
          First, we asked a question: "How do we clean the water?" .  Then we imagined how to make a filter for the water.  Next, we made a plan by drawing a diagram.  Then we created it using the diagram.  After, we made improvements to our design.  We wrote in our science journal what we observed and wondered.

This post was written by our class!


       

Recycling video

Today we shared with the students a movie about recycling.  It is on a website called Brain Pop.  When fuzzy the recycled bear makes it home to your home, your child will have some new ideas about reusing old toys and clothes, recycling food and liquid containers and reducing the amount of waste they put out.  Click on the link below to watch the video on recycling and to explore Brain Pop!
http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/conservation/reducereuserecycle/

Rain Gauge

Today we made a rain gauge after watching a video on You Tube and reading a story about weather and the water cycle. I have linked the video we watched so you can make one at home with your child!  The kids want to tell you about it.

Student 13 says:  I lrnd  how  to    make   a      rain contr. (I learned how to make a rain counter)

Student 9 says: People can make wethr  stations. (People can make weather stations)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VWPJEj8X6I is the link to watch the video our students watched to make the classroom water gauge.  Youc an make one at home with your child with recyclable items!!  POST if you can about your rain gauge at home or if you or your child wants to share!!!!

Student 31: I learnd how to make a rain gage.

Student 29: There is a lot of things that meterologists need.

Student 22: I learned to resicl.

Student 24: I learned how to make a rain gaje.

Student 25: I learned what a blog is.

Student 18: I learned that I could make a  rain gaige.

Link to Zero Sort Recycling

Mr. Gilbert talked to the students about zero sort recycling.  I was lucky enough that he let me post a short version of his presentation.  Here is the magic movie we made with our flip camera.  Enjoy:
http://www.teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=248081&title=zero_sort_presentation

The rest of the zero sort recycling information can be seen on the Casella's website if you follow the link below:
http://www.casella.com/what-we-do/recycling/zerosort-recycling
If you get a chance to look at it, post a thought!

Curious George likes to recycle too!  Click on the following link to watch an episode from Curious George Goes Green about recycling! He found that he can use items he found around the house to feed him plant.  It is called composting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX4IZ5Y22sw

Reduce Reuse Recycle: Getting excited about reducing reusing and recycli...

Reduce Reuse Recycle: Getting excited about reducing reusing and recycli...: Welcome! We are very excited to start with our blog. This will give the students a chance to tell you the cool things we have been doing i...

Students

Parents,
 Your child has been assigned a number for their posts.  You will get a paper home with the address and the number that correlates to them.

Getting excited about reducing reusing and recycling

Welcome!  We are very excited to start with our blog.  This will give the students a chance to tell you the cool things we have been doing in school.  As many of you know our year long science and social studies goal is all about reducing waste, reusing items and recycling at school and home.  Fuzzy the bear has been sent home and returned by three children who have had the chance to chronicle their efforts at home to save the planet.  Today we had Mr. Gilbert come in and share the great things Cassella is doing to help with the reduce reuse recycle efforts.  He was AWESOME!  I won't tell you too much, that is for the kids to do!