Under the Sea

This was one of the first years I've taught a specific theme for the year. The Kindergarten and First grade teachers at my school work together to teach a theme for the year that our students become experts in.  We conclude our studies with our students performing in our annual Spring performance following that theme.  We chose oceans as our theme this particular year.  Here are some photos of Open House that year.

We need insects

Insects are not so creepy crawly when we learn how beneficial they are to us.  My students became so fascinated with the study of insects and I was amazed at the wide variety of insects there are in this world.  The Orchid Preying Mantis and the Peacock Spiders are my favorite!

Here are some GLAD pictorial input charts that I worked on with my students.  These posters are a great resource for my students and they've gained such rich vocabulary through them.

 I've had the pleasure of attending a Bug Fair at the Natural History Museum for the past few years and have always had a blast there! This last visit, I was brave enough to try eating some insects from the insect chef. I tried the scorpion legs (which tasted like lobster).  I did not know this but insects are eaten by many people all over the world.  It was an interesting experience.

 They even had bug hairstyles so I thought why not?

 Outside of the museum is a butterfly garden and for a separate fee, you can go in at one of the time slots.

These photos were from a previous year and all I was brave enough to do was hold the tarantula. This was the first time holding one!

For Open House, my students made life sized entomologist versions of themselves.  We placed them on their desks with their insect binders and water bottle insects. 

Brrr! It's cold in here! Arctic and Antarctic

The polar regions are so fun to explore!  There are so many animals to study. My favorites are the Polar Bears and Penguins.  For open house, we made snowflakes hanging overhead with snowy owls.  My students made life size paper versions of themselves in Inuit clothing.  They made dioramas of the Arctic or Antarctic on their desks. 

My class enjoyed learning about the different types of penguins.  

Owl Pellets are the regurgitated remains of what owls eat.  We ordered them online.  Our students were amazed at what they found in their pellets.  Afterwards, they tried piecing the bones back together and guessing what animal the owl ate.  It was kind of smelly but they soon got over the smell

and were scientists on a journey of discovery.