Great Fun and Learning at Hancock Shaker Village

Visitors

Thank you Anastazia's mom for making cornbread with us and teaching us about the history of cornbread in the USA.

Thank you Nathaniel's grandma for teaching us about the life cycle of a sunflower.

Exciting, Engaging, and Stimulating Learning

It all began in Language Arts class when the children read a book about how water travels - where it begins and where it ends. The children enjoyed the water's journey immensely and so it began.......

"How do we get water to the plants on a farm?"  In Science class, Kate challenged the children to build a model of an irrigation system in the sand table. Kate introduced irrigation after an engaging discussion with the children about farms.  The children spent one class time making signs of various things found on a farm, and deciding where to place them on the farm.  Fields of corn, wheat, barns, animals, etc. filled the farm.  In another class the children gathered around the sand table to discuss how to get water to flow from a creek to the fields.  The irrigation model took shape as the children placed strips of blue paper to show the water flow.  There was much reflection on their original ideas as the children re-positioned the blue strips of paper to create an effective irrigation model.  Then the children ended by making observational drawings and writing comments about their irrigation model.

In Language Arts class the children read books about farms, helped make a list of different types of farms and what they contain.  They looked at many pictures of farms and began making individual books called Farm.  Enjoy the photos!

Are you wondering about First Grade Math?  In the last few classes the children have been using several different approaches to practicing counting by 2's.  One such approach took place in the tree house as the photo shows.

 Remember to check out the kindergarten math blog http://www.kmathematicians.blogspot.com/