Once upon a time...

in the land of my worst nightmares, I lost my camera! Thankfully, I woke up from the nightmare today when it was found (you've got to love those pesky two year olds who love to hide things, particularly in inside pockets of rarely-used bags). Okay, so maybe that was a little bit dramatic. Anyway, now that it's found, be prepared for a little bit of blog-bombing as I back-post for December. Happy reading!

Testing the Strength of Magnets

As part of our study of Magnetism, we conducted an experiment to test the strength of three different kinds of magnets that we have in our classroom--a horseshoe magnet, a wand magnet, and a toy magnet. First, we  made our predictions, and decided we thought the wand magnet would be the strongest and the horseshoe magnet would be the weakest.

Molly-Breeze testing the strength of the wand magnet.

 

Lea testing the horseshoe magnet.

Elena rechecking the wand magnet.

 

Recording our results, like good scientists do.

 



Nolan pausing for a picture before testing the toy magnet.

Morgan tested the toy magnet as well.

Filling in our results sheets sure looks like fun!

 

PS: Our predictions were spot on! The wand magnet WAS the strongest, and the horseshoe magnet WAS the weakest! Great job, scientists!

November Behavior Awards

Congratulations to the following students who won Behavior Awards for the Month of November!

Christmas Around the World: First Stop--Mexico!

Have you noticed the Christmas Tree in the back of the classroom (that sadly looks much like Charlie Brown's tree)? It will be slowly, but surely decorated during our Christmas Around the World theme!

The first stop on our journey was Mexico. We learned the legend of the Poinsettia. The legend says that long ago, a young Mexican girl named Pepita was sad because she was unable to afford a "good" gift for the Christ Child during Christmas eve services.Her cousin Pedro comforted her on the way to the chapel, telling her that even the smallest gift given to Jesus by someone who loves him would be good enough in His eyes. She stopped to pick a bushel of weeds and arrange them in a bouquet, reminding herself of what her cousin said. As she knelt to put the bouquet at the altar, the weeds suddenly burst into brilliant red blooms. Everyone who saw this was sure they'd witnessed a Christmas Miracle. From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the 'Flores de Noche Buena', or 'Flowers of the Holy Night'.

We worked hard to make our own Poinsettias using paper. Three of the poinsettias were made into ornaments for our tree, and the rest adorn the wall dedicated to our theme. 

An Impromptu Giraffe Mini-Unit

 With all of the excitement going on with the birth of Kiko at the local zoo, we used it as a learning opportunity, of course. We checked on Autumn often via EarthCam were elated when we learned that she had her baby! Here are a few pictures of some of the things we did while learning about Kiko.

 

 

 

Halloween Fun in Multiage!

 

We had a great time celebrating Halloween in our class. We dressed up in our costumes, had a party, and then went trick or treating around our school.

 

 

 

Dear Blog, I Haven't Forgotten You!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. Well, actually, I suppose I can. Between Halloween, preparing for the NAEYC accredidation visits, report cards, and just life in general, time has gotten away from me. But don't worry, because I haven't forgotten to take pictures either! Please bare with me as I catch up and get to uploading.