Week One - Review

It has been a terrific first week of school all around!  I am so pleased at the ease of routine and the eagerness of each student.  "O.K., what's next, Mrs. Kerr" shows me that they are keen learners!

We have reviewed that the Earth is made of land, water and air.  That the land is called continents, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Antarctica and Africa. That the water is called oceans, Pacific, Atlantic, Southern, Indian and Arctic.  And that we call air the atmosphere. We have been introduced to where these are all located on various maps. We also reviewed that the Earth is one of nine planets in the Solar System within the Milkyway Galaxy. That Earth (as well as the other planets) orbits the Sun (which is a big star) and the orbit takes one year. We learned that to travel to space we would have to ride in a space shuttle. We pretended to ride a space shuttle and we travelled to each planet. I read to them some interesting facts about each planet to help them remember. We learned Mercury has craters like the moon. Venus has volcanoes and smells like rotten eggs. Earth is the only planet that has life. Mars is known as the red planet and there are many scientist who are taking pictures and collecting samples of it using the Mars Rover. Jupiter is the largest planet and it has 63 moons. Saturn has horizontal rings around it made of ice and rock chunks. Uranus has vertical rings around it and is the same size as Neptune whose colour is a beautiful indigo. Pluto is the smallest planet called a dwarf planet and is the farthest away from the Sun. We sang our favourite song about the Planets to help us remember the names! And we watched an IMAX movie called Destiny in Space...which showed pictures of the astronauts, the different planets and the space shuttle. Quaid let me borrow a solar system that he has attached to his ceiling to use with the children. I disassembled it and have it in a basket. The children are able to match the planet to the written word. I am always amazed at how quickly they grasp these concepts!

One highlight for the week was a science experiment; making our very own rocket. We were introduced to the 3-D shapes of cone and cylinder, as well as triangle pieces to help guide the rocket. We also learned about a man named Isaac Newton. He was a scientist who lived a long time ago (over 250 years) and he discovered 3 Laws of Motion (movement) and the Law of Gravity. We learned the First Law of Motion or the Law of Inertia by rolling a potato until it hit an object - it stopped the potato and made it go in another direction. We also learned the Second Law of Motion, which is knowing that to move an object that has a greater mass you must use more force than what is needed to move an object that has less mass.  We practised this by lifting a 10lb dumbbell and a 20lb dumbbell. Next week we will be able to test out Newton's Third Law of Motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is where the rocket comes in! The rocket's action is to push down on the ground with the force of it's powerful engines (alka-seltzer and water) and the reaction is that the ground pushes the rocket upwards with an equal force. When you push an object it pushes back. There is much excitment surrounding this activity! I am trying to secure old film cannisters (not as easy to find as they once were) I hope to have them for early next week. We also learned that gravity is an invisible pull that holds us on the ground. We threw many different items up into the air and they always came back down, that's gravity! The IMAX video also showed the astronauts "floating" where there is no gravity.

I introduced the written words and definitions with examples of same, similar and different. We compared and contrasted many objects within our school environment. Each child was able to point out each word when asked and to place the objects under the headings.

Another exciting part of our week was the delivery of 1 milkweed plant with 4 caterpillars and 3 chrysalis' for us to observe.  The children loved the unit on butterflies so much last spring that I purchased a monarch butterfly set from the Conservatory. Beginning in October we will be tracking their migration through North America as we study more of our own continent. During this month we will observe the changes of the life cycle and enjoy watching the miracle of metamorphosis.  Friday's class was able to witness this miracle already, sooner than I had expected.  Before the butterfly emerges from the jade green chrysalis it becomes translucent. The children could "see" the monarch's wings through the chrysalis. It was quite delightful to watch their faces as the butterfly emerged with wet wings all crumpled.  It took about 3 hours for the wings to dry and I "tagged" it before releasing it on the butterfly bush in the front flowerbed.  

The children have been a great help in the kitchen, husking their own piece of corn for lunch, chopping up vegetables for snack, setting the table, and putting the dishes into the dishwasher!

A reminder that if you haven't sent your child's toothbrush please do so.  I am providing the toothpaste (Green Beaver - Zesty Orange!) and have already had a request for Melon Burst!

I have been reading through a book "When Children Love to Learn" by Elaine Cooper and I wanted to share with you this...

"we are not over the child as the source of all knowledge, but beside the child, also learning. We usually teach, but children offer a lot for us to consider and learn. The interaction is mutually enjoyable, and both are developing understanding - the "teacher" and "the taught"."

Thank you for allowing me to work beside your children,
Mrs. Kerr