Our third day of learning outdoors was sunny and hot...23 degrees. We needed our shelter to keep us cool.
We read books about earthworms and learned some interesting facts. We found some middens (Lumps of earthworm poop on the surface of the ground above their hole.) We wrote about their life cycles. In the afternoon we each got an earthworm and tried to convince them to move to the other side of our paper. It was hard to keep our papers moist today. We measured our earthworms with paper clips. Then after washing up we got gummy worms to compare to the living earthworms. The gummy worms were about 3 paper clips long but the earthworms were mostly about 2 clips long. The think the gummy worms were sweeter but we only ate the gummy worms. Later, we played decomposition tag as a whole group. The teachers provided a little refreshing "rain" for the living creatures. It was very cloudy when we began the day. Putting up our shelters was much easier today. We knew how to sort, tie and cooperate. Then, the clouds began to change into friendlier clouds. We read some cloud books and learned that different kinds of clouds can mean different things. Cirrus, Stratus and Cumulus clouds are the main three kinds. We made each kind with cotton balls as we watched cirrus replace the stratus clouds in the sky above us. The wind picked up again and blew the nasty clouds away but it also tipped over one of the sun shelters. The tarp shelters stayed in place.
We read another chapter of Charlotte's Web. Wilbur was moved into his new home. We wished we could hold a little newborn pig. Wilbur sounds so cute. We visited the ducklings in the grade two classroom. They were soooo cute too. In the afternoon we read a book called It Looked Like Spilt Milk and imagined what the fluffy clouds looked like. We created our own cloud pictures and wrote about them. We also had some time to just sit and read. We needed the quiet time on our own or with a buddy. We were very engaged. We wrote about our day. It was a much warmer day than yesterday (16 degrees today) so we even ate our lunch outside. We could feel the sun on our heads. We will have to remember our water bottles and hats tomorrow since the forecast says it is supposed to be even warmer. Bells do not mean as much for us when we are outside. We love it outside. All four grade one classes are spending two weeks outdoors. Today all four classes built shelters. We used tarps and poles. It was cloudy and windy so we had to tie down our tarps really well. It was only 11 degrees so we needed our jackets and sweaters.
We made binoculars. Then we had a scavenger hunt around the playground. We started reading a book called Charlotte’s Web. It is a chapter book. We used sticks and blocks to measure each other and objects or areas of our playground. With rain coming down, I changed my mind about venturing out half a dozen times before school started. With a very flexible bus driver assuring us she could pick us up early if the rain did not let up, we ventured out. The rain lasted only an hour...long enough to read a few stories and kick off our day about sticks. The book Not a Stick was great for the imagination so everyone found a stick and imagined what it could be. Worried about more rain, we charged right into math. Each group had 10 sticks to work with. They tried to see how many triangles, rectangles and so on the could make with the sticks. Using wire, beads, buttons and anything else we could find, we created memory sticks. Most children found some wet, long grass during lunch recess to get soaked in but it did not dampen spirits. Finally we created fairy gardens. Our afternoon raced by and suddenly the bus rolled in and it was time to go back to school. We had a wonderful day! I was so glad we ventured out. What a nice end to the week!
What beautiful weather we had today. Not too hot nor that cold wind we faced yesterday. Just beautiful sunshine. We spent a long time looking for animal homes this morning...mice homes in the grass, bird nests, bird houses, worm webs, and groundhog holes. Of course the lure of tall grass called once again. The fallen tree was luring the tree climbers. Because of the rain on Tuesday, the bark was loose and fell of when the climbing began. A few of the children spent considerable time peeling the bark off the rest of the tree. We had lots of free time to explore and play, collect insects, make music, make soup, and just burn energy. Later we spent some time writing and then making either a bug home or trying to create a bird nest. It isn't as easy as it might look!
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Mrs. MacPhee
I've been teaching for over 20 years in three different provinces. Most of those years have been in the primary grades. I love teaching grade one because of the dramatic change I get to see in the children from the beginning of the year to the end of June. It truly is amazing! Archives
June 2017
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