This fall we have focused our curriculum around water. We started with understanding the concept of watersheds. Then Nicole taught us a new song about the water cycle while playing her banjo. We talked about bacteria in the water and how our lakes and rivers can become polluted. We made boats out of natural materials and sailed them across the pond. This week will be our last Friday before our two week break and we will finish the unit with a bang! The students made watershed models in preparation for Shanti Sellz to come talk about sustainable farming practices. You may know her as the farmer at Muddy Miss Farms but now she is Johnson County's local foods coordinator. We are so excited to hear what she has to teach us about improving our watersheds!
Prairie Green is trying something new this year. Every Friday we are outside all day! How fun...right?! Yes, this fall has been very fun and we are so lucky to have such beautiful weather. There was only one day that it rained on us. However, we were prepared and made temporary shelters before it started raining so we had a dry cozy spot to eat lunch. This fall we have focused our curriculum around water. We started with understanding the concept of watersheds. Then Nicole taught us a new song about the water cycle while playing her banjo. We talked about bacteria in the water and how our lakes and rivers can become polluted. We made boats out of natural materials and sailed them across the pond. This week will be our last Friday before our two week break and we will finish the unit with a bang! The students made watershed models in preparation for Shanti Sellz to come talk about sustainable farming practices. You may know her as the farmer at Muddy Miss Farms but now she is Johnson County's local foods coordinator. We are so excited to hear what she has to teach us about improving our watersheds!
0 Comments
Paula,
My daughter has really been interested in the stars lately. The other night we laid on the trampoline and watched them while listening to an orchestra of bugs, frogs and other critters. She saw an amazing shooting star. She described it so well, I encouraged her to write a story about it. Instead she wanted me to look up some “facts” on shooting stars and meteorites. I found a great video by Nasa. She watched it twice and asked if “we" could watch it again and write down the facts so she could give a presentation. "Why don’t you write a lovely story about your experience." "Oh mom, I really want to share the facts. They are so interesting”. That they are. So, she is still working on bullet pointing the facts of the video along with some illustrations. Once she has that completed she would like to give a presentation at school and bring along her meteorite. Hopefully she will find the inspiration to write a story to share as well. I thought maybe your class would enjoy the approximately 6 min video afterwards, check it out and let me know what you think. http://www.space.com/17957-asteroids-and-meteoroids-older-than-earth-bringing-fire-and-life-from-the-sky-video.html#ooid=k2eTR5cDpd_7rp869AKDuw7dL9j1EWMM Today a parent found this moth on our school grounds. As I showed it to the students, we quickly identified it as a Luna Moth. Nicole asked if the caterpillar that Henry found a few weeks ago was a Luna Moth caterpillar. We asked Henry about this…
“I found it hanging on a leaf above my head. I pulled the leaf down and felt something squishy. I uncovered the leaf to see what it was and I found a huge green caterpillar and I think it had yellow spots.” We looked up what a Luna Moth caterpillar looks like and Henry identified it as the same moth. How fun! At Prairie Green the last 26 days are a celebration! Each day is a different letter of the alphabet and we have an activity designated to each letter. Check out our April and May calendar to see what we have planned for the rest of the year!
Written by Laura
Friday began with the elementary kids going over the "Problem of the Day" from yesterday. It involved a broken calculator and how you could solve a problem by manipulating the numbers so you wouldn't have to use the broken key. I sat at the table with the "Kindergartners" and visiting Pre-K kids from the preschool room. On Fridays, the students who will move to the elementary room next year come visit for the morning as an introduction. Today was Will's first day! I was filling in for Devon who had a sick Jack at home. As the older students worked with Paula, I heard the word "sum" being talked about. At our small table we began to talk about "sum", what it means and finding combinations that make a sum of 2, 3, 4, etc. Then we moved on to printing lowercase letters a, b, c, d and e. We practiced on the white board and students practiced on their own, writing the letters on a blank bingo card. Once our bingo cards were filled with letters, we played bingo using plastic coins to cover our letters. As we used the pennies, nickels and dimes we talked about their names, values, colors and size. We talked about the penny being the only copper colored coin and how weird it was that the dime was smaller than the nickel, but worth more! It was then evident that we needed to mix things up as students got restless. We headed to the library and continued to work with sums. We used the five students as counters and we came up with all the possibilities to make the sum of "5". We kept track on the white board. Then I joined the group and we did the same thing for "6". I talked to them about even numbers explaining that when everyone had a partner, the number was even. We looked at 5, 6 and many other numbers to determine if they were even or odd. Then one students said, "Let's make letters with our bodies!" And so we did. I took pictures of the kids so they could see what they looked like. We made the letters we practiced earlier. After over an hour of hard work, it was time to go run around in the gym! Check out our letters below! It was an exciting day for both elementary and preschoolers alike as they performed in front of a filled Englert Theater on Saturday. The CD release party presented volume 1 of Rockin' kids songs performed by local artists and PGS students recorded The Robot Song for the album. Prairie Green students played their instruments and sang three songs for the crowd. First was the Robot Song followed by I Wish I could Ride on a Rainbow and finally Grandpa Gene. Below are links to videos of each song performed. Prairie Green Elementary along with the Family Folk Machine accompany Katie Roche in Fall Song at the Englert's For Kids By Kids Saturday March 25th. Here are the preschool students are being read to by Parker and Claire. We have the preschoolers pick out a book for the elementary students read before they have their afternoon nap. It's a great opportunity for emerging students to practice their fluency skills while the preschoolers love the individual attention from the "big kids".
Los Lobos Mexican Cafe opened it's doors to the public on Feburary 17th, 2015. Prairie Green students served family members tacos, quesadillas with sides of pico, chips and rice. All of the food was prepared by PGS students and families. This year, the students made homemade tortillas which were a big hit! Students were encouraged to speak to customers in Spanish and deliver their orders to the kitchen. Spanish could be heard in the kitchen when placing orders. Below are a few pictures from this brief opening of Los Lobos (PGS had to close it's doors after just one day because customers ate all the food). |
Archives
August 2017
Categories
All
|