Sunday, April 13, 2014

Growing Plants and Learning 4 Facts

This last week started off with something different as we went to see the Jr. High's play/musical rehearsal. They were performing Seussical Jr. a play with the story line of Horton Hears a Who but with other Dr. Seuss characters. The students became very excited about the play and I believe some of them went to see the actual performance on Wednesday night. As far as the classroom goes, the students started a new unit in science this week all about Plants. We started off discussing what the essential resources are that a plant needs to live and grow. These elements are air, water, sunlight and soil. We also talked about the parts of a plant and what they do to help bring in nutrients around the plant to allow them to grow. The students were very excited about this unit because they get to actually grow some different plants and observe them over the three week period. The students are doing an experiment to see whether beans will germinate the fastest in total sunlight, some sunlight, or no sunlight at all. They are also watching how Spider plants grow roots just by sitting in water. Next week the students will be planting more tiny seeds and observing how they sprout and grow.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Back from Spring Break

Once again the students and myself made it through a five day week after making up yet another day from missing school for State Basketball Tournament. We started the week off working on our April quilt squares and room hangers. The writing prompt for the quilt square this month was to write about your favorite Easter celebration. Many of the students  wrote about dyeing eggs and going on an Easter Egg hunt with their families. The second graders worked on turning their pieces to create an Easter basket shape for their quilt. Then they wrote their final draft paragraphs on a bunny shape to complete their quilt pieces. As for the hanger in the room, the students made little watering cans which around the edge said "April Showers Bring May Flowers". Hopefully we will get some gentle showers this April and less wind!