I had such a great time sharing clay with the kids. They all did their best! It was wonderful to see their different approaches to the same directions. I shared a method of hand building to create vessels. We smacked
Nature Study: Trees of Thatcher Woods
This week we got into the trees of Thatcher Woods. We talked about forest surveys, and how we can analyze trees and forests from a few different perspectives. While we waited for everyone to arrive, we philosophized: if I have
Art: Introduction to Photography
This week we started the photography portion of the Muons Art Class! We started with some quick background, by asking everyone to think of an example of a photo they have seen in the past week. We talked about photography
Nature Studies: Clouds
This week, we discussed clouds. We talked about the 4 main types of clouds and what information they can give us about the weather. We did an experiment making a cloud in a ball jar using hot water, food coloring,
Art: Wax Resist Painting
Today’s art class for Neutrons, Electrons, and Quarks focused on wax resist painting with watercolors. We used Spirals by Louise Bourgeois as our inspiration and attempted to execute a similar technique. We used tape to create a grid (or other negative space)
STEM: Box Observations
Both Neutrons and Electrons started this co-op session with a two week unit on making observations and conclusions. Each group made a large list of observation words / adjectives and then made observations of each of 10 boxes. Then, given
Nature Studies: Nature Journaling
This year we are exploring nature journaling. My plan is to weekly have a different element that we learn and focus on for that week. However, our overarching theme is being nature scientists and taking advantage of our beautiful Thatcher
Nature Study: Why Seasons?
In our first lesson of the year, we tried to answer the tricky question of why there are seasons. We started by modeling the solar system using this nifty NASA activity. I showed them the Sun and asked them to guess how big the Earth
Math/Science: Parachutes
Our final day of math/science for this co-op year was spent building and testing parachutes! The wind made this activity even more exciting than I’d planned – hooray!
Gym: Relays and Climbing
Neutrons, Electrons, and Muons led our warm-ups today and enjoyed a running and mirror activity. They then competed in relays with pool noodles between their feet. Lots and lots of laughs! Quarks enjoyed their climbing spot together. It’s so fascinating