Busy Bee

I have been away for two weeks! Yikes...longest time ever! I had a good excuse...I have been a busy bee! I just wrapped up our Plantapalooza event which brought over 140 people into our school to learn about container gardening and then they got to make and take their own container gardens home. One problem though...it poured during our event. No garden scavenger hunt...not to many filled containers. We gave them garden greens a garden buck I made in my plant unit. They can come to school any time to claim their container and soil. We had amazing door prizes and every family went home with a prize and two free tomato plants donated by Majestic Farms out of Hatley. This was a great family night, but it has consumed me. The garden is growing and the plants are going in...that has also taken up a ton of time...our garden club ended last week...one week to early to actually plant the plants in the ground. We are going to plan B...5th graders will be using simple machines to plant the plants next week. Clever plan.

Last week's plans...real quick recap...
Oh...My... Gosh...is your week as busy as mine? Crazy busy that is all I can say. I am not getting home until after 8:30 each night. I go from school to after school, to games, meetings...I can't keep up with it. I am a day late and a dollar short. I should have shared my week yesterday. Forgive me. I went to bed by 9 last night. Worn out...

Kinders are growing plants in a glove to watch seeds grow. We read the book Plants and Seeds. It's short and sweet. We then wrote what we learned about plants and seeds on a flower pattern.

Different sized seeds in each finger! Kinders growing!

Firsties are learning about the difference between moths and butterflies. We used the A-Z book Butterflies and Moths and then showed the video:

We made symmetrical butterflies by painting the FOSS butterfly pattern on one side. We then played the butterfly game I made which is similar to the cootie game we played as kids! Remember that game? Fun times!

2nd graders- worked on planting tubers...yes potatoes. We started off listing how we like our potatoes...fried...roasted...chips...you get the picture. We followed it up with a great resource I use Grow Your Own Potatoes. Great activities...videoes...I printed up the posters for the kids to see and then went through them. I also read the book Potatoes.


We then went out to plant the tubers. They love the FOSS lesson in a real garden...skip the cup.

Third grade- Strike up the band! We shared our instruments, made some music by playing Yankee Doodle and We Will Rock You. We then filled out a sheet showing how our instrument showed volume, vibration, pitch, and how it relates to sound. Sound good? Then we watched a short video to wrap up our sound unit before the big test. Who doesn't love Ms. Frizzle?

Fourth graders- We are working on our research project. The students are making a picture book for 2nd and third graders to read about a planet. They picked a table and I assigned a planet to each group. They will then be able to use that research information to make a group project to teach their class as well. Check out our blog for kids to see our links:

The Science Corner

Fifth graders- working on simple machines. We are using the FOSS lessons to teach pulleys now. We took a quick quiz to see what they are retaining. We used the FOSS lessons as a bit of a competition though. Each group assigned their team 1-4. I picked out of a hat a pulley and then I picked a number. That person had to make the pulley picked without help..just a diagram. Then, the team could help them after one minute of time. The diagram reading was perfect. I gave winning teams a mint...they taught the other groups and then we did the activity in FOSS. Perfect way to get them actively engaged.

It is now time to figure out next week's lessons for tomorrow. That is how far behind I am. Oh, well. Time flies when your having fun!