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!
0 Comments
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!
The morning was overcast and cold so we stayed at school and studied a collection of nests. We headed out after morning recess with the wind at our backs. We found tracks, snails, and of course, more caterpillars. After a short recess we had lunch. Then we each chose a bird to observe. Sitting still and watching was really cold but the boys and girls were tough and there was very little complaining. The peafowl cooperated and spread its tail feathers several times. The emu were happy to eat the oak leaves we fed them but then chased away a little rabbit that was quite friendly. We also had a chance to see what it was like to pick up food with different kinds of beaks. We decided to pack up early and headed back to school via a different route. The long grass along the trail was fun to roll and hide in. Along the was we also saw the stump of a giant cottonwood tree. We were all able to stand on the stump and could almost all sit around its base. It was a successful adventure but hopefully tomorrow will be a little warmer!
Absolutely no let up in rain all day. We huddled inside, caught up, read books, and did a few normal classroom activities. We studied pictures of animals to figure out their special characteristics that make them able to survive. Our playground fundraising hotdog BBQ was today so many of us had hotdogs for lunch. The walk was postponed. Deepak brought in a container of coins that he had been collecting and wanted to donate for our playground fund so we sorted and counted the coins. Thanks for your generosity Deepak. |
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
Categories |