August 29

Plant Study

We have been learning about the parts of plants and the life cycle of plants through experiments.

We cut off the roots of one of the Dusty Miller plants. It is now easy to pull the plant up out of the pot and it is wilting because there are no longer roots to absorb water. We placed the roots in another container to see what will happen.

After learning about different types of soil, we planted bean seeds in sandy, clay and potting soil which contains more humus (dead plants and animals). New vocabulary included sprout and seedling.

We softened the hard seed coats of beans and then each of us pried open the seed to see the stored food, a tiny root, and leaf.

3 bean embryo

We each observed the holes around the edge of a slice of celery. These are openings to little tubes in which water, minerals, and food travel up and down the stem. Then we placed celery in food coloring.  You can actually see where the colored water traveled up the stem to the leaves.

We took a cutting of a plant to see if it will grow new roots.

Category: Science | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 27

Ducks

Have you heard that Mrs. Gammage brought two of her ducks to live on the pond behind KRCS? The children have really enjoyed watching them. We are having a Lower School naming contest.

August 23

Math Games

I love to teach the children games to reinforce the math concepts we are learning. We are working on missing addends, so we learned the game Salute. Three children play together. Two children pick up cards and place them on their foreheads without looking at the number they picked. They may look at the card on the other person’s head. The third player tells the two the total (sum) of both cards. The object is to determine the number of the card on your head.

Category: Math | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 22

Just Right Reading

“Just Right” Reading During the First Week of School

Reading is taught through a “Reader’s Workshop” approach in our classroom. We read and interpret stories together, but a portion of each day is spent reading self-selected books from our class library on each child’s individual reading level. We believe that reading is a skill developed through use. As the children read, I conference with them to check comprehension and to validate that they are successfully applying skills and strategies. I want reading to be a pleasurable time, so they are allowed to get comfortable at their desks.

Comparing Reading to Riding a Bike

Comparing Reading to Riding a Bike

Category: Reading | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 21

Top Ten

We will take some of our writings through the writing process this year. The steps are prewriting, rough draft, revise (organization and word choice), edit (punctuation, spelling and capitalization), and final draft. The first project that we have taken through the writing process is “My Top Ten”. Our prewriting activity included reading Wallace’s Lists. We brainstormed that favorites might include such things as food, places, activities, animals, and people. We discussed our ideas with a classmate and then wrote our rough draft. I had a short editing conference with each child to correct spelling. The final drafts are hanging in the hallway.

IMG_6520