Growing Strong!

It's been a fabulous week in Room 28 and feels like we've reached the time of year when the children are realizing how far they've come. From the art work on our May calendars, to the last session of Farm School, the theme of "growing" has been running strong throughout our learning. Have a look:

In fact, learning about seeds has been SO inspiring that after reading the Frog and Toad chapter called "The Garden", we designed our own gardens by collaging pictures from seed catalogues.

It's hard for me to know if pictures can communicate the depth of relationships in our crew but whether working in partners, small groups or learning as a whole class, the Room 28 Crew is growing strong.

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.

We Love Gerald and Piggie!

 If you ask me what the best "easy reader" series to hit the scene since Frog and Toad is, I would answer you- Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie Books!  Through simple dialogue about real life situations, Gerald the elephant and Piggie the pig navigate ups and downs with humor and a loving friendship. We showed them our love by creating this display for the hallway.

(You can see our "bucket fillers" from the first month of school are still up reminding us of all the ways we can help one another.)

The "Sweetest" Time of Year

         That's right, it Sugaring Season- one of the things that makes Vermont a special place, and perhaps the ONLY thing that makes mud season bearable. Since we're not able to take field trips this year, we had to find a way to take the sugaring experience to us. I borrowed the bucket, hook, spile (spout), and lid from a family member who sugars, and our School's Out friend, Dew, came to the woods with us to lend her expertise. 

    Of course our class was prepared for this process because we read several books and the children watched a video of me outside a "backyard boiler" explaining how sap is cooked down into syrup.  You can imagine our Farm to School teacher's surprise when our class confidently answered all their questions during our Friday session! What can I say?  They soaked it all in.  

    Here are some pictures of us exploring late spring in the woods, tapping a tree, and tasting maple syrup on carrot fritters.

It's All About 16!

 Over the last week we've dedicated some of our Math time to showing what we know about how to "make and break" certain numbers.  The first time we did this our focus number was 16 and I was able to take some pictures.  I asked the children to write any equation they knew that either "added up" or "substracted down" to 16.  If they wanted to go for more than one, they could write as many as they could think of!  Then we went around our circle listening carefully to the equations that friends shared- if you had the one they said on your board you gave it a check.  The children displayed their knowledge of doubles facts, doubles+ and - 1, teens as 10 and more, repeated addition and more!