We continued our study of mushrooms and decomposition. After some more careful observation, children created realistic button mushrooms out of clay, showing all the parts they had learned about.
After looking at some very beautiful and unusual photos of real mushrooms, children also had the opportunity to create imaginary mushrooms out of colorful modeling clay. Their creations had to demonstrate their understanding of mushrooms - they had to have a stalk and a cap, and children had to explain how the spores were released (gills, pores or "puffball".) They came out beautifully! For fun, I made a little mushroom slideshow.
We continued to write about mushrooms, and compared several edible varieties. Thanks to those of you who brought in exotic mushrooms for us to both examine and eat! (Though, admittedly, Bela and Gil were the only students brave enough to sample our roasted wild mushroom assortment. Morah Andrea and I had to eat the rest.) There's still another opportunity to taste mushrooms - have you seen the oyster mushroom farm growing rapidly in the classroom?
We also found more examples of fungus on our property, including a patch of puffballs that haven't yet "puffed". We brought our science journals outside with us to document everything we saw. We'll continue to keep an eye on the puffballs so we can watch the spores emerge when they are ready.
A second major focus of our week has been the Torah story of Noah, his family, and the ark. We read the first half of the story, when Noah is commanded to build a giant boat, 300 cubits long, and gather two (or more) of every kind of animal. To help children better imagine this story, we determined how long a cubit is, and went outside to try to measure 300 cubits using unifix cubes. While we only got to 75 cubits before we were nearly off-campus, everyone realized that this was no ordinary-sized boat.
After reading the Torah text, which is characteristically sparse, we read several picture book versions, in which authors and illustrators shared what they thought life on the ark might have been like. To help students also engage in this kind of midrash, I asked everyone to create a scene on the ark using a tray and classroom materials. This activity was a huge success - children spent a very long time working on intricate scenes, and then shared them with one another. Photos, and the children's descriptions, are on the bulletin board in the classroom - please check them out. Here are just a few examples.
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Oh, and did I mention we interviewed Noah?
To support our work on Noah's ark, we've begun learning the names of animals in Hebrew.
One last project from this past week, which ties nicely into our study of Noah - on Friday, we revisited our unit on monarch butterflies by harvesting milkweed seeds from their pods, and planting a milkweed patch to provide food for caterpillars and place for butterflies to lay their eggs at Abundance Farm. (We learned that one of the reasons that the monarch butterfly population is shrinking is because there isn't enough milkweed, which the caterpillars and butterflies rely on for survival.)
The sign is the title of a song we've been learning, recently released by John Hall, of the band Orleans, and Dar Williams. (It's been a lot of fun for me to email back and forth with the musicians!) We'll be performing part of it at morning meeting on Monday. Sales of the song on itunes are supporting the National Resrouces Defense Council. You can learn more about it on the song's Facebook page.
Believe it or not, there's more. But it's my birthday, and there's a Herrell's sundae calling me!
We also found more examples of fungus on our property, including a patch of puffballs that haven't yet "puffed". We brought our science journals outside with us to document everything we saw. We'll continue to keep an eye on the puffballs so we can watch the spores emerge when they are ready.
A second major focus of our week has been the Torah story of Noah, his family, and the ark. We read the first half of the story, when Noah is commanded to build a giant boat, 300 cubits long, and gather two (or more) of every kind of animal. To help children better imagine this story, we determined how long a cubit is, and went outside to try to measure 300 cubits using unifix cubes. While we only got to 75 cubits before we were nearly off-campus, everyone realized that this was no ordinary-sized boat.
After reading the Torah text, which is characteristically sparse, we read several picture book versions, in which authors and illustrators shared what they thought life on the ark might have been like. To help students also engage in this kind of midrash, I asked everyone to create a scene on the ark using a tray and classroom materials. This activity was a huge success - children spent a very long time working on intricate scenes, and then shared them with one another. Photos, and the children's descriptions, are on the bulletin board in the classroom - please check them out. Here are just a few examples.
To support our work on Noah's ark, we've begun learning the names of animals in Hebrew.
One last project from this past week, which ties nicely into our study of Noah - on Friday, we revisited our unit on monarch butterflies by harvesting milkweed seeds from their pods, and planting a milkweed patch to provide food for caterpillars and place for butterflies to lay their eggs at Abundance Farm. (We learned that one of the reasons that the monarch butterfly population is shrinking is because there isn't enough milkweed, which the caterpillars and butterflies rely on for survival.)
Steven and Nathan decided to create milkweed seed packets to distribute to the entire school after Monday morning meeting.
And almost everyone pitched in on a sign for the patch. In the spring we'll add some nectar plants to the garden to feed the migrating butterflies.
The sign is the title of a song we've been learning, recently released by John Hall, of the band Orleans, and Dar Williams. (It's been a lot of fun for me to email back and forth with the musicians!) We'll be performing part of it at morning meeting on Monday. Sales of the song on itunes are supporting the National Resrouces Defense Council. You can learn more about it on the song's Facebook page.
Believe it or not, there's more. But it's my birthday, and there's a Herrell's sundae calling me!
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