A Forest Critter Gathering

 

 

It was a wonderful morning of creativity, learning, and fun!  The children (and their parents) made this teacher's heart very happy!  I love to see a unit of learning wrap up with a creative finale!  Just look at these costumes...

 

The fox

 



 

The woodbecker

 

The porcupine

 



 

The owl

 

The White Tailed Deer

 



 

And her cute deer friend

 



 

The bear

 



 

The raccoon

 



 

The bat

 



 

And his bat man

 

 

We learned about the importance of burrows, and created some of our own.  They also replicated animal tracks using Rice Krispie Treats, created a food web, and designed a new forest animal with the help of their classmates. 

 

 

 

What a fun morning our country critters had!

Teddy Bear Crimes:Studying DNA

 

 

Look at this bad bunch of suspects! They committed crimes all around our classroom. The students set the scenes, wrote about them with descriptive details, and then got busy solving a slew of crimes. They questioned, measured paw prints, analyzed fur, and looked for DNA matches. A fun and creative way to learn about how we each are unique.

Into the Forest We Go!

 

We started a unit on forest habitats this week.  Seems fitting since we are in the midst of fall around here.  We'll be learning about critters that live in the tree tops, on the ground, and even those that make their homes in the warm and cozy underground.  Monday we pretended to be raccoons going to a restaurant.  Students created a menu that consisted of invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants.  Did you know that raccoons have been known to wash their food before eating it?  Our little raccoons also washed fruits and vegetables, played a squirrel strategy game, and more.

Pumpkins, monsters, and science oh my!

It's always fun to mix learning with holidays.  This combination captures my creativity, and my students' attention.  We started off the week in Creative Academics with a morning of pumpkin science with my first graders.  We worked with our science buddies, to weigh, measure, and see if a pumpkin sinks or floats.  We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin, which of course ends with pumpkin pie!  Many of my little pumpkins had never eaten pumpkin pie, and they were the first to say, "Can we have seconds?!"

 

 

By Wednesday or Cottage Classroom was in full Halloween spirit.  My third grade students filled their day with a Monster Mash.  They learned about mixtures and solutions as they made Monster Mix and Pumpkin Punch.

 

 

They visited the Monster Laboratory to make observations about noodle brains, grape eyeballs, and pumpkin guts.

 

 

Then they were off to the Monster Beauty Parlor with Beautician Ervin.

 

 

They used their creativity to make monsters out of recyclables. 

 

They painted pumkins, played monster design games, wrote about spooky poitions and more.  A day full of fun and learning, just what Creative Academics is all about!

 

Congratulations to all the Famous Pumpkin Contest participants.  You did a FABULOUS job!

 

Thank you families for sending in so many donations to make this a great day for the children!