Second Grade Rocks

To get hands-on with our Landforms science unit, we studied minerals and erosion in the Rainbow room today.  We began in song:

A rock is a home for minerals
A rock is a home, you see,
For heat and pressure and erosion
Form them differently!

Then, we enjoyed an interactive 'rock cycle'.  You may enjoy viewing it with your child:

http://www.teachersdomain.org/assets/wgbh/ess05/ess05_int_rockcycle/index.html

 

Our science testbook had a terrific inquiry: p. 196: How Land Shapes Change. We eroded our rock salt mineral in a jar of water and sand. Boy, you could see the difference using our 30X illuminated microscopes!

 

A display of minerals shows that crystals come in all shapes and sizes.

To make rock candy: http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/vtl07.math.geometry.sol.rockcandy/

First Grade Worm study

 

First Graders adopted an earthworm today to study their structure and movement. Once we concluded our inquiry, we dug holes for them in our Meals on Wheels gardens and watched them move into their new homes.

Who knew what unimaginably different life is lead by such a common animal!  At night, the worms emerge to take a bite of something decaying - like an old leaf.  We got to see the worm expel their soil and digested matter castings.  They can be either a boy or girl when it comes to reproducing.  The collar or clitella, that band around the worm close to the head, is where worm's eggs grow.  When ready, the worm slips out of the collar and it becomes its egg case.  More fun with invertebrates!

We watched a short video about the value of worms:

http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/vtl07_vid_wonderworm/

 

 

 

First Grade Activities

 

Our blog's been active for 3 weeks, and we have lots to catch up on. And I have a lot to learn about photo alignment.

Yep, pictures are worth a thousand words. Our 30# illuminated microscopes (available through an Austin company, http://www.sciencestuff.com/prod/MicroSlide-mmicro/0140) get high use both inside and outside.  See how rapt the children are. Here's some highlights from our classes. 



Identifying simple and compound leaves.




 

 

 

 

  

                     

When children can release a butterfly they raised in class, feel the moisture released from the trunk of a newly-cut tree and notice how much a seed swells up with water before sprouting - that's when they discover that they are inextricably linked in the amazing dynamic of God's Creation. Nature constantly changes and is amazingly resilient.  And God commands that we take care of the natural blessings He entrusted us with.

 

 

 





 

3rd Grade Harvest Time

 

 Wednesday afternoon was cool and clear, just perfect for harvesting basil for Meals On Wheels.  We set a table in the Outdoor Classroom and learned how to pluck the leaves from the bottom of the stem to the top in order not to bruise the leaf tissue.

In the Rainbow Room, Mrs. Marcela Faidley, volunteer parent extraordinaire, supervised 2 apple peeling stations while Mrs. Jahnke dished out the remaining hummus from the 5th grade's nutrition taste-test and took photos. 

Apple slinkees or dried apples anyone?

The third grade meets between 1:15 and 2:45.  Check your calendar to see if you can schedule time to help us with our projects.  After Thanksgiving, we begin to make paper.  All hands on deck!  Contact me at dkeyburn@redeemer.net.

 

 



Joys of Being Four

Large group negotiation, small group cooperation, individual initiative and success. 
Pretty cool accomplishments when most of our children are 'singletons' with little demanded of them in the way of chores.

I am so thankful that parents are, by and large, knowledgable and relaxed when it comes to 'teach my child to read'.  For the youngest child, this is a 1 on 1 endeavor.  One child, one adult.  In a perfect children's world (such as the world of Redeemer Preschool) our children have better things to do than rote and drill.

 



The group shot is of their first superstructure built in my class.  With teacher guidance, petty squabbles melt as the adult 'helped them with their words" (you really don't expect all 4-year-olds to have the experience and verbal skills to get along all the time!)  Adults don't do their work for them; we give them words to define their accomplishments and clarify the work still to do.   

I love the twosome.  They were having an awesomely happy time.  I think the look is due to Mrs. Keyburn asking them to pose.

Tatum spilled corn kernals out of the sensory table.  She grabbed the broom and swept it up.  I turned around to see her sweeping again.  I'm convinced her activity around the sensory table for the rest of the class period was self-inflicted. 

On a recent sunny day, the Dolphins searched for Monarch caterpillars and other interesting wildlife in the milkweed patch.
 

Guest post by Sam

 

 

As part of our nutrition study, we set up 3 centers today for taste-tests.  Palatable great nutrition is our goal!  This is what we did:

Natural Sweeteners
Honey, Agave, and Maple Syrup:  From insects, plants and trees.  We discussed which one was the sweetest and most pleasant.  Thank you God, for taste buds!

Quinoa, Red Beans and Seasoned Ground Chicken
Our version of the Bayou classic substitutes ground chicken for sausage, and quinoa, a high-protein grain from South America, for the rice.  Talk about your protein!  Mrs. Funderburg makes quinoa in apple juice for breakfast cereal for her boys.

Hummus
Ground garbanzo beans, sesame tahini and lots of garlic make for a fantastic spread on pita bread.

                Serenity shared her family’s hummus recipe:

Drain and rinse two cans garbanzo beans (preferably Bush's).

Dump in the Cuisinart.

Add heaping teaspoon of fresh garlic.

Add sea salt for taste.

Add one squeezed lime.

Add about 1/2 a cup of plain Greek yogurt (regular plain yogurt will work)

Pulverize until a nice, smooth paste.

Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper for taste! 

 

 

Mrs. Funderburg guides Sam through blog posting.

 

 

David is a Redeemer student who is from Korea. He is tasting quinoa.  He says it tastes fabulous.

Dr. Frost, Redeemer and Green Ribbon Schools

A rousing Redeemer SHOUT OUT to Dr. Joe Frost!  This marks our first SHOUT OUT to organizations and individuals that have made our Gardens what they are. 

Research on student involvement in the Nature Gardens is part of the 33 year University of Texas Play and Playgrounds Research Project, designed and conducted by Dr. Joe Frost, international expert on child development and the importance of play. 

 

The primary purpose of the research at Redeemer was to study the constructs and developmental benefits of play on playgrounds. 

 

      Joe has been a long-time church member at Redeemer along with his wife Betty (a former Redeemer teacher and men's basketball coach.) During the 1970's, Dr. Joe, an early childhood education and child development professor at the University of Texas approached Redeemer with a terrific proposal; he'd invite major playground equipment companies to provide play equipment for research on children's play under real-life conditions; a real, live playground laboratory! His cadre of UT PhD students assisted in the research, prepared their PhD dissertations, and participated in journal and book publishing. The children received first-rate playgrounds and everyone was happy!
 

Check out this amazing article about Dr. Frost and the importance of play.
He's highlighted this month on the Green Ribbon Schools website:
http://www.utexas.edu/features/2007/playgrounds/index.html

Third Grade Cocos Island Ecosystem

Environment, ecosystem, population, community, habitat; important concepts that can be confusing to understand and use properly.  Third graders attentively engaged in an assortment of video, interactive and hands-on activities to help us wield these large concepts through a discussion of the interaction of various living organisms in the marine environment off the coast of Cocos Island, CR.
Enjoy our classroom activities at home: 

Cocos Island video (2.5 min.) from Teacher Domain:

http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/tdc02_vid_cocos/

This is a nice interactive from Sheppard Software (check out the whole site!)

http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/lsps07_int_ecosystem/

Here's a photo of us constructing the topography and interactive populations (let's call it 'ecosystem') of the marine life off the coast of Cocos Island. 

 

Our work draws us very close to the life a world away from our classroom.