Crazy about Shapes, Eggs and Plants!

We are ending April with a bang! So many fun hands on activities from building new shapes with our pattern blocks, watching our ducks growing before our eyes and also finishing up our plants unit! We are in full swing until the end of the year!

Geometry Exploration

Working in our shapes study this week students got to build 3D shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks as well as pattern blocks. Students got to experiment and find how many different ways they could put different combinations of shapes together to make hexagon's and then simply build fun pictures to discover how shapes fit together. It was a great week of exploration and using our math vocabulary to explain our learning! 

     

     

     

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a duck egg!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby ducks. While we wait, we are deep into study on a ducks life cycle, how they are growing inside the egg and how to prepare for them when they arrive. This week, as they had been incubating for their second week, the baby ducks were moving quite a bit inside the egg and students actually got to see a few moving when we candled them! It was so exciting and the kids were fascinated that there weren't full size baby ducks inside yet! We have 14 days left and we can hardly wait!

Parts of a Plant

Finishing off our plant study students got to create their own flower using papers that we painted by hand with Mr. V a few weeks back. We started by tearing paper to make the soil and stem of a plant. Then we finished with our sky, sun and petals of the flower, as well as adding our labels! They turned out so beautiful! I love them!

     

    

Well that's all for now, but stay tuned with our duck egg hatching coming soon as well as a fun walking field trip to the veterinary clinic in the next weeks there will be lots of fun things to share!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Leaves, Seeds and Plants Oh My!

We are off and running in our plants unit, getting our hands dirty and enjoying every minute! 

Here are a few of the activities that took place in our week:

Planting Pots

One of our activities to go through our understanding of plants was a writing craftivity as I call it. Below in the pictures see each page of our flip book, that when assembled all together created a potted plant. The "oohs" and "aahs" once we put them together were hilarious! Now these pots are decorating our classroom :)

Students working on their books.

A completed book.

Soil Sensory Table

During choice time students had the opportunity to practice planting seeds in our sensory table. Students got to look at varying seeds, bulbs and practice taking care of them. The students loved making their gardens, and then making new ones! It was a fun practice for when we start growing our bean seeds this week.

Daffodil Drawing

One area that we explored this week was how to draw "real-life" drawings of plants. It is a hard skill and one that definitely requires practice, but for our first time out I thought they turned out so well! Check out a few of them here:

Well that's all for now, but stay tuned next time to see the beans we planted, as well as some fun math we have been working on in class.

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Community Helpers

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fun spring break. I am so excited to get back into action, I missed your kiddos :)

This post is all about our wrap up of Community Helpers. From taking a field trip to the grocery store, post office and fire department, to making our mural of Estacada with Larry Verdoorn it was a fun filled week!

 

Walking Field Trip

To start off our walking field trip we began with Thriftway. We got to see in the back stock room, see all the varying departments of the store and the students even got to check out their own goodie bag of items! The students had so much fun and it was a great connection to think about all the community helpers who make a grocery store possible. For example the farmers, bakers, grocers etc.

Students get to see the back storage room in Thriftway.

Then we went off to see the Fire Department. The Fire Chief began by talking with the students about fire safety, the kids knew so much already! Then the kids got to see where the fire fighters sleep when they stay at the fire station. Then students got to see the fire truck and go inside, and see a firefighter put on all of his tools! The students loved getting to see him on with his mask! Finally we got a special visit from the fire dog! It was a great visit.

Students getting to see where Fire Fighters sleep.

Watching Fire Fighter Cody put on his suit.

A student takes photos on the iPad to document our trip.

A special guest visited us at the Fire Station!

To finish off our field trip we went to the Post Office. Inside we got to see the behind the scenes look at the post office boxes, how they sort mail and packages and finally we got to see the lift where mail workers bring in crates of packages off of mail trucks. The students were so excited to see all the packages and hear how much mail goes through everyday!

Getting to see the behind the scenes mail sorting.

The lift where mail carriers get packages off of trucks.

The field trip was such a great chance for our class to see community helpers in action and see the variation in helpers. From a Fire Fighter to a Post Office worker students truly got to see why every job is important to our community.

Estacada Mural

To finish off our study of the community we worked with artist in residence Larry Verdoorn to construct a map of Estacada. Students got the chance to help paint the background of the mural, construct the roads and they also got to make the buildings and trees with the papers we painted a few weeks ago. It was wonderful to hear the kids exclaim "Oh yeah we have to put in City Hall we saw that when we walked to the Fire Station," or "Don't forget the bank by the Post Office!" I loved hearing students make connections to the community based on what we saw on our walking tour. The students did a truly wonderful job and I can't wait to find the perfect place to hang it in our school for everyone to admire!

Larry Verdoorn shows students how to make their houses.

A student uses a picture on an iPad to design her building.

A student recreates a business by looking at a photo on the iPad.

A student working on constructing their house.

The finished mural!

It is hard to believe that we only have 9 weeks left in school! While there are so few weeks left they are truly jam packed with fun experiences and learning for your children. Keep checking back here for updates on the amazing adventures we are having :)

Smiles,

Miss Adams