Early last week, we started our American history study by examining early migration theories to the Americas. We also made connections to Native American creation stories we read at the beginning of the year as many tribes believed they were created and originated on the lands they inhabited. Today, we will examine five pre-Columbian cultural regions that flourished during the 1400s and conduct research and replicate artifacts that represent the tribes. Lauren's class is doing the same, but with five other regions. In two weeks, we will create museum exhibits and an accompanying audio tour and visit each others classrooms. In art, we decorated and glazed the pieces we formed two weeks ago. John introduced the children to Council, a practice he's treasured for many years. He mentioned that humans have for most of their history gathered close to the ground and in circles to listen and speak from their heart. A circle that held each member of a community in a sacred and safe space without judgement. And a time when we can slow down and truly hear one another in the sometime frantic pace of modern life. Today's council's theme was around the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. Over the hour we were together, each child had an opportunity to share and be heard deeply around two questions that John posed: -Talk about a time in your life that you felt different. -How are we, as a human race, doing with respect to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech? What can each one of do to further the work of MLK? The last unit of our science study this year is climate change. We're using a curriculum developed by Lauren (since she received extensive training this summer) and exploring the following questions: What is climate and how is it different from weather? What causes weather and what impact do the oceans have on weather? What is the greenhouse effect? How does it affect our climate? What happens to energy from the sun that hits the Earth? What is a greenhouse gas? What is fossil fuel? What is the carbon cycle? Is the temperature rising on the earth? How do we know? What are the impacts of global warming? How much energy do we use? Where does it come from? What actions can we take to slow global warming and climate change? The pictures below document the kids designing and building greenhouses in preparation for an experiment to model the greenhouse effect. Today Cece and Mary Pat introduced the children to a few Google application. This new technology will provide dynamic opportunities for collaborative work in our classrooms and will allow work to be accessed at home. We look forward to using Google documents, presentations and more to facilitate learning in all curricular areas. Ask your student to show you what they know about Google docs! The following link will take you to access instructions: /uploads/1/4/2/6/14267298/january_9.docx |
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