Since I actually have a great group of kids this year, I was able to do some fun experiments with them this week. I hope the trend continues throughout the school year. I've found since I have taught school for 12 years (mostly third grade) that each year I'm able to incorporate something different into each year. Some traditions stick and some are tossed out depending on their success rate. Last year I was so burned out I didn't do many interesting things with the group I had, however this year I'm motivated to improve. For one thing I was bored and I know my kids were bored too. I made a promise to myself not to let standardized testing take the zha zha zoom out of my teaching. After all, it's in the fun things that kids actually learn and grow...not to mention remember as the year goes on. My two favorite things to do is to scrapbook and cook. So that's what I'm incorporating this school year into my classroom. The learning is still taking place, so don't fret people!
Lemonade was invented in Paris in August of 1630 when sugar imported from the French West Indies dropped in price. Despite its Parisian roots, lemonade in Europe is quite different nowadays – it's carbonated. It's been really hot here, so Friday afternoon we celebrated this 'invention' and made our own. The kids were able to wash the lemons, cut them in half (with supervision), juice them, measure the sugar and make a 'mixture', and then we added bottled water. They were surprised it tasted so good.
We are studying Rocks and Minerals and we took the time to also make some 'igneous' rock (chocolate chips melted and then cooled again), 'sedimentary rocks' (layers of wheat and white bread pressed together), and 'metamorphic rock' (same bread rolled together with a rolling pin). The loved it and actually "understood" about the different types of rocks!
1 comment:
Fun~ what a great way to help kids learn. Don't know if I should admit this~ I didn't know about the different kinds of rocks. Oopps!
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