CAVE:Growing our own stalactites and stalagmites.

Roly ploy Amelia.

 What must have taken a million years for the stalactites and stalagmites to grow in a cave, we grew our own  within an hour. Oliver Schutt kept on saying, " oh my goodness, I don't believe this, this is amazing".

We had also done an experiment on layers of the Earth with jello. It was a project that lasted for  five days, the first day we made the inner core. The second day the outer core the third day mantle and the fourth day the crust. On the fifth day we enjoyed eating the layers, for some children they participated in the experiment , but, got to eat ice cream instead.

 A poem

by Amelia Marks

 The stalactite
was flying a kite
and I got a bite!

(

                 

The way to start a day is appreciating nature and its beauties.

For my birthday I received  a vase with gorgeous roses from all of my friends at Summers-Knolls. I wanted everyone to enjoy these beautiful flowers! Someone must have picked from faraway places shipping them to the flowershops with care.
This morning my students were shown how to arrange flowers. One even said, "I'm going to make a beautiful creation," and they did, each one of them. Then they carried their flowers carefully and placed them in different areas all around the school. They all seemed really thrilled to make their special arrangements. What a joy to see this activity!
I've included a picture of a book I just added to our Peace Library. It's a wonderful read with lovely pictures that are all about appreciating nature. There is a glorious image of a sun and I have to share that when Amelia saw the illustration, she asked which direction was east. When I pointed towards the east to signal where it was, she put her palms together and bowed a silent, "Namaste."
I couldn't have asked for a better birthday.

Adding by Double Digit Numbers :)

I introduced double digit number addition yesterday.The children are enjoying it thoroughly and understanding it as well. I started as a game with one student, and now everyone wants to do it.YAY. This morning children got clip boards with paper and pencil and were making their own problems. " math is so much fun" said one student . I had a big smile on my face and said, " totally"

Echolocation- seeing by hearing / Is air moving in or out?

Why do bats have big ears? How do they see by hearing? Our class wanted to experience, how it must be for a bat , without hitting a stalactitie or bumping into a wall, how each bat hunts its food and locates its spot on the ceiling in the dark part of a cave? Our children discovered that it is not easy, we had one bat , who was blindfolded, the bat had to listen to a moth ( another student making sound from somewhere in the classroom ). The bat held his big ear ( a paper funnel that they made) and tried to eat that moth by following that sound. The children discovered that  it is not easy! Someone said, " I was bumping everywhere, and it was too dark, I don't want to be a bat".

Is air moving out of the cave or in?

When the wind blows: Is air moving throough the cave? The children experimented this by holding a piece of paper down. Some said  the paper was moving towards the twilight zone, hence air is flowing out , one student said, "her's was moving  into the cave "!

My wish for tomorrow.

It is amazing to know how well informed our children are about Haiti and the devestation that people are going through right now. I took the opportunity this afternoon during  our " buddy time " and introduced something about what we could wish for tomorrow. I read a few poems that children all over the world had written about their wish. Our children were equally compassionate talking about, hunger, war, peace, and helping each other. Here are some of their hearts speaking out.

Some children took their projects home , and some thought it would be nice to leave it at school. Enjoy looking at them.

Caves- Ice Age- Formation of caves and Magical-Lofty-Cave.

A Cave is a hollow space in the Earth's crust. Some caves are narrow, natural tunnels that run just below the surface. Other caves are miles long, forming deep holes in the Earth's outer layer of rocks. Most of the world's caves are found in the limestone region.-Step into a cave and you enter into a world of mystery.How did it come about? Why is it so spooky?What is creeping or crawling in the darkness?Has anyone else ever been inside? We are trying to solve these problems by doing quite a bit of research.Reading many books, videos , internet and experimenting by turning our " reading loft" into a " a magical-lofty-cave". The children have gotten so excited, that they are coming up with brilliant ideas and questions!They have turned the inside of the cave into " prehistoric times "and have made many drawings.We have stalactites growing from the ceiling and children are working on stalagmites.We are also learning about " cave dwellers", " the Ice Age". Did people really live in these dwellings? How did they survive? What did they eat? How did they cook? What did they wear? My kids are becoming " speleologists".This afternoon we did an experiment on layers of the Earth-The Inner core-we are going to make a different layer daily-Outer core-mantle-crust.( A big ThankYou to Paul Schutt for building our cave) Children are enjoying reading in this magical lofty cave.( parents please come and enjoy looking at it).

Yoga - Concentration- relaxation- calming exercises.

In our classroom children have been practicing yoga since September- I am a strong beleiver that yoga really helps us in balancing mind and body in different ways.I have been practicing yoga for almost a decade now.I strongly beleive that children can concentrate better with practice and helps make the class rooms climate very peaceful.We practice silence games few times a week.This helps children relax.When it comes to relaxation, some children have difficulty in closing their eyes or being silent.Yoga helps channel these behaviors in a positive way.Our children are practicing different poses and postures.Some of these may seem easy, but, it requires a lot of concentration.I have explained to my students about breathing and how we can send oxygen to different parts of our body,how these postures or exercises helps our mind and body; how we can have positive thoughts and above all , how we can be at peace.Also, how we can work with each other, how we can develop team skills and teach each other!It is such a joy to observe children helping each other and children teaching their friends and me  some other yoga poses that I may not know. Parents enjoy seeing some of the poses that our children have been practicing and ask how or where in their body these poses helps! The most gratifying feeling is THEY are asking for MORE!