Motivation!

An interesting development this week that stretched across the curriculum… intrinsic MOTIVATION! The children can’t stop writing during writing workshop, want to weave multiple baskets related to our read-aloud chapter book story, “A Nest for Celeste“, and math games. The LE classroom at Acera provides multiple opportunities for autonomy which has increase intrinsic motivation and self-regulated learning. If you would like to see a short piece on Motivation please check out this link.

Basket Weaving

The powerful mouse Celeste, in A Nest for Celeste, makes baskets to hold food scavenged from the dining room table and floor. She overcomes rat bullies, a raging hurricane, makes friends for life in this wonderful story set in the South. The LE Student learned how to weave tiny, mouse-sized baskets and then wanted to make baskets for “stuffies”, which is the name for the studded animals that have been coming into the classroom.

Then… a student had the idea to make a child-sized basket! Herbie suggested making 14 child-sized baskets, so that everyone in the class could have one! The whole class brainstormed materials that we can use for the basket to make it strong enough to hold a classmate, and if it works we can take on the Herbie challenge… making 13 more!!!

Embracing Challenge

It may be easy to make number combinations that add up to 10, but it is really difficult to put together this 9 card challenge! All sides that touch need to equal 10, and many children have tried with great persistence and grit! Our word sorts that teach phonics with cards, pictures and objects, have become a favorite, and you can often hear “I have done 20! I have only a couple to go!” They increase with progressive difficulty, and the children are learning a LOT about spelling, vocabulary, and conventions of print with the use of this tool.

The addition of partner reading has been a great motivator as well! I brought a huge bag of chapter books from home, and we got a shipment of “Henry and Mudge” books from Amazon… the books in a series really help children learn sight words and a repertoire of familiar vocabulary words.

Wright Locke Farm

We had a short but sweet time at the farm, and our goal is to spend one FULL day each month exploring and helping where we can. On the first trip our goal was to take a short walk, collect colorful leaves, and to do one sketch. The chickens were really friendly, so we plunked down on the gravel to sketch! The also had the chance to run (and roll) up and down the hills and meet with some of the staff! Thanks to Maggie, Kat, Jen, and Tracey for driving us over!

Happy Weekend!

Ms. Jen

Apple Picking Field Trip

We had a beautiful day at Parlee Farms in Tyngsboro. The sun was shining, a cool breeze was blowing, and the apples were red and ripe!!! There were so many highlights, but the children singing “LE, LE, Lower Elementary! SE, SE, Lower Elementary!” on the hay ride to the orchard was one of the BEST! Here are some of the pictures….

Thank you to our Class Parent, Maggie, and to our chaperones Mike, Kat, and Karen!

Collaboration and Cooperation

This week was marked by incredible collaboration and cooperation, as the Lower Elementary students explore interests across the curriculum. Partner reading, math exploration, and Keva block challenges. It has been exciting to see new friendships blossom and work partners become increasingly flexible.

Keva Plank Challenge

The children took a print-out inspirational Keva plank design, and made it their own by adding window blocks! A structure that started with two children became a project for all to enjoy, and at 4+ feet tall has been drawing visitors from around the school and beyond!

Observational Drawings & Plasticine Sculptures of Leaves

We have continued to explore our school and environment by drawing realistically. The leaves we choose from the playground last week were attatched to lined paper and Ms. Camilla taught the class to draw horizontle lines to create a leaf of the same size. The skills that the children have been using with our metal stencils and working with increasingly complicated strokes, has really helped them making light and dark veins of the delicate leaves.

Math Materials & Flexible Groupings

Literacy: Practice, Practice, Practice

Middle School Presentation: Birds of Trinidad and Tobago

Acera’s resident orinthologist Daniel Tripplet came by on Friday before snack to tell us about his trip to Trinidad and Tobago and share the beautiful photographs of birds that he captured. Tanagers,Vireos Finches with names like Violaceous euphonia enthralled the children. I was impressed that they gave Daniel their undivided attention for over 20 minutes! Before he left he invited the LE Students to come to the Middle School classroom anytime, “After all, we might be bigger than you are, but we have a lot in common.” We plan to do some research projects inspired by this presentation.

 

We ended last week with our first whole school assembly! We shared two of the songs that we have been singing, “We Are All a Family Under One Sky” and “A Little Wheel a Turning” Although some of the children felt shy at first, they all sang their best! They also were attentive listeners and active participants during the Rooster Story, shared by the teachers.

Apple Taste Testing

Thanks to Wesley and his family, we were able to taste test 11 different kinds of apples on Friday, writing our thoughts about the different tastes, colors, smells and textures. The Cox Orange Pippin and the Rhode Island Greening, were just a couple of the varieties that we had not heard of before! Wesley introduced each variety, each were cut into seven slices, and each was halved… 14! Our magic number!

Writing Happening Everywhere!

Notes to friends during Rest and Read, clipboard writing outside on the rope ladder, and letters written at lunch… children are writing everywhere! They know that writing is a form of useful and FUN communication and record keeping, and classmates are having fun with friends.

Finish-Up and Catch-Up Day

Friday was our first Finish-Up and Catch-Up day where children can spend the morning working together to finish-up projects and catch-up on assignments such as handwriting books, word sorts, and math assignments. One of the benefits of working at your own pace, is everyone can add the MOST careful detail into everything they do. One of the challenges is to make sure that everyone finishes up and has the sense of completion. This feeling of responsibility and ownership is an essential part of Lower Elementary, and our project based school.