Enjoying the Garden

Just thought I'd share a couple of ideas I've tried to make the garden fun for my little guy.

Dinosaur Garden

And a dinosaur!

At the preschool we have a fairy garden for our students to play in. Bouncing on from this idea I decided to make a dinosaur garden at our house. It is a herb and veggie garden in a planter box. My little guy chose which seeds to plant and where to plant them. We then watered them and have been watching them grow. A week ago the dinosaurs moved in. I imagined that my little guy would move the dinosaurs around and make roaring noises, but that hasn't happened yet. He does, however, take care of the garden - watering it regularly and noticing the changes.

Veggie patch
We also have a larger veggie patch where we have enjoyed growing and harvesting snow peas, beans, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, corn (our favorite), silver beet, tomatoes, basil, tarragon, garlic, onion, lettuce, and broccoli.

Berries
We have two strawberry patches, some raspberries and three blueberry bushes. My little guy enjoys finding, picking and devouring the fruits.

Sunflowers
My little guy found sunflower seeds at the shops and wanted to get them for our garden. As they were only $1 I figured we could give it a go. It was exciting to watch the flower head grow and then close in. When the birds started eating the seeds we cut the head off and looked at the seeds together before husking and eating them.

Seeds
We've also collected and scattered seeds from other ants including coriander, parsley and marigolds.

Friday Fun - 2/4/10

The past couple of weeks have been exciting for a number of reasons. It was great to meet up with parents during the three-way interviews and to have the opportunity to discuss each child's learning and development. We have been doing lots of special things in the classroom and having fun with our learning.

Harmony Day Activities

For Harmony Day this year students wore orange and made a donation to the Red Cross efforts in Haiti. In the Year 1/2 and 2 classrooms we selected some activities for students to rotate through. One teacher taught students some origami, another taught students a game, another made a circle of decorated orange hands with them, and I played and discussed this video from explore.org. Our message was that everyone is different and we can appreciate and learn from the differences of others.

Earth Hour

We didn't do anything too spectacular for Earth Hour this year. We continued with our Friday Fun, but with all the power turned off. The room was darker, but not too dark. You would think that it would be quite easy to play with Lego without any power, however I did have students ask if we could put some music on, and I found myself itching to get on a computer and finish typing up students' stories! It's sad how reliant we become on electricity.

Cityscape Artwork

Year 2 students created cityscapes by cutting out paper buildings and then using black marker for adding detail. They added land and other features using oil pastels.

Excursion to the Botanic Gardens

The day of our excursion started out with a good bout of rain. It got so heavy at one point on the bus ride that we seriously considered turning around and returning to school. We decided, however, to continue as planned but to have something to eat in one of the classrooms before beginning our journey around the gardens. Finally the rain let up enough for us to move on. The Year 2s investigated the bridges throughout the gardens and completed booklets made by Miss Poore. The Year 1s explored the biodiversity of the gardens, pointing out interesting features of plants and insects. They also completed this booklet provided by the Botanic Gardens.

Bridge Building Day

Year 2 students brought in boxes and other items from home to use for building bridges. They were given some time to plan their design and then got busy with the building. It was great to see the designs they were coming up with and to see their responses to some prompts ie. "How do the cars get up onto the bridge?"

Year 1 Presentation

While the Year 2s built bridges, the Year 1s went through the photos that were taken during the excursion. They then created a PowerPoint presentation and speeches to share with the other Year 1 students to explain what they had seen and learnt at the Botanic Gardens. They enjoyed selecting the pictures to include and changing the background colours for each page.

9th Teaching K-6 Carnival

Welcome to the September edition of Teaching K-6 carnival. As readers in the Northern Hemisphere head into the new school year there are many bloggers sharing their advice on how to make the most of this important time of year. For those of us slogging away in third term, there are also a number of lists of useful resources for integrating technology in the classroom. Whether you're heading toward Fall or bounding toward Spring and the warmer weather, I hope you find something beneficial here this month.

Starting the New School Year

Mathew Needleman presents Back to School Week: Resources and shares his thoughts on Back to School Week: It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint posted at Creating Lifelong Learners.This timely reminder encourages us to spend time getting to know our students and looking for the gems of personality that make each person unique. He reminds us that it takes longer than a week to see the depth to the people who make up our classrooms.

Meaghan Montrose presents Study Tips and Learning Strategies for the New School Year and Back to School Tips to be Successful in Class posted at TutorFi.com. You might like to share some of these tips with your students or add them to your class website.

I also came across Back to School Overload by dobrien of Lifelong Learning about managing stress as school starts back. She shares her reflection of the adjustment period when returning to school after the summer break.

Wesley Fryer shared a video in his post Believe in Me at Moving at the Speed of Creativity. This video helps us to think of the big picture and to consider the preferences and futures of the children with whom we work.

Michaele Sommerville presents What This Teacher Thinks About Early Starts to Kindergarten posted at Kindergarten's 3 R's: Respect, Resources and Rants.

Brain Strain

At SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution, Dr David Rabiner writes about experimental research Comparing Working Memory Training & Medication Treatment for ADHD. Results from this study indicate that working memory training yields greater benefits in WM for children with ADHD than are provided by stimulant medication treatment. Furthermore, memory gains following training persist for a significant period.

Gary Andrew focuses on memory this month with his 10 Tips to Improve Your Memory posted at best online graduate degree, as does Justin Ontong with 7 Tips to Improve Your Memory and Study Power posted at phd degree.

In the News

Melissa Hedding presents Kids love Justice posted at Finds For Families. She says that when kids feel safe in the classroom, they're free to learn. She encourages us to use our authority to promote kindness and stop teasing in our classrooms today.

Wesley Fryer of Moving at the Speed of Creativity wrote about the inspiring story of Damon Weaver, student reporter, who achieved his dream of interviewing President Obama.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Republicans Bring "Classiness" To the Classroom posted at Mad Kane's Political Madness. Will Richardson also shares his thoughts on the Obama Speech at Weblogg-ed.

Innovate - Beyond the Slate

Thinking about starting up a dramatic play space in your Early Childhood classroom? This month Kelly Rockey shares 25 Incredible Kid’s Costume Ideas and Resources for Parents posted at Star Costumes Blog. Dressing up is so much fun for kids and with these links you will be able to build your dress-up box, providing new opportunities for imaginative play.

Katie Glennon reminds us to get outdoors and explore learning through real experiences in Using Nature Study to Study all Areas of Science posted at Katie's Homeschool Cottage. Katie points out how you can study science the natural way through nature, including areas of biology, physics, and chemistry, and without a textbook.

I was recently asked about which digital media students should become familiar with in Years K-6. This month Margaret Garcia presents an overwhelming list of 100 Essential Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers posted at Online Degree. She also shares 100 Awesome iPhone Apps to Organize Your School Life posted at Online Bible Colleges.

For those of you wanting to pretty-up your websites or blogs, Alisha Harmann presents Top 50 Web Design Education Blogs posted at Designer City, USA. It looks like you could spend a good day working your way through the links here and picking up tips. In 13 Enlightening Case Studies of Social Media in the Classroom posted at Best Online Universities.com Alisha shares what is happening with social media in a number of schools (predominantly universities, but you may still find ideas that can be translated to a K-6 setting).

Still on the topic of social media, Allison Johanson presents 25 Excellent Social Media Sites for Teachers posted at Top Online University Reviews. She separates sites into those to share with students and those for teachers only. These suggestions are great for connecting with other teachers and students for collaboration and networking.

This month I share Tech Tips Tuesday from my own blog where I give examples of how you can use an Interactive Whiteboard to take the roll and monitor early finishers.

Look No Further

Hannah Watson has some great links to share with parents in 100 Best Websites for Free Homework Help posted at Online Courses.org. You may even find some useful for personalising learning in the classroom.

Barbara Williams presents 25 Surprising Facts About China’s Education System posted at Teaching Tips. This makes for an interesting read, but as with all facts you read online, I recommend checking the sources rather than blindly accepting these representations.

Kakie at Bur Bur & Friends: Community Park shares some books with GREAT ideas to get kids moving in all areas of the curriculum. "Here are some fun ways to incorporate learning different things and physical activity. Early education is the key to promoting a healthy lifestyle. What a way to create memories in your classroom!"

One Family presents List of Elementary School Textbooks – ISBNs, Used and List Prices – Teachers and Home School Editions posted at One Family's Blog. This is a listing of elementary school teacher's and homeschool edition textbooks used in the USA.

Anne Simone presents 100 Terrific Twitter Feeds for Teaching Advice posted at Online Universities.com, 100 Useful Resources for Teachers and Students of Open Source posted at Online School and 50 Eye-Opening Unschooling Blogs posted at Online Best Colleges.com.

Kate Hopkins presents 10 Lessons Every Student Can Learn From Einstein posted at Online College.org and 15 Predictions for the Library of Tomorrow posted at Online Degree Programs.org.

Karen Schweitzer presents 25 Places to Find Free Printables, Worksheets, and Lesson Plans Online at I Want to Teach Forever and 20 Free Learning Technology Resources at Teaching Challenges.

Emma Taylor presents 100 Best Blogs for Teachers of the Future posted at Clear View Education Blog. Teaching Challenges didn't make the cut, but there are a number of my favourites that did, so the list is definately worth checking out. She also presents 100 Most Educational iPhone Apps posted at AccreditedOnlineColleges.org.

Christopher Dawson promotes Variquest in Variquest proves it’s OK to use paper sometimes posted at Education IT.

Why not submit your post for the next carnival?

The Teaching K-6 Carnival is posted monthly on the 7th, however will be on hiatus for the month of October. I will be collecting submissions throughout the next two months, looking in particular for posts that discuss and exemplify innovative teaching and the integration of technology in the K-6 classroom. I also invite some discussion around education related news articles and a few "brain strains" to keep our minds alert and challenged. Please submit only articles of which you are the author and refrain from using this merely as a sales pitch. For full details, please read my call for submissions.

If you have a relevant post that you would like to submit to the next edition of teaching k-6 carnival use our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Tech Tips Tuesday

This Week's Tip: Take Note of the Beauty Around You

With all the buzz and hype of Web 2.0 - developing a PLN, connecting online, and finding open education resources - I sometimes find that I haven't managed to leave the house all day. I've been so busy doing 'stuff' online that I couldn't tell you whether there was a gentle breeze blowing, or whether the roses are blooming, or the colours in the sunset. Tonight I took my dog for a walk. I looked at the ants crawling up the bark on the trees. I noticed the sun setting over the mountain ranges. And it really is beautiful. So my tech tip this week is to take note of the beauty around you. Capture it, if you can, and share it.

Someone who does this particularly well is Tony Farley. Tony has created some marvellous videos of Beautiful Places in High Definition. The images are breathtaking and the narrative well thought out. Tony gives a description of the place and its history. He then gives you a moment of silence to experience the place for yourself. Tony finishes up with a poem carefully matched to the place he is visiting. Watching these videos is the next best thing to visiting the places in person. The quality of the filming is a visual delight. To view these for yourself, you can watch them streamed from the website or subscribe and download them through iTunes.

I plan to introduce these films to my students early in the school year. I will then get them thinking and talking about local nature areas within walking distance of the school. We will travel to these places, record the area through video, still photos and audio recordings. Students may choose to respond further through researching the area, and recording their thoughts or reflections in poetry. The images and narrative can then be combined through Photostory 3 or Movie Maker. To take it even further, I will help my students to develop a wikispace to share their reflections with others. We can open it up to other people in our school community who also enjoy this local natural environment.

Another suggestion (for those who cannot work with local natural environments) is to encourage students to connect Creative Commons pictures to poetry written by others or to create poems of their own to go with the images. I have done this with Kindergarten in the past - writing haiku poems about images from cut-up nature calendars. I've also done it with Year 3 by running a slideshow of images for students to select from and write a poem about.

I guess my main message this week is not to ignore the beautiful world we live in but rather to cherish and absorb it.

Bugs!

Aussie kids seem to love bugs and creepy creatures. A couple of weeks ago, we visited the blog of 2M Gems, to see the class pet praying mantid. We borrowed some books from our library on bugs and insects, and ever since, seem to be finding them in our classroom and playground! Here are a couple that we found lately.

Stepping Back to Watch

Today is World Teachers' Day. I'm not really sure what that means elsewhere in the world, but in my school we wear badge for the day and some of the kids and parents say thank you. It doesn't really take up any of the teaching time or have any other impact on the day.

Today we also had our Walkathon. This last week I've been very busy trying to get all the notes sorted - permission slips, sausage sizzle notes, sponsor forms, medical information... I was frustrated trying to chase it all - not that I blame the parents, it was just A LOT of notes. On top of that, the notes were supposed to be collected in all different places by all different people, and then they put a ban on printing more of the medical forms, so I had to email them out! Aaaahhhh!

So, today, it was nice to have that all sorted and to be able to head off to the park for the day.

The walkathon went well. The kids enjoyed being out walking in the park and the scenery was truly beautiful. Every now and then a couple of kids whinged about how they'd like a break, but isn't that just what you do on a walkathon? A few of my boys decided to run it and got 8km done instead of the 4 that everyone else did. We had a sausage sizzle lunch and then had one of those: "So what's next?" moments. I don't think we had been told what was supposed to happen, and I don't remember reading it anywhere, so we took the kids for a play under a couple of really big trees.

At first the kids didn't know what to do. They looked a little lost and confused - how do you play without equipment or balls? After a few false starts: "No! We're not climbing trees!...Or swinging on trees!...Or hitting trees with sticks!" they seemed to get the hang of it. And, before long, they were completely absorbed in their own little nature games. It was fascinating to step back and watch what they were doing and observe how their play progressed without any direction from teachers. I saw some really great learning taking place - the sort of learning that you couldn't plan for!

It began with some boys discovering that you could hit sticks into the ground with another bigger stick...

They started digging holes and ditches as well...

The girls caught on and made some stick structures of their own...

Of course, not all of the Year 1 kids got involved. There were other games happening as well. Some kids started a game of 'families' or 'house' or whatever they call it these days. Some kids did clapping games, or walked around singing the 'schnappy' song. Some determined how high they could kick their leg up on a tree. And some built a home for a moth they found (until it blew away). There were a few who struggled to think of anything at all to do, and spent the time feeling bored. It was REALLY fascinating to watch how they amused themselves.

When we got back to school I continued with some sense of the 'free play' idea. We had a quick story and then I gave the kids big sheets of chart paper. I suggested that they could use these sheets to make a huge picture with a small group. I also suggested they could make an amusement park - or something. The cooperative work was great and the kids really enjoyed what they were doing. It was fun and I enjoyed seeing what they created together.

So, point of the story? I used World Teachers' Day 2008 to step back and watch what my students can do without me!