Fall Family Nature Scavenger Hunt

Saturday was our Fall Family Nature Scavenger Hunt.  

Although it was a little chilly, we had a great time exploring and enjoying nature. 

Before our scavenger hunt began, we observed fish in the pond 

and had fun petting Zipp the working dog. 

Friends checked out the fall decorated wagon.

  We all sat down to chat about what path we were going to take, how to document on the scavenger hunt, and how to observe and treat nature. 

Each family received a clipboard, scavenger hunt paper, pencil, and each child received a magnifying glass.

 We then began towards the path. 

We found a lot of caterpillars!

We climbed to the top of the watch tower.

Look at the big leaf Lincoln found!

We had a great turn out!  Thanks for coming to our scavenger hunt. 

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Color Documentation

Over the last couple of weeks we have been documenting some of the colors that we have been studying.  We have been using the clear disc that comes on top of a pack of CD's or DVD's as a template.  While looking at different shades of colors, students have been using their fine motor skills to peal the back of the colored stickers.  We have completed several color discs, but continue to work on many more.  I will be sure to post a photo of how we have documented and displayed the completed disc's in our classroom.  Here are a few photos to show the students in action!

 

We also mixed the colors blue and red - although our red looks a little more pink.  We used icing that was colored by food coloring and pretzels for mixing.    

We documented our discoveries in our Exploration Lab Journals.  Students continue to focus on labeling their illustrations and writing simple sentences.

Lastly, to celebrate the completion reading Charlott's Web aloud, we watched the movie.  Students enjoyed talking about similarities and differences between the book and movie.

Have a fantastic week!

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Leaf Colors

This past week our students become enchanted by the beautiful colors of fall.  They were finding many shades of colors in the leaves, and with everyone wanting to bring leaves inside we decided to take a "Leaf Hunt."  We explained that scientists are very picky when choosing what they want to examine and study.  Together we chatted about finding leaves that spoke to them (and not their friends), leaves that might be your favorite color or leaf color, or maybe a leaf that has a design or shape that they enjoy. 

Since we were trying to beat the rain, our "Leaf Hunt" took place on our playground. 
Look at this beautiful tree on our playground.  

Students used a Ziplock bag as their "scientific tool" to collect two leaves.  They used one leaf to examine and sketch in their Exploration Lab Journals and one leaf to graph with the class.  Students took their time and found the perfect leaves that "spoke to them."  

 

When we returned to the classroom, each student chose one leaf to sketch in their Lab Journals.  Students used their "scientific eye" when examining the leaf.  They used many different colors and shades to represent the leaf colors as well as adding details such as spots, lines, or veins in the leaf.  

Reminder, Friday is Pajama Day.

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Literacy Night

This past week we had an amazing turnout for our "Magic of Books" Literacy Night.  We started our evening with a magician performing some magic tricks related to how special books can be. 

We had several stations for families to visit.  Here are some photos form the evening!

This entertaining man sang some great songs to us. 

In addition, he wrote a song to go along with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.

Every student in the school had to opportunity to help create the collaborative art piece to celebrate "The Magic of Books" in art class.

Our class created the beautiful butterfly.  Check out our hard work! 

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Alphabet/Word Wall, Colors Explorations & MORE!

 Yet again, we had another very productive week.  One of our biggest accomplishments was our alphabet/word wall.  It has been a process to complete the "wall," which I'll explain later. 

We started by choosing a letter, reviewed it's sign in sign language, and sound(s).  Then we made a list of words that start with the respective letter.  We consolidated our list to 5-6 words that start with each letter and then the students added illustrations.  Students were reminded to do their most beautiful/quality work because their illustrations were made into letter books.  Students practiced writing both the capitol and lowercase letter that corresponded with the picture and labeled their illustration.  Below you will see students illustrating objects for the letter U.  

The illustrations are made into a book using a collection of the students work using oil pastels.  

All the students have had the opportunity to complete one of the illustrations and letter.

 The students wanted to add their names so their friends would know how to spell their names when writing them.  They wrote their names on a black piece of construction paper and added it to the word wall.  Several of the students will add their names this week.  

We have also started to add some of the sight words we have learned.

Here is a picture of our completed alphabet wall.  

We will continue to add sight words throughout the year. 

This week we also continued to focus on colors. 

 We looked at all these different shades of paint samples to find our favorite shade of color.  For some, it was a very difficult choice.

 As you can see, many of our friends like the color pink!

We also wanted to see what would happen if we mixed the colors red and yellow.  I brought in a few large containers of vanilla yogurt and together we added food coloring to make them red and yellow.  

Each child got one spoonful of red and one spoonful of yellow to start.

 Then we mixed the two colors together.  Students noticed the more red they added, the darker the orange, and the more yellow they added the lighter it turned.

Later we documented our experiment in our "Exploration Lab Journals."  You can see students are labeling color words and are beginning to write sentences about their results.   

 Here is a look at a students documentation from both our 

green lemonade and orange yogurt experiments. 

Finally, upon finishing up our students treasure blocks, students were very excited to start writing their very own books during "Writing Workshop."  Some of the books our students wrote were titled "Flowers," "Zombies," "Butterflies," "Iron Man," and "Pumpkins." 

Take a look at the beginning stages of our students becoming author/illustrators. 

 

Like I mentioned, we were very busy and productive this week!  Stay tuned for a special "Literacy Night" post.  I hope everyone enjoys the beautiful week that's upon us!

Mrs. Julie Atkin