We beat the rain

Hello,

Our field trip to the Jr. High stream went well.  We got back to HBS about a half hour before the downpour.  It was a hot walk back, especially in my Arctic Sport Muck Boots, but we survived. 

The kids spent a good twenty minutes observing the water strider's habitat.  They made notes about the stream, the plant life, the sights and sounds.  In groups of two or three, they wrote down their claims on what a water strider eats and how it is able to walk on the water.  Then the nets and trays were passed out and the groups captured some of the insects and were able to study them more closely.  The goal was for the groups to find evidence to support their claims.  If the evidence that they found didn't support their claim, they needed to make a new claim. 

The plan was for the groups to reconvene this afternoon and come up with a little presentation to the class.  They needed to announce their claims and then present their findings that supported those claims.  Once again, I changed the schedule based on the vibe of the class.  Afternoons after a field trip are always a little rough, but a mini-power outage at the school had kids in very strange moods.  Some were excited, some were anxious.  I didn't feel that they were in a good place to continue with our day's investigations.  I tabled it for tomorrow. 

After art class, we had a short silent reading period and then I showed them a couple videos on size.  You can check out the links here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/just_how_small_is_an_atom.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxXf7AJZ73A

I think you will find them interesting and will give you something to ask your child about.  That is the main purpose of this blog: to foster conversations between you and your child.  Talking with them about the things we do in school helps cement some of the knowledge, but also places an importance on their education that we can't do alone.  It sends a clear message that you are aware of their learning, interested in their learning, and that you are a learner too.  Thank you for that.

Have a good night. 

Please remember that I generally run out of here like a scalded bird on Fridays, so I'll write again on Monday.  Hopefully we'll have a club announcement by then.

Mr. Shea