A Colorful School Day

It really was a fun filled Friday! In science class, the students learned that "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" and how that applies to the force needed to get a rocket ship through our atmosphere. At first, they used air pressure to launch small, light weight plastic air planes and toy cars, but then we went outside and tried some slightly bigger rockets, which launched with the help of both air and water pressure. They finished up science, by talking about how parachutes are used to slow down a fall and they were able to spend some time playing with a new parachute. In art class this afternoon, Ms. Pat taught the children how to tie-dye. The high school art class had already tie-dyed T-shirts, so a couple of the girls were able to model theirs for us, to give us ideas of the designs we could do. The kids had a great time with this project! They made long ribbons, bandanas, and T-shirts. Everything looked fantastic when they were done!

A Special Guest

For "sharing" today, one of the children brought in his pet ferret, Diesel.

"Grand Adventure"

Continuing our unit about Lewis and Clark.

Today we finished the book about York that we started last Thursday.



The corp of discovery also included Lewis' big Newfoundland dog, named Seaman. Our version of the dog joined us for story time today.



The children learning their new song about Lewis and Clark, "grand Adventure".

Indoor Recess and a Special Treat

We returned from our Spring break to a very smoky Gainesville. Due to health concerns, we have kept the children inside for recess in the mornings Monday and Tuesday. This was the worst day, so far, so we kept the children inside for both recesses.

This didn't mean that the children didn't have fun, though. Two of the children became very creative with the math blocks.





Then we all had a wonderful lunch provided by Olive Garden, as a reward for all the money we collected for the "Pennies for Pasta" program













The meal included pasta, breadsticks, salad, pink lemonade, and a chocolate mint candy.

Please remember that if your child is going on the field trip Friday, to the Santa Fe College Observatory, they will need to bring $6 as the admission fee.

A Voyage of Discovery

This week, we began a unit about Lewis and Clark.



The older elementary students worked on reading comprehension pages about the "Corp of Discovery",



while the younger elementary class worked on a 3-dimentional map.







They also listened to this cute book about Lewis and Clark trying to find presents to send back to President Thomas Jefferson:


Next week is Spring Break. We will continue this unit when we return, but in the meantime, I hope everyone has a safe and fun break.

Exploring the Solar System on Foot

For Science today the elementary students took a field trip to The Solar Walk at Westside Park.





We walked from the Sun to Mars and back again, with a little visit to Halley's Comet.































We used the merry-go-round at the park for some experiments with centrifugal force (before lunch, of course).













We finished off our trip to the park with lunch and a short nature walk, to find leaves and sticks to use in art class this afternoon.