Ancient Measurement

Today we measured using an ancient system. We measured our spans, our palms, and our digits. 

My personal span was 18 cm, my palm was 6 cm, my digit was 1 cm. 

Here's a link to a video of a woman reading the story.

Empathy

Mrs. Hougham came today to talk to us about empathy. At Spicewood we're introducing the concept of a "Buddy Bench"
The buddy bench is a simple idea, designed to eliminate loneliness and exclusion.

I have a special fondness for the book Mrs. Hougham read because it's suggested by the Love and Logic crew. I adore Love and Logic For Teachers.

This is a really cute lesson I found about teaching empathy. A teacher brought several different types of shoes and wrote situations on cards next to the shoes. The kiddos had to imagine themselves in those shoes. What would they want someone else to do? What do they need? How do they feel?
My favorite part of the lesson was listening to my students talk about how they've shown empathy. I heard examples of sharing candy, starting friendships, and asking people how they feel..\
We also practiced standing UP and being assertive without being aggressive. We practiced saying "We don't treat our family this way," in a firm way.

What makes an animal, an animal?

Today we answered a very important question...
What makes an animal, an animal?

My kiddos sat down to write about it, and then we had a class discussion.
Here are the things we came up with.

They are living things that need:

• space
• food
• water
• shelter

All animals have a life cycle.
They all have habitats.
They all need food.
They all need sunlight in some way.

They come in all different colors, sizes, and shapes.
There are many different species. 

Some different types of animals are:

mammals

reptiles

amphibians 

molluscs

sea creatures

canines

felines 

birds

dinosaurs 

insects

herbivores - eat only vegetables

omnivores - eat meat and vegetables

carnivores - eat only meat

Market Day

I am SO PROUD of my kiddos and their hard work. They were such great producers!!

I love this picture. I think it captures what these three kids feel when I tell them to smile for a picture. 

The kiddos sold their own products to all the second grade and all the first grade classes.

Several of my students sold out!

Then we came back to the classroom and I was the government and I took one dollar away from each student for taxes.

My tax collector face. 

YMCA Field Trip

Last Friday we went on a field trip to YMCA's twin lakes. 

We played tons of games...
We were bunnies hopping away from foxes.
We were frogs jumping on lily pads.
We were beavers, making dams.
We were squirrels burying nuts.

Let's pretend that I'm leaning down A LOT to be the same size as my kiddos. 

Measurement

We started our new math unit....

MEASUREMENT.

We started by introducing four vocabulary words

Weight, Height, Area, Volume

Then we got into groups and used those words to measure our buckets.

There is a great Bill Nye video about measurement

Dr. Dower Visit

Dr. Dower came today to talk to us about his job as a scientist. He showed us some of the different protection he wears at the lab.

He showed us an invention that he made and how long he worked on solving that problem. My kiddos faces were shocked when he told them how long it took to create this invention. They have a hard time working on the same thing for a week, so years seems crazy!
The invention is a protection for the radio connection for cell phone towers.

We reviewed matter: solid, liquid, gas.
Then we did experiments with liquid nitrogen.