Sep
26
2011
Miss Estridge
As we continue to develop our classroom community, I am finding that it is important for our students to be united in their work. Some of our greatest moments as a class have come in times when every student is working together for a greater cause of helping someone else.
That being said, this Friday, I decided to challenge our class to come up with a way to care for Mrs. Clark. Mrs. Clark wasn’t feeling well on Friday due to a headache. I told our friends about this and asked them if they could come up with something we could create for her that would make her feel better. After moving past the initial ideas of cards, some of our friends thought it would be a good idea to make Mrs. Clark a pillow. They thought that if she could rest her head, it might help her headache go away. I thought this was GREAT idea and quickly sought out the help of our studio teacher, Mrs. Grotjan.
Together the students worked to pick their materials…
A group of students work with Mrs. Grotjan to pick appropriate fabric for our pillow.
make their measurements…
Students decide that they can find the measurements for our new pillow by measuring a pillow already in the room.
cut their fabric…
Leah and Heleria cut the fabric for our pillow.
fill the pillow and test its softness…
After filling the pillow with beans, our friends test it out to see if it's soft enough.
write cards…
Larry and Nailah write cards for Mrs. Clark.
Madison and Martavious write the names of everyone who worked on this project.
and collaborate on a presentation! It was a beautiful sight to see all of our friends working together to help someone they cared about! I think it lead us one step closer to developing a culture and community of care.
Sep
19
2011
Miss Estridge
During our free choice time on Friday, Larry decided to use the unifix cubes to build the Great Wall of China. Leah had read a book about the Great Wall of China and knew that there were warriors, called the Terracotta Warriors, whose job it was to guard the wall. So with many other students’ help, Leah and Larry began setting up teddy bears around the wall, to represent the Terracotta Warriors.
Today, we did a Great Wall relocation, moving the wall to the block building area. Many warriors were lost along the way, so Heleria and Nailah helped re-set up the bears during free choice time. The wall lead to some great conversations today!
Heleria and Nailah use teddy bears as terracotta warriors to defend the Great Wall of China.
Sep
08
2011
Miss Estridge
We have added insect and praying mantis books to our classroom library. During class this week, students were making connections between our praying mantis and other animals.
“My mommy said birds are kind of weird. The dark ones are girls and the light ones are boys. So i’m going to read about our bug to see if it’s a boy or a girl.” – Chloe
La'Mount, Daysia, and William study Cinderella Lightning McQueen while Chloe does some praying mantis research.
Sep
06
2011
Miss Estridge
Our study of bugs has continued to progress over the past week. Word got out that we were studying bugs, so other teachers in our school started bringing insects to room 105! Mrs. Grojon brought a praying mantis to us last week. We studied it, drew observational drawings of it, and even named it…Cinderella Lightning McQueen! This weekend I went out a purchased a new terrarium and some crickets for our praying mantis. Cinderella is now a permanent fixture in our classroom community. We will continue to study this creature as a piece of our insect project!
Larry works on his observational drawing as well.
La'Mount and Aaliyah working on their observational drawing of our praying mantis.
Cinderalla Lightning McQueen
