Our Montgomery Trip

At Old Alabama Town.  We watched as a woman explained and demonstrated  how cotton was separated
by hand held tools and spun into thread.  We saw an old cotton gin, grist mill, and a blacksmith at work. 

Mrs. Benton and Mrs. McCullough's class outside the State Capital.

Justin posing next to the star where Jefferson Davis once stood.

Both classes getting ready to tour the Governor's Mansion.
As hospitality rules, we were served cookies and lemonade after the tour.

Looking at the portraits of former First Ladies.

Lilli attempting to get a bird to
land on her finger at the Montgomery Zoo.

Heading into the Cotton Gin. 
The scale to the left, on the ground,t weighed the cotton upon arrival.
The mule is pulling a cart carrying 1,500 pounds of cotton with seed.

Carolyn's dad assisted in her participation
of viewing the rotunda from the ground up.

Our tour guide was extremely informed.
 The students lay down to get a view of the six paintings along the rotunda walls and the dome.

The blacksmith.

Listening to stories about previous governors.

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Spring Garden

Mrs. Carley helped us prepare the garden for the Spring.  Students spent time pulling up the Fall garden, leaving a few plants behind, and tilling the soil.  Mrs. Carley taught the students about prepping the beds for planting, watering, fertilizing the soil, and amounts of sunlight.  We added corn, tomatoes, new herbs, and other yummy veggies.  A strawberry plant that has already begun to produce two strawberries was also added.  The students look forward to Mrs. Carley's visits and hopefully we will have a spring tasting before school gets out. 

More Skittle Pictures

Here are more pictures from the Skittles lesson.

Dr. Washburn Visits Our Class

Dr. Washburn visited our class a week ago to observe the writing stylus program.  Dr. Washburn has done several things with brain research and it was an honor to have him come visit us.  Mrs. Robinson did her usually great lesson as I monitored the class.  I always brag about how great my students are but they were unbelievable.  Dr. Washburn sat at a table of students and completed every activity along with them.  They analyzed a piece of writing looking for personification, sang a personification song, wrote in the Writing on Demand journals, and completed a writing activity as seen in the picture above.  He was so impressed that he mentions a conversation he was involved in on his blog.  Go check it out. 

http://blog.clerestorylearning.com/what-teaching-can-be

Picture of the Week

This is our class guinea pig Benny.  He is sitting in our teacher's lap.
Picture and caption by Matthew M.

Crazy Hat Day

On Wednesday, we had Crazy Hat Day, because it was Leap Day.  Everyone brought their craziest hat to school to wear all day long.  There were big, small, funny, and CRAZY different kinds of hats.  Some hats even had objects hanging off the edge.  I think many people had great ideas of what hat to bring.  Some people even made their own hats.  All the hats were crazy and creative.  We all had a fun day that day.

Written by Natalie D.

Picture of the Week

Myles, Victoria, Elizabeth, Wilkes, and Ross just dumped out
their bags of skittles.  We were getting ready to do a fraction activity.

February Book Reports

Students had a blast showing off their book report projects this month.  Mrs. McCullough gave the students the choice between creating a CD cover or a puppet show for a chosen fable.  I

was impressed, as always, with the quality of their work.  What really amazed me was the students reactions to the projects.  A week later and they are still discussing what they saw.

Adding and Subtracting Fractions

Creating the "whole" or the "one" with smaller fractions.

One method of subtracting fractions was with the cover up
method.  Students used shapes to cover up the part of the
fraction being taken away.

Students practiced on the board, in partners,
and in small groups. 

One way we reviewed equivalent fractions was
by playing four corners Quizmo. 

It's All About Herbs

Mrs. Carley came on Monday and showed us all kids of different
plants and we also got to try some foods.
Pictures and caption and Sage V.

Fresh pesto to sample on and off noodles.

Mrs. Carley debating fresh vs dried herbs in cooking.

Music Class

This is Elizabeth singing her song that she made up.  It is called Soggy, Salty Peanuts.
Pictures and Caption by Victoria H.

Alex playing the xylophone.

Lucas giving it a try.

Sage follows along in rhythm.

 

And they all played together to create a beautiful sound.

 

Max  B. and Natalie join in the fun with Alex.