Monday – Hot and sunny
Warm weather inspired us to start our much-needed Spring Cleaning. We began by banging dirt out of our boots and sorting extra clothes. Many children need a change of clothes for the new season. Some of our robotics students decided to hold a sumo match. They each devised a strategy and created a wrestling robot. They programmed these to react to the boundary of the ring and to other robots. During sewing dashikis were finished. We can now move on to the dying process. Children also addressed math, language and writing projects this morning. After lunch they either played basketball or strolled in the woods.
During Reading/Writing proposals were returned to students. These were either approved or returned for revision. For those needing revision teachers provided suggestions and questions to be addressed before resubmission. Students went right to work on their project or their proposals.
Following Reading/Writing one of our students began his Global Studies presentation addressing the branches of the United States government and our constitution. The students followed along, highlighting notes provided and asking questions from time-to-time. In science our younger students began constructing a giant volcano. They each have their own cone in the same volcano so they must work together to make sure the lava flows the way the group wants it to. At the end of the day all of the students worked on the garden and set up our Earthboxes.
Tuesday – Warm and pleasant
This morning the children set out in different directions with lots to do. Some began their math and language, some their writing projects, some in the garden and others on independent projects. Reading groups met in the library.
During Reading/Writing, groups and individuals work on their new projects. Students hovered over computers updating their proposals or writing screenplays. They began drawing their trading cards, building their monster trucks and props, constructing puppets, designing their website and writing text for each.
Following this the younger children revisited our New Jersey map and reconsidered where everyone in our school community lives. Using this information they completed a bar graph. Then they moved to a map of the United States and began discussing the difference between a state map and a country map. In Global Studies our older students played a Jeopardy style game answering questions about the 3 branches of government and the constitution. Everyone participated and seemed to enjoy the activity. They were quite accurate about obscure details.
Wednesday – Mostly Sunny and Windy
Today the children prepared Buffalo Chicken with Homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing, Macaroni Salad and Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream. They hade to butterfly the chicken, cut the veggies for the macaroni salad, mix the buffalo sauce and prepare the bleu cheese dressing. The kitchen was humming.
During workshop there was a special meeting for those children creating trading cards as part of their writing project. Potential supporting technologies and software were introduced, some were demonstrated and questions were answered. One technology, the use of Corel Painter software and a digital tablet to draw directly to computer, received a great deal of attention. This tablet has been on hand for more than a year unnoticed. Now everyone wants to try. Our card designers also discussed the need for character development, back stories and rule books.
In science Diane talk about the many parts of a living tree starting with the inside heartwood and moving outward to the bark. She discussed the leaves and their function, the phylem and ecoderm and how each works and the root system and it’s purpose.
Thursday – Warm and windy
Many of the students played their card games this morning. Some are now learning how to play Magic. Doris taught a beading class that focused on the design of earrings. Many of our young artists tried their hand at making these.
In science, the older students determined the amount of space required to support each person in the class. They calculated the amount of trees needed to create oxygen to breathe and the amount of land required to grow the food they eat each year. They learned that their diet influences our land needs, as calories from animal products must also include the food consumed by the animals. Finally they addressed the amount of solar panels needed to meet our current power consumption. Other students finished the framework of their volcano and started adding Paper Mache. They are looking forward to painting the volcano and letting it erupt.
In art the kids made crepe paper flowers to ring in the spring. They tried out different techniques of wrapping, folding and twisting and made some beautiful and unique bouquets. As usual the materials took them to unexpected places and soon many donned moustaches and other facial decorations.
Friday – Wet and warm
This morning Kadi brought in her record player and some vinyl records. Many of the children had no prior experience with records. The player prompted many questions and ideas. We watched a How It’s Made video about vinyl records. We talked about the process and how the record works.
The children counted our bottle caps and donated most to the Clean Ocean Coalition. The white and clear caps were donated to another organization to benefit people with cancer. We will continue to collect all plastic bottle caps for these causes so please send yours our way. The kids worked on math and writing and had snack. The morning zoomed by.
