It was a soft re-entry into writing workshop after spring break since some folks are a bit behind in their essay writing — no worries! We started a multi-lesson review of the most dastardly piece of punctuation, the comma, as
Weekly Summary: During Art – Quarks – Art
This summary is a bit late, but two weeks ago, we busted out the hammers for some fun with wood cookies and string! Each kiddo drew a simple design on their cookie, marked where each nail would be placed and
Weekly Summary: Pigpen Scavenger Hunt – Muons – General Activity
The Muons worked in teams to decipher and follow clues written using the pigpen cipher, eventually leading to their team “treasure,” a collection of Dollar Tree items that apparently no one actually wanted 🤣
Weekly Summary: Write it/do it – Electrons and Neutrons – STEM
Each group was split in two to work together to create instructions for the other group to complete a specified “build” or structure, a concept borrowed from Science Olympiad. They then switched instructions and tried to recreate the “build” using
Weekly Summary: Story telling – Neutrons – Nature Study
This week my plan was to attempt to introduce story telling with some games I had at home “Tell Tale,” “Tell me a story,” and “Story Cubes-Harry Potter.” They are all very similar giving kids some prompts through pictures or
Weekly Summary: Rock Identification – Quarks – STEM
We began with “I’m Trying to Love Rocks” by Bethany Barton. It was a really cute book, and it gave us a little more information about how we can identify rocks. Then we broke up into 3 groups and each
Weekly Summary: Four Strikes You’re Out – Electrons and Neutrons – STEM
The Neutrons and Electrons played a game called Four Strikes You’re Out, which I’m so grateful Elizabeth shared with me. Here is a description of how the game is played: https://marilynburnsmath.com/four-strikes-and-youre-out/ Rather than breaking into pairs, we played the game
Weekly Summary: Understanding Assignments! – Muons – Writer’s Workshop
Because, sadly, I have read too many essays that are in no way connected to the original assignment task or prompt, I wanted to share with the Muons some strategies for understanding what writing prompts are and how to make
Weekly Summary: Gym Meets Nature Walk Meets STEM – Muons – Gym
After seeing two groups enjoy trying to prise apart the giant fallen log in the woods, Ananda and I thought the Muons would enjoy the same adventure. So, we headed into the woods and invited them to put their burgeoning
Weekly Summary: 1-point Perspective Drawing – Electrons and Neutrons – Art
For the last 2 weeks in Art, both the Neutrons and Electrons have been working on the concept of perspective in drawings. During the first period, we discussed how implementing concepts like 1-point perspective and vanishing points can help make