Native American Unit Poem Recitation

12/11/17

The snow has melted, and the sun came out just for us today!  The class began with a bit of excitement, as the caterpillars had formed chrysalises!  The class reviewed what they have learned about the butterfly life cycle and metamorphosis, and were able to observe this stage as we moved the chrysalises into their cage.

We made pomanders today, which are oranges with cloves. These smell wonderful, and are great to have around the house at Christmas time!

Our doe had her triplets on Saturday!  The students got to snuggle and love on all three beautiful bucklings!

The kids used forks to paint Christmas trees!  They turned out beautifully!

The class shared their journal entries, and they were great!  This week, they each studied a different colonial occupation.  They each shared what they learned with the class, and  did a great job doing so!

During grammar class, the group reviewed the different parts of speech.  We used a color coding activity to work on recognizing nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.  They even learned a new part of speech: articles.  We will use our color-coding activity more in second semester!

12/4/17

In science today, Ms. Gina taught the class all about metamorphosis.  They kicked off their lesson with The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  They had a wonderful discussion about different types of animals and their life cycles.  They made posters to show what they've learned about the caterpillar life cycle, and met some little caterpillar friends that we have here in the schoolhouse!  Ms. Gina taught them the different features that caterpillars have to help them survive in their environment.  It was a fun science day!

The class reviewed their grammar cards, checked their handwriting homework, and recited their pronoun and helping verb lists.  Then, the students read the stories that they wrote in their journals.  These kids has some seriously awesome adjective and adverbs!  We went through their stories and jotted down the adverbs and adjectives on the board.

We learned about contractions today.  First, the class learned the word "contract".  We talked about things that get shorter, or contract, before diving into the grammar lesson.  Hopefully, this will help them recall the word later!  We will work with contractions at home and continue studying them next week, as well.

In art, the class learned about patterns.  They used what they had learned to create a patchwork-style drawing.  These kids totally impressed us with their detail!   While they finished up their drawings, Ms. Gina read the story, "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble."  Since our playtime outside was spent playing with and feeding our sweet little donkey, Delilah, I thought this was a perfect story choice!

In history class, the class learned about the village that the Pilgrims built in New England.  They learned that villages during this time were usually made up of around 12 family houses with gardens, a meetinghouse in the center of town, and a village green where people would gather.  The village was usually surrounded by a palisade, or a strong fence.  We talked about the town crier, the militias, and the village government, as well.  At the end of class, we discussed the different occupations that the villagers would have.  They will be doing an activity with colonial jobs at home this week.

The class worked on the next pocket for their booklet: Building a Village.  Then, the group went outside!  Our schoolhouse played the part of the meetinghouse in the center of town, and our yard became the village green.  Each child chose a profession, and they picked out a spot for their pretend house.  Then, they played it out!  Some kids worked on their gardens, while others tended to the donkey or horse that pulled their plow.  They were in character, and it was super fun!  Then, a town crier rang the bell, and everyone came and gathered in the center green.  The town crier said that a shipment of goods was coming in, so everyone worked together to pretend to unload.  It was a perfect way to spend such a gorgeous afternoon!

Next week, we will have a small Christmas party!  I will have pizza for lunch.  Feel free to bring in a treat, side, or goodie to share!