Furballs

Is it snack time? Not for us! We have been learning about a variety of nocturnal animals including owls, bats, badgers, hedgehogs, moths, raccoons, red-eyed tree frogs, etc. In order to find out what owls eat, we dissected owl pellets! Owl pellets are the undigested and regurgitated remains of an owl's meals. We found claws, bones, fur and even skulls of the small animals that owls eat in the forest. Bon appetit!

Back to School

What a cute new class! We have nine boys and nine girls this year. More to come!

Soaking Send Off

Have a GREAT summer!

100 Days of School

How long does it take to make one hundred pancakes on the 100th day of school? About as long as it takes students to write one hundred words. How long does it take to eat one hundred pancakes? Not very long at all! It was a very sweet day.

Yes to Yoga

To my delight, this is an incredibly diverse class this year. Nine countries are represented by my students. Children originate from India, Iraq, Mexico, Honduras, Germany, Bermuda, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Indonesia. The children have enjoyed researching and teaching their classmates about their backgrounds using our ActivBoard. This young man invited his mom to introduce us to yoga and meditation. Our attempts at the contortions were quite amusing and the giggling was contagious!

Falling For Apples

This is my favorite field trip. Each September, we travel an hour and a half to the Perry Lowe Apple Orchard in North Wilkesboro. Before the trip, we learn how apples are cultivated. We read and write about apples. We sort apples. We count apples. We compare the taste of different apple varieties. We bake apple turnovers.

So you can imagine the ooohs and aaahs when the bus turns off of the busy interstate onto a quiet, winding, dirt road lined with apple trees laden with apples. We hop off of the bus and Farmer Lowe gives each of us a fresh, cold apple to eat as we ride along on a trailor behind his tractor to tour the orchard. We visit the apple house to learn how the apples are processed. And at the end, we pick our own apples to take home. What a great way to welcome the season of fall!

Sweet Sixteen

We're back! This is our new class of first graders. Aren't they cute? All of them seem happy to be back at school to begin a new school year. They posed for this picture just after our "hike" around the school to launch our schoolwide camping theme. Sparks of excitement are flying as we build a fire for learning!