Friday, March 18, 2016

Buckaroo News for March 14th to March 18th

Happy Spring Break!!  I will let the photos below speak for themselves of our learning this week.  I will miss my firsties as they depart on their adventures next week.  I, however, will be having a "staycation" instead of a vacation.  Much sleep, reading and relaxation at my house next week:)  

When we return from break, our related arts schedule will be back to normal.

Monday - D Day - Music
Tuesday - A Day - Library (remember book-in-a-bag and library books)
Wednesday - B Day - P.E.  (remember tennis shoes)
Thursday - C Day - Art
Friday - D Day - Music













Friday, March 11, 2016

Buckaroo News for March 7th to March 11th

I can't believe we are only a week away from Spring Break!  Didn't we just come back from Winter Break??  Time is going way too fast for me and the thought of letting my firsties go in a few short months makes my heart want to break.  However, I know that they are going to be ready for their second-grade adventures and that makes me happy!

After reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the children, I decided to continue on the Roald Dahl path as he is such a fabulous children's author.  We began James and the Giant Peach and they quickly caught on to the disadvantaged main character again.  In fact, opinions were flying about the two aunts in this story from the very beginning!  You should hear the moans and groans when I have to stop reading.  It looks as if we will finish this story next week and I'd like to show the movie to compare and contrast the book compared with the movie.  It is a PG movie so if you'd rather I have an alternative activity for your child, please let me know.  My plan is to show this  next Friday, March 18th.  I would like to serve popcorn with the movie but if you'd rather your child have another snack in place of popcorn you can send a goodie in with your child. 

Related Arts next week:

Monday - D Day (wear tennis shoes because Music and P.E. will be together)
Tuesday - C Day - Art
Wednesday - A Day - Library (remember book-in-a-bag)
Thursday - B Day - P.E.  (wear tennis shoes) 
Friday - C Day - Art
We made butter by shaking heavy cream in a jar.  When Mrs. McNeal shook the jar so hard the butter turned into a solid.  It started out as a liquid.  

This is a turtle that one of the other teachers let us "turtle sit."  His name is Sheldon.  The teacher could've picked any other teacher to "turtle sit" but he picked us!  We all got to touch his shell.  Sheldon looks like he is reading in this picture because he is near the bookshelf.  Since our room looked like outside, he liked our place and the teacher that takes care of Sheldon knew that we were responsible and careful so that we could take care of Sheldon.  We thought that the class that we got Sheldon from taught Sheldon to read because he was near the books.  Sheldon wanted out of his container and we let him wander all over our room.  Sheldon was scared of some people at first.

We were doing an experiment with baking soda, vinegar and a balloon.  We put the vinegar inside the bottle and put the baking soda inside the balloon.  We thought it was about to pop but it did not.  The baking soda and vinegar made carbon dioxide (CO2) and that made the balloon blow up.  At the end, the teacher popped it and it went everywhere (including on the teacher:).  We were running and saying "It's gonna blow!"  Before the balloon popped, the CO2 tried to escape.   

I highly suggest this book for your own reading!  It spoke to me in a huge way and after reading it to the children, I asked them what they thought the life lessons were.  Here is what they had to say.  "Sometimes you have to make tough choices to grow."  "It's okay to be afraid."  "It's okay to be different."  "Sometimes you just have to let go."  WOW!!!  From the mouths of babes!

We are pretending to be atoms and right now we are a solid molecules.

These are liquid molecules and they have a little more room to move around than solids.

They are gas molecules.  They have the most room to move around than solids or liquids.  

She made a diorama about the presidents.  This girl learned about the presidents and she made a poster and a diorama to go together.  The first president was named the Father of our Country.  The fourth president's father was a farmer.  There are 44 presidents but almost 45.

The girl's diorama was about sharks.  She put a basking shark in her diorama so far.  Even though sharks are considered "man-eaters", did you know that a person has a bigger chance of being killed by lightning than by a shark?  Did you know that sharks have more than 3,000 teeth?  Did you know the Mako shark can jump the highest?  One person thinks the Bull shark is the deadliest shark.  Some sharks can be eight to 20 feet long. 

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Buckaroo News for February 29th to March 4th

Happy Belated Friday!  I apologize for not sending a new blogpost last Friday but I had to get my peepers checked.  Turns out my age is creeping up on me and I need new glasses:).  Because we are halfway through a new week, I will make this blogpost short and sweet.  Enjoy the pictures from Read Across America and THANK YOU so much for your support of the food drive!  

Get ready for some laughs at some of these outfits!








This was our Ivory soap experiment.  We have learned that when we think scientifically we begin with something we are wondering about.  We then make a hypothesis and then test it.  Finally, we write about our conclusion and illustrate what we observed.  
We didn't let our experiment go to waste.  Each person pinched off some of the soap blob and washed with it before lunch:).
We made raisins dance!  Ask your child to share why this happened.