I'm sure by now you have been updated on our OMSI field trip. We had such a great time and I'm so proud of the kiddos! No tears at all and everyone went pretty much straight to sleep (maybe the 11:30 lights out had something to do with that!) OMSI did a great job organizing and filling every moment with a fun experience! Here are some of the photos I took and from one chaperone. I'll update with more photos as chaperones share them. Thank you for trusting us with your kids for the nigh! I hope they feel empowered and brave afterwards :)
0 Comments
We ended the wee with some April showers art. The students re-created an umbrella rain watercolor piece based on one called Glad Rain (http://bcartstudios.com/portfolio/glad-rain/). I'm always impressed with how you can see their personalities come through in their pieces :) They are displayed outside the classroom if you want to see. Today was the big volcano day! They had studied volcanoes earlier in the year but the snow kept us from this great project. It ended up being a perfect day for setting them off as well! All week they researched the features of one specific NW volcano and created a model of it. We also have been reading Native American legends of volcanoes and wrote one in groups together. Finally, today we got to set them off in a celebration with all the 2-3 graders! It was such a fun way to end the week before spring break! Thank you to all the chaperones who were able to join us on our tree planting trip! The weather actually held off and it was mostly dry and only a little chilly. I was really impressed with how hard these kids worked and how willing they were to get dirty and plant those trees! We learned a lot about conservation, heard some great stories and legends and will get to visit our trees in years to come! Today we celebrated president's day by studying Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Students got to pick their "favorite" of the two famous men and make a mask. As you can see, they were adorable! :) This week the kids got to practice being paleontologists. Last week they made clay fossils of their dinosaur using an image they found. This week they buried them in sand and carefully dug each others out in order to match them to the images. They loved using the paint brushes to do this. Scott Burns, Geology professor at Portland State University, was kind enough to come out to our school and teach the kiddos about the Missoula Floods and the local Gorge Geology. He had so much information to share and did so with joy and animation. One of my students commented, "it's good he has that job, because he LOVES rocks!" He said he was excited to see how much the kids knew about rocks and about how respectful they were. Our classroom is one of 3 that has been selected as a pilot program for the Right Brain Initiative. This is an arts integrating program for public schools and teaches teachers and students how to incorporate art into other curriculum. They have music, dance, visual art and more. Our assigned artist is named Suba and is an expert in a middle-eastern style dance. She has already taught the students movements and techniques in this style and they have picked it up really quickly. I'm happy to see them embrace this new and exotic form of art! On Thursday the kids got to spend time with their little buddy class. Both groups love this so much and I'm always so impressed with my big buddies and how well they look after their little. They are patient and kind teachers and take their big buddy role seriously. This week they made Chinese dragon puppets for Chinese New Year. It was more of an intricate craft but my kiddos did a great job guiding and helping the little ones! Hello Families, Since that crazy snow our schedule has been so bumpy the last month! I wanted to include a bunch of photos I've taken from our party, some art projects, and a little buddy activity. All of these were really fun times and I'm glad we were able to sneak our class "holiday" party in just in time :) |