Tuesday, October 1, 2013

It seems that nature is the theme in most of the classrooms, inspired by the changes Autumn brings.

120 bilingual first grade- We took a break from our portrait drawing and instead did an observational drawing from nature.  Mrs. Wagner brought in many different plants and objects from nature.  The students studied them with magnifying glasses and commented on the objects.  Then, we gave each group paper and fine tip pens.  I reminded them to use their "drawing like a scientist" skills to really record what the objects look like. 

108, monolingual first grade- We went for a nature walk, then brought our treasures inside to share out and ask questions. 

Comments overheard on the nature walk:

This is my tunnel!

Oh! There are pokey pods on you!  (Pokey Pods and porcupines are burrs we found.) 

I discovered someone's house! Look!

A porcupine! (Regarding the prickly burrs.)

They're called burrs! 

I guess one loves me!  (It was stuck to her shirt!)

I found a Y stick! Look!
  
I found a blue berry! (Not to be confused with a blueberry.) 

A "Y" stick.

The walk elicited mixed emotions. Some students were so excited that they were covered in leaves and webs and seeds, running top speed through the field.  Some were scared to touch anything from nature and wanted me to pick things up for them.  I saw two girls holding hands for support in case they saw a spider.  Overall, I think they enjoyed the experience and I foresee more time in the great outdoors for them.

We came back and shared three of our favorite items that we found. The students explained what they  thought the items were and asked each other questions. 

S1- This part is a berry. This is a colored leaf and this is a black leaf that fell from the tree.

S2- What are these?

S1- When you touch them hard, they pop on your hand and your hand gets red. Now your thumb is red.

S2- I think they're little pumpkins.

S3- Baby pumpkins.

S2- They look like little pumpkins. They're green, and pumpkins are green before they turn orange, so maybe they are.

A bag of treasure.

S4- I have one leaf, one porcupine and one flower.

S1- That one is supposed to grow still. (It was an unopened dandelion.)

S3- When this gets bigger,  it turns into a flower ball.  

S4- I'm feeding the porcupine the berries. You just put it there until it's ready to eat it. They stick to my shirt! Look! 

Everyone then takes a turn sticking the burrs to their shirts.

S2- I have a stick that looks like the stick with the baby pumpkins, but it doesn't have them yet.

The fur balls stick together. Look! 

S3- What are those parts of the flower?

S1- They aren't ready to turn green yet, but they will.

S3- They are baby baby pumpkins.

S2- When you take the fur balls apart, they want to go back together. See? 

S4- Look at how they stick to me.

S5, coming from another group- It's my badge. I am the principal.

S1- I am the lady principal. 

S2- The fur balls look like berries, but they have points.

S6, also from the group next to mine- They stick to leaves, too.

S6- These leaves are the same, but different colors. Look!