First/Second/Third
Hi Everyone,
We are enjoying the fall season and all the fun learning opportunities!
Language Arts (Writing, Reading and Creative Projects) - The Post Office is up and running! Students did a fantastic job creating an Orchard School Post Office. In addition to assigned Pen Pals, students write friendly letters and notes to students and faculty weekly. Our Postmaster job changes weekly, so everyone gets a chance to deliver the mail.
Students are reading a short version of “In The Dark Dark Wood” and created a 3D pet monster for their surprise ending. Students used their 5 senses to describe their pet monsters and are working on a character bio. More to come!
We are continuing to review our letters, sounds, blends and sight words in fun and creative ways through riddles, songs, poetry and reproducible books.
First Grade Math – Daily routines continue and we added the logic activity of Monster Squeeze where students discover a chosen number by making guesses and receiving higher and lower clues.
The students explored likely outcomes with the Dice Roll game and with Rock, Paper, Scissors, recording outcomes with tally marks. They practiced writing numbers and played the game of Top It where they read and compared numbers. The students seemed to really enjoy the Bunny Hop game, rolling a die and making their way to the carrot (20 hops) and back to their home. They explored geoboards and base 10 blocks – tools that will be used to concretely build upon their math skills. The children investigated three different sized pumpkins in our Pumpkin Caper activity where they predicted and figured the weight, circumference, and the number of seeds in each. Students worked in groups to count the seeds – all groups chose to count by tens.
Second/Third Grade Math – Daily routines continue and we added the white board activity where students practice mental math and other skills, being mindful of the procedure to “listen, think, write”. They played the game of Addition Top It to practice their addition facts and worked on place value with the base 10 blocks. The students explored patterns on the number grid and played the Number Grid game. They began number scrolls to practice number writing, counting, and number relationships.
The students enjoyed our first formal use of calculators as they practiced ways to skip count up and down with various numbers. They did a great job with our Pumpkin Caper investigation making predictions about the weight, circumference, number of seeds, and whether or not their pumpkin would sink or float. And then they figured the actuals.
Science In The Garden - Students are using their scientific eye to find radial and lateral symmetry in nature. Students collaborated to create a symmetrical art installation using found objects from the garden.
Welcome Scare crows! Please greet Farmer John, Farmer Joe, Ben, …… The scarecrows are a fantastic addition to our garden and campus. Special thanks to Griffin and Bear for grounding them securely.
Garden/Science extensions – Students created a lift the flap book of the life cycle of the plant and created beautiful sunflower crayon resist watercolor paintings. They gathered bouquets from the garden to give to a family member and wrote an accompanying note.
We are continuing our theme of life cycles in the garden with a focus on insects, spiders and bugs....oh my!
Social Studies – The students have been meeting in Roxaboxen once a week to explore the workings of a community. We have been using our Peace Builder Rules as a guide for community behavior along with a set of rules that have been developed by the students.
Peace Builder Rules
Leadership – The students continue to practice the skill of receiving and giving compliments. During our Friday class meeting, they can choose to give, get, or pass on compliments and appreciations. A number of kids wanted to give and get! Our mornings are now beginning with a gathering at the big circle with a different student each week taking on the leadership role of circle leader.
Animals – The students are doing a wonderful job of taking care of the animals. They have explored different ways to hand feed the chickens their scratch and grubs without feeling pecked. Many really enjoy hand feeding the alpacas and watching how they nibble up the pellets or the alfalfa. Every week we try to observe the animals calmly and quietly at some point during our care taking.
Halloween – The students enjoyed decorating for Halloween, making a graveyard, hanging webbing, and placing ghostly creatures in perfect settings. We had a fun time parading with the other classes and showing off our costumes as different characters went into the center of our circle. For our celebration, the students worked in groups and made whole wheat pumpkin muffins sweetened with maple syrup.
