Fall Whitaker Ponds Trip

What amazing weather we had for the first trip to Whitaker Ponds.  The children were so excited after our first visit from Megan with Clean Rivers the previous week.  

We we arrived at the park we were greeted by Megan and Lianne.  We went to the outdoor classroom and had a quick overview of the day.  The children were put into two groups and we were off.  

Unfortunately we did not have two cameras so the group I was with will be in most of the photos but you can get the idea of what we experienced during the day.

Listening In The Outdoor Classroom

The first part of the day was a hike around the lakes.  Lianne showed the children the inside and outside of a walnut and we talked about what element of a habitat this walnut provided.  

We saw this dried up pond.  Ask your child when the water appears in this pond and where it comes from.

The children learned to walk like foxes and listen like a deer.

Ask your student if they remember what some people call this plant- hint the leaves are very soft! 

View of the pond

Lianne had this preserved mole in her bag. The children of course had a lot of questions and enjoyed sharing their knowledge of moles with the group.

Snowberries

The beaver got ahold of this tree

The second part of our time at Whitaker Ponds the children were able to take water samples from the pond.  They walked down to the dock, put some water in their pale and then used their nets to collect water life from the pond.  This by far was the hi-lite for some!

Dipping into the pond

Back up at the classroom investigating the animals that we found.  

Edwin is enjoying a quiet moment on the dock.  We sat silently for 1 minutes to listen to the sounds around us.

Recapping the day!

Riparian Habitats

The class is doing hand gestures for all of the animals needs.  

Food, shelter, water, air, and space.  Ask them to show the gestures.

On Wednesday this week Megan came from Clean Rivers.  Megan introduced the kids to the Riparian Habitat.  Here is what hey had to say about it:

We learned about ponds. -Mahogany

Riparian means animals that live in water or on the land by water. -Quinn

All animals don't live in the same place. - Maylyn

Animals need nature. - Kysen

Animals need water and food. - Edwin

Animals need space. -Precious

Beavers live in water. - Tyler

Animals need air. -  Sir Taurus

Animals need food, water and shelter. Patsy

Animals need shelter. - Sefanet

Animals need water and food space and air. - Zion

They need health. - Kamara

Animals need shelter. - Crystal

Animals need clean water. -Liliana

Animals need food and clean water. - Malcolm

Beavers like to make dams so they won't just keep on rolling.  They can just stay in the water and sometimes they just go inside the dams and hang out.  -Zamani

Animals need healthy food and water. - Fontaine

Some animals have a home.  -Jeremiah

The children will get a first hand look at a Riparian Habitat on Tuesday when we visit Whitaker Ponds.   

Sefanet and Kysen playing Habitat Bingo

Tyler, Quinn and Malcolm discussing which animal they are getting clues about.

More Fun in Learning in Room 102

We have been very busy in the classroom the last couple of weeks.  

Morning Literacy Block-  We are continuing to use the Scott Foresman reading program.  We are also incorporating Daily 5 into our literacy block.  During Daily 5 the children are able to work independently and I pull small groups to work on various literacy skills.  They have 5 choices of literacy based skills to work on during this time.  They are Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Word Work and  Listen to Reading.  Here are a few photos of kids working during Daily 5.

We finished up our Me In Numbers posters with our 4th grade STEAM PALS.  This's week we will be looking at the effects of molasses on water and discussing the molasses spill in Hawaii.  We meet with our STEAM PALS every Tuesday afternoon.  We will be focusing on each aspect of STEAM as the year progresses.  Ask your student what STEAM stands for.  

Math Measurement

This past week in math we looked at different ways of measuring we used "teacher feet", "giant feet" and then we finally made a ruler with inch worms  and measured some school supplies with our rulers. Ask your student to measure some things around the house for extra practice.  

Quinn and Kamara are measuring with a giant foot!

                                        

Malcolm and Jeremiah are measuring the  table with their giant foot.