This Week's Science and Art

This week, the students continued to work on the terrarium. Each child selected a plant to be placed in the terrarium. Then they had to draw their plant in their log book along with the name of their plant, which they looked up in various books provided by Ms Pat. The students took turns in groups placing the gravel, sand and soil in the terrarium, along with a water container.

Then each student placed their own plant in the terrarium with help from Ms Pat....



The result is a gorgeous terrarium that sits in the classroom's Rainforest Lab. The students are looking forward to adding animals over the coming weeks. Everyone is wondering if it will be tadpoles, a turtle or a type of lizard.

In Art, the children applied a "wash" made of diluted paint over a drawing they had colored. The results were beautiful and original.

Fun First Friday!

So, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life gives you lots of rain from tropical storm Isaac and poor drainage, you make a science lesson! At least that's what Ms Pat did for this week's science class for the elementary students. Today's lesson was an introduction to different types of habitats, with an emphasis on wetlands. The students collected water and soil samples to see what, if anything, was living in the area affectionately called "Lake Trilogy" by some students!

                                   

After collecting their samples, the students returned to the lab to examine them as well as a large tub of water, soil and plant life collected by Ms Pat. It seems we had mosquito larvae (surprise, surprise) as well as beetle larvae. Some tadpoles were spotted at the edges of the water, but the students weren't able to capture any.

After science, it was time for lunch. Friday is the day we order pizza for the students who would like it. This Friday was special because we were also celebrating the birthday of one of our students, with cupcakes!

The second part of the day was again spent with Ms Pat, this time in Art class. The students will be creating a terrarium throughout the year as a way to study habitats. Ms Pat had some examples of the types of plants we will be using. The children made leaf rubbings as their art project for the day.

Elementary Drama

Each year, the elementary students have learned at least one play that goes along with the subjects they are studying. For the 2009-2010 school year, that play was "Rumpus in the Rainforest".

The children helped to make their costumes and scenery, as well as singing and acting in the play.









The play was then preformed for family and friends at our "end of the year" celebration. There were a few opening-night jitters before they took to the stage, but once the play started, they all did a fantastic job.

"In the Amazon Rainforest there lived a frog. This is his story. The story of a frog with an impossible dream that came true..."



He's a cool cat!








One of our two boa constrictors: