Ecology Center Visit

At the composting workshop, Laura read us a story about a family making a compost heap and John read us a poem about the composting cycle. We learned a new science word: “decomposers”. Decomposers are organisms that feed on and break down dead matter.

We sang a song about decomposers:
Soil critters, soil critters, *
Crunch and munch
Crunch and munch
Dead things turn to soil.
*In other verses, this line is replaced with various critters: worms, beetles, sow bugs, etc.




The next task was to work in groups to make temporary compost bins. After making the bins, the children compared their compost materials with composted soil. They used all their senses, except taste, to make comparisons between the two containers. Then, they shared their observations with the other scientist in the room.

The children enjoyed and learned from the workshop. Thanks to Laura and John for the presentation and the City of Ann Arbor for supporting the Ecology Center’s educational outreach programs.

Composting workshop

On Friday morning, the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor will be doing a workshop with the class on “compostability”. During the presentation, the children will examine the composting process. . This workshop is a continuation of the Environmental Science we began in October.

Clocks

In math, the children have been learning about clocks and time. They have been practicing naming and identifying the hands on a clock, learning the number of seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour and hours in a day and telling time to the hour and half hour. We have done several experiments to discover how time is relative to what you are doing. The children sat quietly for one minute and then tried to do a task in one minute. They discovered that a minute feels like a long time when you aren’t doing anything.

New Novel

I started reading a new novel to the children: Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary. The children are really enjoying it.

Classrooms Care

On October 22, children started keeping track of books they read at home. Last week, the children reached the 100-book goal. Because of their efforts, Scholastic books will be donating 100 books to children that don’t have books of their own.
Keep reading. We made our own chart and are still keeping track of the books read. We should reach another 100 books soon.
Thank you for you assistance in this project.

Song

Below are the words to a song the children have been learning. I learned this song from my Kindergarten teacher. Ask your child to show you the hand motions that go with the song.

My pigeon house,
I open up wide
And I let all my pigeons free.

They fly all around,
And up,
And down,
And they sit in the tallest tree.

And when they return,
From their merry, merry flight,
They close their eyes,
And say goodnight:

Coo roo, Coo roo, Coo roo,
Coo roo, Coo roo, Coo roo.

Voting

First, stand in line, then sign in, next fill out the ballot, and last but not least the all important “I voted” sticker. It may not have been the presidential election but the children took voting for their snack, just as seriously.

Eco Fair

There was a buzz of excitement in the school Friday morning as a robot, solar man, the snow fairy, and many others came through the door. Joanna took picture of everyone in their recycled costumes while they were still fresh and prestine.

Through out the day the children worked with recycled materials to create: sit-upons, drums, twig coasters, and treasure box picture frames. They also told "scary" halloween stories with Joanna and watched the Lorax video.