What is the best way to tell what time it is? A clock!
Our class is learning how to tell time!
An hour is sixty minutes long.It takes an hour for the big hand to go around the clock. When the big hand is on 12, and the little hand points to a number, that is the hour!30 minutes make half an hour. There are 3 ways to say time to the half- hour. For eg. we say 7:30, thirty past the hour or half past seven.And that a clock also has 4 quarters. One quarter- hour is 15 minutes.The children have made their dinner time, bed time, math & recess time.......They made their own clocks to bring home!
On Thursday when we walked into the school, Mike was very focused in building a tower. He made a tall, magnificent tower which was literally touching the ceiling from the table. The children were all very delighted to see how concentrated Mike was. So somebody looked at me and said, "Look at this Wonder." I smiled and said, "Indeed SK's magnificent tower!" I was very excited; what a beautiful way to start The Exploration Class. I was really impressed and couldn't wait to hear what my group had to say! The explorers are: Alec, Max,Veda, Sophie,Grace, Emi. I asked my group why they chose The New Seven Wonders? They had some very interesting things to say:-Alec was fascinated by architecture and wanted to explore Chichen Itza! Max said that, "he and his grandfather are always discussing about the wonders, and he wanted to explore The Taj Mahal".
We talked about the following:- in which continents and countries the wonders are? Why/ how people chose these wonders amongst so many magnificent structures? Why are there eight wonders, when it says Seven only?And a lot more! I am so excited that Max and Alec are going to be good mentors for our younger ones. In fact they were helping them build The Taj Mahal with blocks.
This morning the k/1 class went on a Nature walk deep in the woods of county farm park. The children discovered many bird nests, moss, different types of berries and dried plants like Queen Ann's Lace. We were really quiet and listening to sounds of nature and heard the cawing of Blue-Jays.It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood........
We have covered quite a bit on electricity and magnetism. We discussed that everything is made of atoms. The air we breathe, the book we read,the floor under our feet, even our own body are made of atoms!Atoms are very very small.The tiny parts of the atom are called electrons. Electrons circle around the nucleus or center of the atom!Every electron carries a tiny amount of electrical energy called a charge.There are two types of electrical charges- positive and negative. Electrons have a negative charge and that protons carry a positive charge.To make electricity we need energy. Energy is found in many of earth's natural resources:- water, wind, coal ,gas.Wind , sun , water are all renewable energy, we can use it over and over again. Where as coal and oil can be used up . They are nonrenewable energy.We watched couple of Bill Nye videos on magnets and electricity. And came to know that electricity flows to every electronic device on a looping path called a circuit.Electricity has a special relationship with magnets.Magnetism can make electricity.We did couple of experiments with a compass and a balloon and discovered static electricity!The children had a wonderful time.They thoroughly enjoyed learning about Thomas A. Edison and how curious he was as a little boy.Here are some pictures.... enjoy....
Yesterday we had a good discussion in our classroom about Electricity! Benjamin Franklin was the first person to help people understand the principles of electricity. Thomas Edison changed the world with his invention of the electric light bulb! And how electricity has dramatically changed our life styles. When my students heard that before electricity became available about 100 years ago, homes were lit by kerosene lamps, food was cooled in ice boxes and that homes were warmed by wood- burning stoves or coal stoves and how people dug holes outside their homes and stored their meat and perishable food in them for the winter, they were in disbelief and said, "Oh my gosh." So we grabbed this opportunity and did a survey in the school. I divided the children into two groups. They went to the different classrooms, the office, the dining area and the kitchen to see what gadgets and appliances they could find. They were writing down on their clip-boards and came across more than 25 different electrical appliances! They were so thrilled to inform us that a stapler too, was an electrical one. They even wrote down defibrillator! Today with our buddy friends we were able to experiment with magnets. They found that magnets have a north and a south pole. Magnets repel each other. They attract only iron and steel.This is only the beginning!
We will be learning a lot more through videos. Yesterday we saw one on magnets. (Thanks to Mrs. Carpenter.) We will read many interesting books and do some more research and activities on electicity. We will go back on time and see how our forefathers lived. We might go to the Hands-On Museum and learn more about electricity. This weekend children will do some research at home, where they will discover the electrical gadgets and appliances that they use on a daily basis. We will learn about flash-lighta and batteries, who discovered them and how they got their name... and a lot more.... I will keep you posted.
What could be more gratifying than to see children walking into the school with costumes that they have created with recycled materials. Bravo! Thank you, moms and dads for helping with this very satisfying feeling and enriching your children's lives. You are educating them from a very young age to know that they can have fun by designing their own outfits versus buying costumes which may give satisfaction only for one evening. We teachers had fun being creative as well. Children were artistic and inspirational to one another, making arts and crafts out of recycled materials. Here are some pictures....enjoy.
We also had time to read stories! The most rewarding thing to see was that children asked to work on their "work- books" at the end of the day. It gives me such joy to see the children so interested in their work and their studies.
Every Wednesday Mrs. Carpenter's students come to our classroom, for an hour. It is very enriching and rewarding to see the students interacting with one another.For the older ones , this is the time when they can be the leaders, mentors, teachers and feel very confident about themselves. For the younger ones, thay are simply thrilled to do everything with the older ones, they look up to them as their role models. We have done different activities , where the older ones have read to the younger ones. We went outdoors and explored nature, students made leaf- crowns, leaf rubbing activities. I had given a presentation about Nepal. We also went to Elaine's room and saw a video on Farming.Today to tie in with our Farm theme, the students made butter! Yes, real / fresh butter right in our classroom. Mrs. Carpenter brought some jars and buttermilk. She poured some butermilk in the jars. Students were shaking the jars and using a lot of their muscle.... and voila.. they made butter. They then spread the butter in some crackers/ bagels and what a special treat it was. They kept on snacking !What a neat avtivity this would be to do on a rainy day at home.
Veda enjoyed listening to the story and doing some puzzles in our classroom. Then she and Amelia went to the dining area to have their snacks.
Enjoy the pictures from " buddy time".
I was born in Nepal and have lived in England and New York City. For the last 18 years I have lived in Ann Arbor with my husband and two children. My professional career as a teacher spans nearly three decades. I have taught middle and high school students in Nepal. In NYC I taught at an occupational training center. For the past decade and a half I have taught Early Childhood & Kindergarten at a prestigious Montessori School in Ann Arbor.I love to travel.
What is the best way to tell what time it is? A clock!
