Making the batter for waffle eating extravaganza!

Hi friends, the time has come for the last blog post for this extraordinary school year. This is always a bittersweet time, the last days of school, but the excitement for summer break blooms before our eyes bringing positive closure for all.

Math

Division led to the world of fractions. Introduction, Equivalent, Improper, denominator, numerator, adding, subtracting, simplified, parts to a whole, conversion….all with games, activities, practice and patience. The best part was the day we made fraction waffles, an Orchard favorite. In groups, the kids made their own batter for Erica and I to make into waffles, almost using all the batter combined! Imagine an all you can eat waffle buffet!

The only thing each student had to do (besides eating as many waffles possible) was to tally up how many waffle wedges consumed, then figure how many whole waffles they ate with how many parts remaining.

Social Studies-The 13 Colonies

After learning about European explorers we traveled to the 13 colonies and broke them down into regions: New England, Middle and Southern colonies. Maps were studied, created, the kids designed their own farms inspired by the middle colonies, and a whole book created with all they learned.

Art and Leadership

We finally found a chance to paint on our campus bird feeders! Each student picked a theme to help inspire the art they created on their designated bird feeder. Besides the fun painting part, deciding where the improved feeders would go around campus, how they would be hung and then finally filling them with feed was accomplished by our class. Just in time for summer, when campus gets very quiet and our local wildlife take over.

Another fun project the kids are finishing up is The World Around Me. With the help from a classmate the students had their figures traced on large pieces of brown paper while lying on the floor. The intention for this project is to give each student a chance to reflect on their year spent at Orchard and how the community that surrounds them is what inspires them the most. There’s a chance we won’t be able to complete this large project but it may be fun to work on it at home.

Big buddies, Recess and Rock!

Although we only have a few more weeks left, our campus (following CDC guidelines) finally has opened up for students to mingle and play with the other classes at recess. This was huge! The kids have been loving their favorite field games with more players! Our class has also been visiting with their kindergarten buddies and reading to them at rest time. It’s been wonderful witnessing our big kids interact and practice their leadership skills with the little ones. They certainly are a bunch of great kids to look up to!
Rocks class on Friday afternoons have been a hit!! The kids are loving the energy and attention only our Rock can provide. We started with splitting the class for Rock to start with mini classes but last week they all went to his class as one unit, only to save some time for a whole class dip in the freezing pool. Rock loves swimming with the kids and, well, the kids love Rock!!!

The last few weeks!

Tying up loose ends, finish reading Fish in a Tree to the class, taking a bunch of stuff home, and cleaning out the cubbies! We will also make sun tea with herbs we harvested from our beloved garden and making homemade savory garden focaccia with Jane to wrap up our Aromatic and Medicinal plants elective.
We are also looking forward to our all school beach day next Thursday!! I hope many parents from our class can attend! I look forward to the grand exhale that follows this epic school year with you all.

Thank you for reading these blog posts! Happy almost summer!!

May/June

Art

April Happenings