A Black and White World

This week we proposed the question "What if our world only had shades of black and white?"  At first, the students laughed, but then they started truly thinking about what that would actually entail.  To give the students a little perspective, we found a short clip of an old Mickey Mouse cartoon from 1929.  The students found it very strange that the sky was as white as  Mickey's pants, with very little variation in shades.  We then made some connections to our own world.  

The students thought it's was very strange and interesting to think about all of the trees, grass, sky, flowers, animals, etc... being nothing but different shades of black and white.  

We then found the same clip in color.  We made several realizations.  One was that all but two students would rather live in a world with color rather than a world with shades of black and white.  

Later in the week we thought it would be neat to take a survey outside of our school.  Miss Hannigan and I both took a group of students on a walk to look for different colors around our world.  

When we returned to our classroom, we combined our lists.  Our survey results showed that blue was the most common color in our world.  It was a beautiful day with a very blue sky!  The second most common color was green.  We spied green grass, trees, bushes, insects, weeds, and much more.  The color brown was the third most popular color.  We saw brown tree branches, mulch, dirt, leaves, grass, insects, and much more.  

Once we completed our survey, we asked the students again: "Would you rather live in a world with shades of black and white... or, Would you rather live in a world where there is color everywhere?"  All of the students chose color, even the two that originally chose black and white.  

We then documented our survey results just like scientists.  Students used their exploration lab journals to draw a picture of something they saw that was blue, something that was green, and finally something brown.  

 

Friday, we were fortunate enough to have one of my former student's Kristen read us a couple stories.  The students enjoyed hearing a child just a bit older than them read confidently in front of the class.   

Finally, to end a very busy week, our superintendent Dr. Clifford came in to speak to our whole school.  Dr. Clifford gave the students several homework assignments.  He told them that by the time they were in first grade they needed to be able to tell him what their favorite asset is and why?  In addition, he wants them to "learn how to learn."  We also sang the "Pirate Song."  

Ask your child to sing it for you!

I hope everyone's week is beautiful, and that you all have a moment to stop and take a look at the beautiful colors our world has to offer.  

Mrs. Julie Atkin