Baby Pumpkin!

In November, L-5 planted pumpkin seeds and watched our classroom pumpkin plant grow and grow. This spring, the pumpkin plant was transplanted in the Foote School Community Garden. Happy in its new home...we have a baby pumpkin!

Learning About The Rainforest

Margy DeVane from the Conservatory at Edgerton Park explained why rainforest plants do not lose their foliage like plants in the Northeast. She pointed out the canopy, understory, and forest floor of the lush rainforest inside the greenhouse! The children seemed most excited to see the cocoa plant and banana tree! 

The Bronx Zoo

The Mixed-Age Group trip to the Bronx Zoo was the perfect way to wrap up our African animal studies! More photos to come!

Clear Water Presentation

Our special guest, Beth Segaloff visited the Mixed Age Group to share information about the importance of clean water. She showed the children containers used to transport water in African countries. She described the time and work necessary for villagers to obtain clean water in these countries. The children shared their feelings of how fortunate they are to have clean water so readily available. After a brainstorming session, the students worked in groups to create posters to remind our community of all the ways we use water!

"Flick It" Measurement Activity

How Big Is A Foot?

As an introduction to our Unit on Measurement, the class enjoyed listening to the story, How Big Is A Foot? by Rolf Myller. The story is about a King who wants to give the Queen something special for her birthday. The Queen has everything, everything except a bed. The trouble is that no one in the Kingdom knows the answer to the question: HOW BIG IS A BED? because beds at the time had not yet been invented. The Queen's birthday is only a few days away. How can they figure out what size the bed should be? 

Ask your children if they can explain the solution to this problem! Be sure to ask why the Apprentice was sent to jail!

Free Choice: Building

Last fall, we planted two kinds of garlic with Bernard. Today, we took away the leaves that had protected our garlic all winter. It's a thrill to see our new plants!

Pennies For Peace

The children were in awe at the amount of money they helped raise for Pennies For Peace, to help children and schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

The school collected a total of $509.06!

That is enough to pay for school supplies for twenty-five children for an entire year!

Or it could buy 3,393 notebooks!

Or it is enough for 25, 453 erasers!

Or it could pay for 50,906 pencils!

Learning About Desert Plants

Trudy and Margy, two plant experts from the Edgerton Park Conservancy visited our building with a variety of plants native to South Africa. 

The children saw a "great, great, great, great grandma" to the cactus. How is it similar to the cactus we know? How is it different?

Trudy and Margy brought in a variety of "euphorbias" for the children to observe. They explained that many people mistake some "euphorbias" for cacti. Two of the euphorbias that the children found most fascinating are the window pane plant and the rock plant. 

100th Day Scavenger Hunt

The children had a blast working together, using clues to find 10 groups of 10 to equal 100!

Finding 10 things smaller than a quarter, locating and listing 10 African countries, brainstorming 10 African crops, searching for items that weigh less than 1 pound were only some of the group challenges. 

Other 100 day activities were tallying 100 different smiles, using a grocery advertisement to list items that could be purchased with 100 cents, estimating how many stars you could draw in 100 seconds, writing 100 words, counting 100 syllables, writing a 100th Day poem, and many more!

Happy 100th Day of School!

The children enjoyed sharing their collections of 100 items. We counted the collections by hundreds to find that we have 1500 items altogether! 
More 100th Day activities to come!

Visual Literacy at the Center for British Art

"What do you notice?"

"What is happening?"

Math Strategies

The children already know the "doubles" fact strategy...5+5, 6+6, 7+7, etc. 

Now they are working on using the mental math strategy of "doubles plus one"...

5+6 can be thought of as 5+5+1.

Here are more "doubles plus one" facts that you can practice with your children at home!

1+2 4+5 7+8

2+3 5+6 8+9

3+4 6+7 9+10

Use a deck of cards to make this practice more fun!

Authors' Share

Several of our class authors kept their L-5 audience captivated as they shared a writing piece.

African Mask Stories

The children chose a photo of an African mask that they found interesting. In groups, they worked together to create a story about their particular mask. Our writers included a setting, what is happening and a story ending!

Can a pencil be balanced on its tip?

As we wrapped up our Unit on Balance, the children were challenged to use a length of wire and clothes pins to balance a pencil on its tip. 

Impossible????

Our class scientists proved that this is indeed possible!