Whoooo Loves Owls?
I wanted to start the year with a quick unit on owls. We read some great fictional owl books and found the story elements of them: character, setting, problem/solution, and conclusion. We also read a couple of nonfiction books which provided us with some great facts and information. I found some neat videos on owls as well.
One of the highlights was opening up some owl pellets!! The kids worked in groups to see what evidence they could find as to what may have been the owl's dinner. Gross but so cool! The kids loved it and they all participated willingly! I think the cool scientist goggles and gloves helped!!! Check out our adorable toilet paper roll owls hanging in the hallway!
One of the highlights was opening up some owl pellets!! The kids worked in groups to see what evidence they could find as to what may have been the owl's dinner. Gross but so cool! The kids loved it and they all participated willingly! I think the cool scientist goggles and gloves helped!!! Check out our adorable toilet paper roll owls hanging in the hallway!
Plant and Animal Inventors
We had a big science unit/project we worked on for quite some time. The kiddos had to take their knowledge on life cycles, parts and functions, and needs of plants and animals and create a new species. It was a great project that allowed the kids to be creative but still apply what they knew about life science. They also had a choice of what their final product would be: a poster, a flip book, or a model. I was impressed with all of them! Great work, kiddos!! Check out some of our finished projects.
Time Lines and Lowell Experts!!
We are wrapped up our social studies unit on history this week. The final project was for the kids to complete a timeline. They worked very hard on this and it shows! My campers really seemed to love learning about the history of our great town! Maybe they were even able to teach you a little!!
We were very honored to have two guests from the Halsted House come and speak to us. These experts taught the entire third grade about Melvin Halsted, Lowell's founder and about what life was like back in the time of the pioneers. It was a great opportunity to bring in some community members into our learning!! They also wanted me to invite all the families to their APPLE FEST on October 4th. You can tour the house and they will have fun activities for the kids! Check it out!!
We were very honored to have two guests from the Halsted House come and speak to us. These experts taught the entire third grade about Melvin Halsted, Lowell's founder and about what life was like back in the time of the pioneers. It was a great opportunity to bring in some community members into our learning!! They also wanted me to invite all the families to their APPLE FEST on October 4th. You can tour the house and they will have fun activities for the kids! Check it out!!
Lowell's Past
For Social Studies this quarter, we are working with the history standards. Both grades are to learn about the history of our community and its founders. I'm including a slide show I put together that I used in class. The kids LOVED learning about our past and especially enjoyed the old pictures. We had some great discussions! The kids are going to need to make a time line on events in our town. We'll be working on this next week. Enjoy the slide show!
lowell_past_powerpoint.pptx | |
File Size: | 7794 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
Safety is Important
We have completed our first unit in health on safety. Both second and third grades had health pamphlets dealing with safety. The kids worked with a partner to read an assigned section, plan, make a poster, and present it to the class. This was a great project to introduce the expectations when working with a partner. The kids did an incredible job! Many of them went above and beyond. It was a quick, effective, and fun unit! The second graders will be going on a field trip to the safety village soon. More info coming soon....
Over summer break, my family and I visited the shores of Lake Superior while on a camping trip to the upper peninsula of Michigan. We spent an entire day rock collecting on the beach. I brought home a bag of beautiful Lake Superior rocks to share with my new class. I read the class a few great picture books featuring rocks and then the kids picked one for themselves. They loved to see how much brighter their rock became once they got it wet! We did a quick bulletin board activity. It looks great! We even painted some plain white rocks into fish after the book, Only One You. These will be on display in the display case next to my classroom for the month of September.
Life Cycle Circles
The children are working in a group of three. Each group has a different animal. They are reading a book about their animal and then representing its life cycle to present to the class. They have done a wonderful job with this! The completed circles have been presented and are now hanging in the hall and look great! Great job, kiddos!!
Animal Research Article
We started our Animal Feature Research Article Projects this week. Each child chose an animal that they will see at the Lincoln Park Zoo in May. The kids were very busy researching online and in books about their animal. They are using a research folder and post its to keep all of their information safe and organized. They are looking for facts that fall under four categories: physical characteristics, behavior characteristics, diet, and habit. After the kids collect all of their information, they will begin organizing it into an article complete with nonfiction features. I'll keep you updated of the progress of this project. So far, we are having a lot of fun!!
Lowell Project
Earlier in the year, our class undertook Project Based Learning in social studies. You may remember that the kids worked in groups to make a pamphlet about Lake Prairie as well as record an iMovie about interesting places in Lowell. I wasn't able to share the video but now that I have a blog, I can! See if you can figure out which voice is your child's! If you can't, I'm sure they can help you!
Lowell from Kerri Coapstick on Vimeo.
Penny Time Lines
The children loved presenting their penny time lines to the class. What a wonderful visual representation of their lives! I hope you had a good time reminiscing with them while you went through pictures and shared memories. Thanks for all of your help with these. They are quite the hit of the hallway!