Atmosphere

What we've been learning:  We just wrapped up a unit on the atmosphere and ozone layer in Science class.  We looked at the layers of the atmosphere and watched The Inconvenient Truth.  The boys had a tic-tac-toe board for their final.  Two of them showed me their test before they were done because they were so excited about what they created.

Here's Isaac's poem about the layers of the atmosphere.

The stratosphere is the layer with the most ozone.

It's depleting so now everyone's in a rumble.

It gives you skin cancer, so now we're gonna struggle.

But lets forget about that, let's focus on the troposphere. 

The layer closest to us in the whole entire atmosphere. 

The thermosphere so hot, it will give you shock. 

The mesosphere protects us from all the rocks. 

Lets not forget the ionosphere where radio waves bounce back. 

The exosphere furthest away, we're done with that. 

Here's Andrew's cartoon about what someone can do to help the Earth.

Next we are going to focus on how humans are impacting the Earth.  We will be watching several documentaries such as Food Inc., Tapped, and The Bee Movie.  Bring on the last month of school!

Con mucho amor.

In a Galaxy Far, Far, Away...

What we've been learning:  We started 2016 with a unit about the planets and outer space.

I saw an idea on Pinterest over the summer to create pillowcases with the periodic table of elements labeled.  Although we weren't going to study chemistry, the idea stuck with me.  I wanted to incorporate decorating a pillowcase in some way.  Christin had special fabric markers that we used, and the boys each brought their own pillowcase to decorate.  They had to label the planets in order and try and draw them to scale-ish.  They turned out so different from each other.

Next, I had planned a super fun travel poster assignment for the boys.  I even spent several days making my own example.  They were each going to pick a planet and research information about the planet.  Then, they were going to make a travel poster convincing us to travel to their planet.  The boys informed me that they already knew about planets and had done a similar project in elementary school.  I felt really disappointed they didn't want to/had already done the project.

I wanted to incorporate art into the space unit.  Last year I felt like I did a better job including art in different assignments, but this year I have not.  As I was search on Pinterest I found this artist, Djuno Tomsni.  He does a nod to the 1970s with these vacation space images.  We created similar pieces of art.  I especially like Andrew's.  He has a family looking at a cable car on a snowy planet.  On the backside, he talked about how the family forgot their coats and wouldn't make that mistake again.  So creative.

The boys also created drawings about what life on space might look like.  I found this website with what communism might look like in outer space.  The images were so creative and detailed.  I remember when I was in elementary school I loved drawing intricate houses and towers and underground living spaces.  If I had more time, I would love to have them write stories to go along with their drawings.

I used the mystery bag pirate hook (blog post about it can be found here) and threw some astronaut food in a brown bag with a question mark on it.  I purchased the food at Michaels, the craft store, over the summer.  I saw it and knew the treat would be perfect for my boys.

The bags caught their attention as they spent several days guessing the contents.  Once they actually got to open the bags, they LOVED the freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches.  Before researching, they made predictions about how astronauts go to the bathroom, sleep, and what they do in their free time.  Then, they wrote papers about what life is like in space for astronauts.

Next is a unit on weather, storms, and hurricanes.  Any lesson plan ideas for those topics?

Con mucho amor.

Pirating up the Week

What I've been teaching:  This was a "ruff" week.  The boys were more restless than normal, talking and not paying attention.  I had shorter patience because I have been busier.  I have been fighting off sickness and this stupid kidney stone.  Part of the way through the week, I realized I needed to "pirate" some of my lessons.  I hoped this would engage the boys more and improve my attitude about work.  

Teach like a Pirate (prior blog post about it can be found here) is all about being a purple cow in a sea of black and white ones.  The book encourages teachers to be creative and think outside of the box through different "hooks."  

from: here 

The Safari Hook:  Wednesday we moved to the roof for reading time.  There was a beautiful breeze, and we sat in the shade while reading Long Way from Chicago.  There are so many different places in our apartment complex that I should take advantage of and use.  Getting outside of the four walls of the classroom helps keep them engaged.

The Mystery Bag Hook:  Thursday I placed these three mystery bags on my desk.  I purchased some freeze-dried "astronaut" food over the summer.  We are currently studying outer space and the solar system.  I wanted the boys to be intrigued.  They could feel the bags.  Rice cakes, cookies, and paper were some of the guesses.

We ended week 22 of the Reyes Academy with worship, prayer, and a fun little selfie photo shoot.

How are you mixing things up in the classroom?  What are you doing to keep students engaged?

When ART and SCIENCE collide

What we're creating: I found this blog on Pinterest showing how to create watercolor rocks.  I loved the idea and knew it would be the perfect way to end our rock and mineral unit.  We watched this short video on geodes, and we looked at various pictures for examples.  It was so fun to watch the boys create these pieces of art.  They especially loved using salt and watercolors together.  I would have loved to have real examples of geodes, or have a geode that we could bust open together.

Here are the examples I made.  I kind of want to get cheap frames for them in the US when I am back in December.  They would be cute to hang.  Maybe I will bring them back with me to Oregon and put them above my dresser in my bedroom there.

Here are the boy's paintings.

At the end of the year I want to do a mini Reyes Academy art show.  We learned about an artist statement, and they wrote one for the "Scream" painting they did on Halloween.  They will also write one for these watercolors.  It is a great way to combine art, science, and writing.

Con mucho amor.

The dirt on dirt

What we've been doing in science: We started the year learning about dirt.  I thought it would be an awful unit.  I am not very passionate about dirt.  Surprising, right?  This year we do not have a science textbook.  The A Beka textbook about earth science has a sample of their table of contents.  I used this as inspiration for what topics we should study.  The rest I have been coming up with myself, with some help from Google and Pinterest.

I started out with a pretest for the boys to see what they knew about dirt.  They didn't know very much, which made me optimistic that we could only get better.  :)  Here are some of the activities we did while studying soil science.

Apple soil demonstration:  This model did not work super well, since I have a tiny cutting board and the apple peeler does not work the best.  Although I dropped a slice or two on the floor, it did show well the relation of the whole earth and the amount of usable soil we have for farming.  I got this activity from THIS amazing website.  It has lots of creative, engaging ideas for teaching earth science.  

Layers of dirt with food:  The boys love doing anything with food.  I saw several different examples of layers of dirt food things online.  I took those ideas and made it my own.  We used solid cookies at the bottom of the cups to represent bedrock.  Then I used chocolate kisses for parent material.  Pudding represented the subsoil.  Crushed Oreos were used for topsoil filled with gummy worms.  Crushed Chips Ahoy were used for the very top layer.  The following day I had the boys label the layers on a giant cup.  It was a yummy day.

Mason jar soil test:  I had the boys bring some dirt from their yards so we can see if it is "good" dirt.  We did this mason jar soil test.  It was SO cool to see the layers of silt, sand, and clay in the dirt.  We talked about loam and how dirt needs to have the right composition in order to grow plants.

Real world connection: Africa and Haiti are two places in the world who greatly struggle with soil.  Since we live in the Dominican Republic I wanted to make sure they understood the importance of dirt and how we need it to survive.  Without healthy dirt we can't grow food that we need in order to survive.  We also talked about how to make the dirt healthier, like using fertilizer and poop to increase the health of the soil.  Here is the article we read about Haiti.  Here is the article we read about Africa.

Dirt final tic-tac-toe board: I was pretty impressed with my final that I created.  I pulled elements from what we did to create a tic-tac-toe board.  The boys had to pick three in a row to complete.  My favorite were the poems the boys composed.  They did an amazing job writing them!

The second unit that I just finished was about earthquakes and the layers of the earth.  This next week we are starting rocks and minerals.  I love that I am pushing myself more with teaching science.  I think I have been doing a decent job, especially since I never in a million years thought I would be teaching this subject!

Last Weeks of Year #1

*forgot to post last June*

What we've been doing: WOW, I finished my very first year of teaching.  The last few weeks have been crazy busy.  I am super happy to have a few months of rest.  "Rest."  Aka planning, reading, organizing, and preparing for next year.  Teachers never really have time off.  Here's a look at our last few weeks of school.

Yve's School

We started off by creating a Noah's ark craft with the kids.  I saw this example on Pinterest, and I thought it was simple enough to create with the kids at Yve's School.  They need practice using glue sticks and scissors.  The kids enjoyed it, and the teachers helped much more.  It went smoother and their was much more control.  I was really happy that we ended on such a good note.

The boys wrapped up the video of the story of Noah's Ark.  Here's the Youtube link if you want to see how it turned out.  The kids and teachers loved watching it.  We brought in Joy's portable projector and used a sheet to show the movie.  There was even a portable battery pack, so we didn't need to worry that there wasn't electricity.

Rosa and I were talking about what we can do next year with the kids.  I want to do more sports and actions with the kids because they have so much energy.

Flash of Ecology 

We briefly covered some ecology topics at the end of the year.  Next year I am doing Earth science with the boys, so I can incorporate more of these ideas.  We ended with an experiment showing the importance of trees and roots.

The boys loved it, and now we have another class plant to keep Steve company.  :)

Timeline Project 

I had this great idea for an end of the year project.  We covered world history this year, and the boys each made a giant timeline.  They drew pictures of the ten most important world history events, and they each gave a presentation about their projects.  They did not use their class time wisely, so the projects did not turn out as good as they could have.

Next year I am going to have them work on the project throughout the year.  Maybe I will make them create a smaller version as we go through US history.  If they do the project piece by piece, it might seem less daunting.  I might also make an option to create a video project instead of just a poster.  They enjoy creating videos.

Last Day Party

I worked incredibly hard to prepare the new apartment/classroom for our end of the year party/sleepover.  With help from their moms, we kidnapped the boys and brought them to the new place.  They had no idea where we were going or what we were doing.  It was awesome.

I had a night of games, pizza, ice cream, and movies planned for the boys.  They had the greatest time, and it was the perfect way to end the year.

Who knows what year #2 will bring... :)

Field Trips #6, #7, and #8

Where we've been going:  We have ended the year with lots of field trips.  They all kind of snuck up on me.  Next year I need to do a better job spacing them out throughout the year.  It was fun to end the year with so many adventures.

Field trip #6: Mirabal Sister's House

This was not the most exciting field trip we went on, but my mom said that not every field trip needs to have a zipline.  :)  I thought this was the most interesting field trip.  I have been waiting to go to the Mirabal sister's house since June of last year when my professor gave me In the Time of the Butterflies for a graduation present.

We were given a tour of the house.  We even got to see Maria Teresa's braid that Dede cut off her dead body.  We also saw the bloody handkerchief that was found at the scene of the crime.  It made what we were reading and watching so very real.

We took the big green striped van, and we ate our picnic lunch inside the van.  The boys said it was too hot outside.  It was a nice afternoon together.  

Field trip #7: Jarbacoa

We stopped and got morir sonando (my favorite orange creamsicle drink) on our way to the waterfall.  I made a chart with areas for the boys to write down how much erosion they saw, how much trash there was on the ground and in the water, signs of wildlife, and water velocity.  We threw a tennis ball in the water and calculated how long it would take to go a certain distance.  The faster the water, the healthier the river.  The same chart would be used on field trip #8.  They were comparing the two rivers, trying to figure out which one was healthier.

After doing the school part of the trip, we all swam in the river.  It was REALLY cold, and not an especially hot day.  The boys didn't care, however; they dove right in.

We stopped at a yummy place for lunch in the town of Jarbacoa, and then we headed back to Santiago.

Field trip #8: Aguas Calientes

The boys loved this field trip.  The river is bigger, and there are more areas to play.  The rocks are giant, and the boys said they looked fake because they were so big.  I love the hot springs that warm the little pool.  Last time I went, it was a Sunday and the place was packed with Dominicans.  This time we went on a Wednesday, so there were hardly any people.

We started off by looking at the characteristics and health of the river.  The boys did the tennis ball experiment, and calculated the water velocity.  They noticed how there was much less trash, and the area was better taken care of.

Then the boys swam around, splashing and climbing on the rocks.

We packed a picnic lunch and relaxed for a bit.  After lunch we went to the hot springs part.  We practically had it to ourselves.  It was neat for the boys to smell the sulfur in the water and understand where it came from.

It was a great field trip to end the year with.  I have begun to think about field trips for next year.  I really want to go to Haiti.  I am going to some more Taino caves soon that I might do again with the boys.  They really love the caves we have been to, and I could connect the caves to some science concepts for next year.  I would love to go to manatee bay and go snorkeling as we learn about ocean environments.  Lots of neat ideas and dreams for year #2 of The Reyes Academy.