Monthly Archives: January 2019

Dinosaurs

We are entering the third week of our dinosaur unit. The days have been jam-packed with all things dinosaurs. From dinosaur-themed language arts centers, to a dinosaur research project, to dinosaur crafts galore, students are eating up this unit!

Students wrote a creative writing piece about what they would do if they had a pet dinosaur.

Students learned about and built volcanos!

 

Students excavated bones (with a twist!) in our sensory table…

The font is so small that I couldn’t even read the long vowel words with my glasses and a magnifying glass! Good thing the children have solid vision!

 

Students created Perler Bead dinosaurs.

 

They even have made dinosaurs from several types of food:

The “Waffle-a-saurus”

 

The “Fruit-a-saurus”

 

And my personal favorite, Dinosaur Pizzas, inspired by the book written by Lee Wardlaw, who visited our Lower School earlier this year.

 

We went on an exciting field trip to the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, where we participated in the learning lab, Meet the Teeth. Students revisited the terms herbivore and carnivore.

The also classified skulls according to the types of teeth each had.

Each student has chosen a dinosaur to research using the website PebbelGo!, which is a wonderful tool for beginning researchers. Students were encouraged to select a dinosaur about which they knew close to nothing. They are working on creating specific pieces in Art Class to go along with their research. We will wrap up our Dinosaur Unit by putting all the pieces together in a short digital presentation that each student will design. Here is a peek at the reports:

Look for a future post with the finished project soon!

Teamwork

Would you believe that our Swooper Citizens theme of the week is Teamwork? Mrs. Vanetti and I were discussing how this is the PERFECT topic for today. Yesterday, at 3:15 pm, we were told to prepare to hold classes at our alternate site in Goleta, as evacuation orders were being issued. Teachers worked together to pack up classroom necessities, rework lesson plans, and organize books and supplies. We helped one another load cars and worked through schedule changes. Talk about TEAMWORK!!!

When I arrived at Girl’s Inc. this morning, the large storage tubs that I had packed back in September were waiting for me in our temporary classroom space. All I needed was a pair of scissors to cut open the zip ties so that I could access the supplies! After a quick text to the teachers, a pair of scissors was delivered to my room, and I was able to get the classroom set up and ready for the day.

Fast forward to our Swooper Citizens lesson, we asked the students to describe a time when they either witnessed or were a part of an act of teamwork. We defined teamwork as:  Working together to accomplish a common goal.  Next, I showed the students some video clips and asked them to give me a thumbs up if the video showed teamwork or a thumbs down if the clip did not show teamwork. Have a look at some of the examples I used:

We wrapped up the lesson with a read aloud: The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza. I bet you know what that book is about! Teamwork!

Here’s some super high-fives for all the teamwork today. Yay!

It’s 3D!

I had so much fun introducing students to three-dimensional shapes this week using the clever book Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes by Stuart J. Murphy.

“Captain Invincible and his intrepid space-dog, Comet, are on a perilous journey back to Earth!

Throughout their mission, the fearless captain and his canine sidekick encounter asteroids, poisonous gas, and alien beings. But will their knowledge of three-dimensional shapes, including cubes, cones, and pyramids, help our heroes navigate past these obstacles — and make it safely home.” (Amazon)

I introduced each three-dimensional shape with a poster and a corresponding foam block. The students had the opportunity to hold each of the shapes and discover the number of surfaces, edges, and faces.

We practiced sorting pictures of items, using the new vocabulary words we had learned. Students then had fun playing an alien-themed sorting game on the Smart Board.

To further demonstrate their understanding of three-dimensional shapes, students used the Seesaw app to find these shapes around the classroom. They were encouraged to label the shape using their best guess spelling or the spelling on the shape posters.

We even used the recording tool!

I loved how engaged the students were in these activities. There will be more three-dimensional shape fun to come!