Over the last five weeks second graders were part of a science unit learning about the water cycle. Students have been learning about three parts of the water cycle: evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Students learned a song to help them remember which way the water moves in each phase of the water cycle. During this Read More >>
Archives for October 2011
Probability
For six weeks in September and October students in grades 4 to 7 were part of a class learning about probability. We started the unit by having a mystery bag in which there were ten cubes. Students had to pull out one cube at a time and then put the cube back; they did this Read More >>
Book Club: Tuck Everlasting
Many of the older students have been reading the book Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Each time the book club met the students were given a set of questions on a bookmark that went with the next section of reading. Students were challenged to look beyond the text and search for answers to questions. Lively Read More >>
Writing Workshop: Living Forever
The fourth through eighth graders have been working on a writing piece based off the novel Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. In the story the main character is faced with a challenge to drink from a spring that could make her live forever. Students were asked to choose whether or not they would want to Read More >>
How Many Seeds are in a Pumpkin?
K +1st grade students explored how many seeds are inside a pumpkin. We started out by reading part of the book How Many Seeds are in a Pumpkin by Margaret McNamara. After we read about how the class in the book got messy and goopy emptying out pumpkins, we estimated how many seeds we thought were in Read More >>
Graphing
Students in the intermediate grades explored the many ways you can display data. The first information or data we considered was a list of our birthdays. How could we display this information so it would be easier to read and compare? Bar Graphs were the answer. Our graphs displayed the months of the year and Read More >>
Music with Ken
For many years Ken Hynson, Zerbie’s Step-Dad, has volunteered once a week to come and sing with the children. Each week he alternates singing with the younger and older students. Children learn the lyrics of songs appropriate to each age group. We have loved singing Puff the Magic Dragon, My Mother Gave Me a Nickel, Read More >>
Highland Forest Camping Trip October 2011
On October 6 the children at The New School set out to enjoy an overnight camping trip at Highland Forest. The weather was spectacular – blue skies, temperatures in the 70’s and yet there was a chill in the air during the night. The wood stoves in the cabins fixed that! On Thursday we hiked Read More >>
From Europe to the New World
For the older student, our early American History unit began in September with a study of the early explorers to the New World. The students were divided into four groups (countries): Spain, France, England and Holland. Each group is responsible for researching and presenting information on an explorer from their country. At school we have Read More >>
Pilgrims
Students in grades K-2 have been “time traveling” back to 1620 to explore what it would be like to be a Pilgrim setting sail on the Mayflower. Counting by 10’s, up to 390 years, students crawl through our time travel tunnel to go back in time and talk about what life is like in the Read More >>