Soil Samples

We took a close look at our soil samples today. We were surprised to see how many different kinds of soil there are in the world. Thanks for sending in samples from your yard. We will be doing experiments on our samples throughout the next 2 weeks.

Collecting Pollen with Our Bees

Today we learned about how bees gather and spread pollen from flower to flower. Bees are certainly important in our world. (Note: While we were taking turns rubbing our bees on the flowers, there was a very loud scream. It sounded like someone got stung by a bee but really it was just two kids bonking heads. They were checked out by the nurse and all is fine.)

At recess some crew members found and watched a bee on a dandelion. Ms. Meghan captured a video of it. I love hearing their voices in the background of the video as they discuss the bee.

Bee Video from Recess

Scientific Drawings

Last Friday we did some scientific drawings of bees (at a first grade level). We tried to draw bees as accurately as we could and labeled all of the parts that we have learned. Check out a few samples:

Important Dates
5/10 Third Grade Showcase of Learning Presentations
5/24 Sixth Grade Showcase of Learning Presentation
6/1 Last Day of School - All School Drum Circle at 9 am 

Garden Mural

Last Friday afternoon we worked together as a crew to create a mural of a garden and all of its many parts. We worked in small groups on various parts: worms, underground tunnels, flowers, green plants, items in the sky, bees, birds, rabbits and a scarecrow. I didn't give them any directions - I just helped them get into groups, got out some paper and let them go. They worked very well together. Later in the afternoon, Ms. Meghan and Ms. Jen finished adding all of the various parts to our mural. We think it is just beautiful. Below are a few pictures and a very short video of us working on the mural. (If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the crew blog to view the short video.)

Worms!

Wow! What a day! Today we did the mystery piece for our Science Expedition. We came into the classroom after recess and on our tables were containers of dirt. We began to gently dig in the dirt and guess what we found - worms! It was very exciting. After checking out the worms, we created a worm farm for some of the worms to live in. The rest of the worms will live in small containers and will be used in various experiments throughout the Expedition. We are already very excited to dig into this Expedition.  Enjoy the photos and videos below.

Important Dates
4/20 Spring Voyage  -  Climbing and Hiking in Castlewood Canyon.
4/21 No School
5/3 Student-Led Conferences for First Grade
5/10 Third Grade Showcase of Learning Presentations
5/15 - 5/19 Book Fair
5/24 Sixth Grade Showcase of Learning Presentation
6/1 Last Day of School - All School Drum Circle at 9 am

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