Wrapping Up AND Starting New

 During the week before break we took some time to put some closure on a few things.  You can never have enough time with Gerald and Piggie, but this photo shows just how much these two characters have become fixtures in our classroom.

The children still love building with unit blocks which have been a staple of Explore time all year. The pattern blocks, though they have taken on a spring theme.

New this week was the introduction of cuisenaire rods- a colorful math building tool that's calibrated to a system of 10.  (The smallest unit is cube that is "worth 1", and the longest unit which is made up of 10 cubes has a value of 10. They can be used for measuring, adding, or creative designing as you can see here!

Another new experience this week was planting seeds!  On Friday we learned a bit about what's in a seed, the variety of ways seeds can look, and just how powerful those little bits of nature can be.  Here is a look at us planting pea seeds.  Learning about the seed and soil cycles is a perfect extension of our unit on natural resources and conservation. SO much science this spring!

Friday Fun

The title of this post says it all...Spring has sprung and the weather this past Friday had us feeling good!   In the late afternoon we spent some time finishing up a few things in the classroom before a Farm to School lesson, and then we headed outside. During the Farm to School lesson we learned about some of the earliest wild edibles to emerge after the winter- RAMPS! or wild onions.  When we went out to play we didn't find any ramps but we did find lots of young dandelions.  I wonder if some of them made it home in pockets or backpacks?

STEM- you hear about it... now see us engage with it!

 For the past several year there has been quite a focus on increasing opportunities for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning in schools.  I thought I'd devote this post to looking at what we've had going in in these areas lately.  I know you've heard about our science focus on Force and Motion.  Here's a look at the children working in small groups to understand the effect of friction on how a block moves down a ramp.

Alongside our study of Force and Motion we've been continuing to work on math concepts like flexible thinking and symmetry.  Here you can see students working on reading addition and subtraction equations both horizontally and vertically.  Next you can see a card game that involves quick comparisons of two digit numbers and lastly, an original mandala with pattern blocks.