Friday March 14
- andreamoffatt2
- Mar 14
- 2 min read
The first week of beautiful weather always adds a new energy to our daily work, and this week was no different!
LEAP restarted and the weather stayed warm and dry enough for us to experience it every day. The kids fell right back into all their favorite outdoor routines: shelter and campfire building, setting up restaurants, playing doctor, witches, and more. It was a joy to watch!
Inside, we finished up our word-writing unit. Next week we will begin a new short phonics unit focusing on digraphs. (Sh, th, wh, and ck)
Watch your child’s folder for a list of heart words (sometimes called sight words or high frequency words) for students to practice at home. If your child knows all his or her letters and is able to use those sounds to blend words, he or she is ready to efficiently learn heart words! (And if your child already knows all or almost all of the heart words, we are working on other things; you won’t receive a list.)
Has your child filled you in on the adventures of the local eagle nest we have been watching? The Hayes eagle nest that I’ve always watched with my classes collapsed in a storm last year and the eagles haven’t rebuilt. So this year we are observing the U.S. Steel Eagle Cam.
The mating pair has laid 3 eggs (the most this pair has ever laid!) and the first egg turns 29 days old today. We have the webcam on throughout the day in the background and I have a few goals for our time with the eagles:
Builds PATIENCE! Not a whole lot happens for most of the day, but we still notice little things, such as items in the nest, the direction of the eagle’s gaze, and body language. Our kids’ childhoods are so full of shiny, animated, flashy videos, toys, and games. It takes practice to learn how to sit with one idea and notice small ordinary details.
Teaches about living things (Through the eagles we learn about life cycles, birds vs mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and the needs of living things)
Mirrors our kindergarten experience of growing up and leaving the nest. 🥲 The kinders will fledge our nest right around the same time as the eagles. In the last few weeks we use their soon-to-be independence to talk about ours.
You can watch the eagles at home by searching U.S. Steel Bald Eagle Camera 1 on Youtube. (Sorry-restrictions are not allowing me to link it here.)
On Thursday, Turner's Dairy visited and taught us all about cows, what they eat, when they milk, and how the milk gets from the farm to the store to us!
We got to take a closer look at all the items referenced in the talk.
And we even got a special treat: milkshake made with Turner Dairy milk. YUM!
And finally, today we tried out Shadow Show and Tell. Can you tell what some of these objects are?
