T is for Thanksgiving!

I decided that if we had to go to school on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving while our neighboring counties did not, we were going to have fun!

There's not much time in the curriculum for learning about Pilgrims and Native Americans and other random Thanksgiving facts, so why not devote 2 days to it?

We read about the history of the first Thanksgiving feast which really wasn't called that after all. It was called the harvest feast. Did you know there was lobster and popcorn at this feast? I'm going to make sure someone in my family is told to bring that to Thanksgiving next year (not me!).

We also read how the men got to eat and play games while the women had to cook and clean and serve and take care of the kids. We learned that the children had to eat standing up and couldn't speak until spoken to (gasps).

We learned that the children had to forage for berries and nuts, so we went outside and tried it for ourselves.

I gave them 3 minutes to gather as many acorns as they could.

Then, they had to put them into groups of 10 to count.

Some of them had very interesting foraging techniques.

 There was the "throw everything you can scoop up with your hands into your shirt then pick out the acorns later" technique.

And the "grab some, throw them on the sidewalk for safety and go back for more" technique.

And of course the "bring them to the sidewalk in pre-counted groups of ten so I don't have to count them later" technique.

None of them thought it was funny when I pretended to be a hungry squirrel. Or a tornado. Or just myself.

So we went inside to do some arts and crafts. Despite what some of you think (Dad) we did not actually have time to trace our hands and make turkeys.

Instead we made "I am thankful for..." wreaths. We were learning about the suffixes -ful and -less and I thought "I am thankless" wreaths were not appropriate.

This one got a bad grade because they forgot to add "my teacher". That thankLESS little darling...

We read another story about what the actual trip on the Mayflower was like. We learned that the only thing they had for almost three months was hard biscuits, moldy cheese, dried beef, and water.

The week before, I told my class that I would be bringing in some food so we can have a "mini meal" of our own. We even made a menu of food we would have. After reading this story, I told them I decided to bring beef jerky, old biscuits, bleu cheese, and maybe they could have a sip of water from the water fountain.

I said that they all had to eat standing up and not talk unless an adult talked to them first. They did not find this funny.

One little wiseguy suggested the girls serve the boys. The girls did not find this funny.

But it turns out that our mini-meal was "delicious", "the best thing ever!", and "sooooo awesome!".

The menu:
Turkey (roll-ups)
Mashed Potato(chip)s
(pop)Corn
Green (jelly) beans
Cranberry (soda)
Mini pumpkin pies
Mini crescent rolls
Mini carrots
Gingerbread marshmallows that some one's grandmother sent in

I sent them to P.E. and they promised me they wouldn't get sick.

You can probably see why I needed that 5 day break. Only one change next year...we WILL make those hand print turkeys!

N is for Natural (Part 2)

In case you didn't read Part 1 of N is for Natural, read it first!

We had a writing prompt in October:

Pretend you are a pumpkin. Convince Farmer Buckler to pick you to be her jack-o-lantern.

They loved it. We chose a class favorite and that person got a pumpkin prize.

The darlings were more determined for this writing prompt because they knew there was going to be a prize (which I don't usually do - YOUR GRADE IS YOUR PRIZE!):

Pretend you are a turkey. Convince Farmer Buckler to NOT pick you for her turkey dinner!

I have decided there is not going to be a class favorite. There is going to be a TEACHER favorite this time.

I think Sassy really embraced the fact that we all (humans and animals) have a digestive system.

It's been on her mind all week.

This is her turkey letter. I have just realized that she did not have me correct her rough draft, so do your best to translate the words. I'm more about voice than conventions anyway.

Click on the picture to make it larger.

Cliffhanger! I know you want to read the rest!






You really want to know what you are not "abol" to do to that turkey!
 



I know you are wanting me to show you the rest right now!




Okay!

You will not be abol to...

I needed a brown bag to breathe in after this one!

Oh, but wait! She didn't have room for her closing.

You can read the rest of the letters if you'd like. However, I'm pretty sure you'll agree that this one is the best.

N is for Natural

I've had this picture on my camera. I was trying to find the words to put with it that would make it all make sense.

Well, I don't know if it will ever make sense, but we DID make a connection today.

When we were learning about energy, we talked about how animals and plants get energy from food. We talked about the Food Guide Pyramid. Then, we talked about digestion. 

I'm sure you know where I'm going with this...

I decided not to post the picture because I don't want any text book companies hunting me down and suing me for copyright infringement.  Not that any textbook company people read this blog.

Anyway, I decided I will DESCRIBE the picture to you. Teammates: we will know exactly which picture I am talking about. You'll probably even know the page number...

The picture was of a little girl. On this picture of a little girl, there was an illustration of the digestive organs. It shows that food goes in the mouth, down the esophagus, then to the intestines. It showed the END of the intestines in a way that looks like a totally different body part.

I knew this subject was coming, so I gave this little speech: "Okay. We are going to read about how our bodies use food for energy and there is going to be a picture that is kind of...interesting.  You are going to want to laugh, but we need to be mature second graders (as I laugh inside)."

We then turn the page and see the "looks like a totally different body part" end of the intestines right away. The looks on their faces are extremely comical. Some kids (mostly boys) snicker into thier hands. All of the girls look confused. They are pretty sure girls DON'T have "those parts" in on in our bodies.

I explained all of the parts (except for the little, round, green thing that looks like a jelly bean- I'm not quite sure what that is). We talked about where are stomachs and intestines are. 

Someone asked this:

"So if we have a rumbly right here (lays hand on lower abdomen) then it's NOT our stomach?!" 

Another student answered:

"Nope...that rumble means you need to go to the bathroom. Unless it's gas."

We all eww!-ed and giggled. Then I calmed them down and said, "Alright you sillies, all of our bodies do this. IT'S NATURAL."

(By the way, I think they all answered this part of the test correctly.)

Flash forward to today.

A mounted deputy visited us for the Great American Teach In. He was explaining how he uses his horse for crowd control. He said (and I paraphrase) that if someone doesn't move for the side of the horse, he shows them the BACK side of the horse. He then turned the horse around to show us its backside. 

Princess says, "Eww! What if the horse poops on them?"

One sassy little darling shrugged her shoulders and said, "Be mature...IT'S NATURAL!"

H is for Heat

We've been talking about Energy in Science. Yesterday, we we're reviewing heat (yeah, we're a little behind, teammates).

We read how even our bodies have heat inside and we have a normal body temperature. This question came up:

Doogie Howser, Jr: Ms. Buckwer, what does it mean when we have a fever?

Me: It means that our body is working really hard to fight off germs.

Doogie, Jr.: Wewl, does that mean we get more cowlds in the winter when it's cowld outside cause our body is too cowld inside to burn up the germs?

Me: Quite possibly...I'll check into that for you.

That's all of this story right now...I'm going to go Google some stuff...