Thursday, January 29, 2015

Thursday January 29

For the past 4 weeks we have been exploring different kinds of foods and how scientists group those foods according to how they are similar in origin or nutrients.  The students have been researching, drawing, writing, and talking about the different kinds of foods and how they are sorted.  We created posters together to show our learning.

First, we shared a book about a certain kind of food or grouping of food.  Then we researched the group of food (such as fruit) individually or in pairs, drawing and writing the ideas we found which we wanted to share with others.  We shared those in small groups, then in the larger group.  Our written and drawn ideas became part of a poster, and we developed one BIG idea to write on the poster.  Here are some pictures of our work:





We will continue our nutritionist study on Monday!  Have a happy three day weekend!

Wednesday January 28

Today we continued researching food and read more about the vegetable group.  We created a poster about what we learned through research/reading.  We also looked at a list of vegetables to see which ones we had eaten, and which were new to us.  The class nutritionists have decided that eating vegetables every day is important to having a healthy body.

Finally, we joined with Teacher Julie's class to watch salsa being made!  We saw many delicious and healthy vegetables mixed together to create the chunky salsa - then we were able to sample the dish with yummy corn chips.  Finn said, "I've never really liked tomatoes, but I tried the salsa, and it was really good."  Jackson also tried the salsa, and enjoyed this new food! 

See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Tuesday January 27th Applesauce Day! Many pictures

Today we continued talking about nutrition and moved on to the fruit group.  We learned that vitamins in fruits like vitamin C help keep our teeth healthy and fight germs.  Just like with the grain group and protein group, Mrs. Robb created an edible example for the class!  The morning was spent preparing apples to be made into applesauce.  Students helped slice and peel apples.  Cinnamon and sugar were added to the apples, with just a bit of lemon juice, before being cooked in the crock pot for 4 hours during the afternoon.  The room was filled with the smell of apples and cinnamon for the rest of the day while the students waited patiently to eat their homemade apple sauce.  When the timer went off the students could not wait to eat.  Finally after music each student got their cup of applesauce to enjoy! 









fresh cut apples ready to cook


halfway there

During math the timer went off, as you can imagine there was quite a bit of excitement in the air!

finished product



Thursday, January 22, 2015

Thursday January 22

Today we discovered more about the meat and bean and nut food group.  We discovered that these food are full of protein, which helps develop muscles and bones.  We also tried a food from the protein group - we made our own peanut butter!  Here are some pictures!
The kids declared the peanut butter "amazing" and "the best we have ever tasted"!  You might be asked to make at home! 






Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Tuesday January 20

Today we spent time learning more ideas about Dr. Martin Luther King and his life. Here are some ideas from the students today:

"I enjoyed learning more about Dr. Martin Luther King today." Everett
"Everett helped me figure out how to find the edges on the geoblocks during math today." Jackson
"I appreciate how Calvin and ZyZy helped each other today." Mrs. Robb
"Brooke offered to play with me at recess when I was lonely." Ayana
"I was excited to finish my writing assessment today - I wrote 20 sentences!" Finn
"I liked starting my writing about Franz Bakery because I enjoyed the trip and wanted to write about it."  Owen
"Watching all of the videos about Dr. Martin Luther King gave me more ideas." Bernadette

See you tomorrow!

Friday, January 16, 2015

Friday January 16

Hi everyone!

Today we were busy once again using reading, writing and math to help us learn more about the world.  We wrote about our experiences during the field trip yesterday.  It is amazing how different the perspectives of 29 children can be from a shared experience.  We also began some math assessments in preparation for report cards grading.  We talked about how a test is just a way to show the teacher how much we have learned.  We really enjoyed a read-aloud about a cat in France lead by one of our amazing educational support staff, Laura. 

The sun was out and it has been a beautiful day.  Enjoy the three days with your family!  See you on Monday!

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Thursday January 15

Today was all about the Franz Bakery!  We ate yummy bread and saw a bun highway.  We could not take pictures on the factory floor, but here are a few from the day.  Thank you to all of the amazing volunteers who drove us to the factory - I hope you enjoyed the bread!






Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Tuesday January 13

We continued our learning about food today by sharing our favorite kinds of bread, reading about how bread is made, and watching short movie about how different cultures make different bread.  We are glad that lunch comes right after our project time about food, because all of this thinking about food make us hungry!

We are also continuing to write "How To" books where we are the teachers and explain the steps to completing a project.

Here are some ideas from the students about today:

"I enjoyed writing about how to write and understand Roman Numerals." Finn

"I enjoyed writing time today." Kaden

"The movie about how different people cook bread was really interesting." Sammy

"I lost my tooth today!" Thomas

"I am enjoying writing my 'how to' book." Owen

"It was fun to change seats today!" Emily

"I really like the chance to help Mrs. Robb with small projects." Ayana

The learning continues...see you tomorrow!


Friday, January 9, 2015

Friday January 9 Making Butter - Many Pictures!

As part of our study of food as nutritionists, the students suggested that we should make and try different foods in our classroom.  This week we were learning more about dairy foods (and understanding the importance of calcium for our bodies), so we decided that we could make butter in the classroom!!!

This involved much upper arm strength as we were shaking heavy cream in a jar for almost 20 minutes...





Eventually the milk fats (solids) began to collect and out came butter and buttermilk!



And finally we came to the eating!  The students agreed...this butter was delicious! (the crackers were pretty good too!)














We hope you can try this at home!  Have a great weekend!

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Thursday January 8

This week we have explored the dairy group and how the calcium in dairy foods helps our bones and teeth stay strong.  We have also started writing "how to" books where we will explain how to do something to our reader!

Here are some ideas from the kids:
"I really liked starting to write my 'how to" books,"  Henry and many others!
"We liked the drums during music." Owen & Zach
"Watching the videos about the dairy and how milk gets to the store." Emily
"I liked sorting the food pictures to find the dairy foods."  Sydney
"I liked writing a little report about dairy foods." Maddie

More dairy food ideas tomorrow!  See you then!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

January 6 - Happy New year!

Hi everyone!

We are getting back into our routine here at school.  This week we are working on using efficient strategies for addition and subtraction of numbers to 20.

We also began work on our next unit of study :  food and nutrition!  We began by drawing and talking about our favorite foods we eat at home...that made us pretty hungry!

Later, we will be asking and answering questions such as: Where does our food come from?  Why do we eat certain foods?  What nutrients are in the foods we eat?  How do we make different meals?  Why are some foods better for our bodies than others?  Keep checking back for some of the interesting ideas we discover over the next few weeks!

Here are some ideas from the students today:

"I liked writing the instructions for making a taco together." Jenner
"It was nice when Brooke and Elisabeth played with me at recess." Ayana
"I enjoyed creating 'Our Favorite Food Chart' together." Maddie
"I'm excited that we will be having a field trip." Bernadette
"I liked creating a chart about what we are good at for writing." Audrey
"It was fun in music when Mr. Weiner played guitar." Owen

See you tomorrow!