11/26/18

Brr!!

It was chilly today, but we got out and spent some time in the fresh air!  The class chose their new animals to care for over the next few weeks, and even though it was cold, they did a great job tackling a new task!

Our Farm Fusion lesson was on guineas.  We had just wrapped up a turkey lesson, and guineas have a lot of similarities to turkeys.  They both have no feathers on their heads, and they both have 28 day incubation periods.  We talked about some of the big differences, though!  Their personalities are completely different (especially the poults and keets!), and they originated from entirely different continents.  We talked about their African roots and read an African folktale, "Guinea Fowl and Rabbit Get Justice".  Like most folktales, this story was one passed down through the generations and teaches life lessons.  We discussed the important lessons that it was trying to teach, and they will have an opportunity to work on their own (if they choose)!

We added a little bit of phonics to our guinea lesson today.   Because "guinea" makes a long e sound with an ea, and "keet" makes a long e sound with ee,  we talked about the tricky long e sound and how it can be made with ey, ie, y, ea, ee, or just e.  We made a chart on the board, and the kids discussed different examples that we could add to each column.  Hopefully, it will help with their at-home spelling and reading lessons!

Next, we worked on making snowflake ornaments out of pasta!  The kids first took time to work on some designs with different types of pasta.  Then, they glued the pieces together and laid them to dry on wax paper.  We will paint these next week!

11/12/18

Yuck!  Today was our first nasty, rainy day of the school year here on the farm.  I handled all of

the soggy animal care before class began, so the kids didn't have to go out in that mess!

As the rain steadily poured, we were nice and toasty inside!  We began our day with a turkey review.  The kids did an amazing job with their creative writing assignment, and I was pleased to see so many using the terms that they used last w

The class drew names for a little ($10 max) gift exchange.  They will be keeping these a secret until the last day of class before Christmas break.  We'll celebrate in class under the tree on 12/10!

The turkey paper quilling projects were amazing! They completed the feathers and feet today, and they were able to take these home. I am very impressed with the skill and the determination that the kids showed with this. When I presented this, I explained that I had other plans just in case this was too tedious. Not one student opted for the easier version!

The rain really puts a damper on "getting our wiggles out", so we had to stop for an impromptu dance party!  First, we turned the Chicken Dance into the Turkey Dance.  Then, we just cranked up some music and jumped, danced, and twirled!  There is no way on Earth kids can stay cooped up for that long AND stay focused.  It's good to get up and move!

11/5/18

The animals were all so happy to see the kids this morning!  Everyone was fed, brushed, and loved before we began our class day.  After a little "Farm News", which involved a tale of coyotes and a knocked down fence in the middle of the night, we began a lesson on turkeys.  The class learned some "Turkey Terms", and they wrote them onto their sheet.  They learned about toms, poults, caruncles, snoods, and all sorts of funny words!  Hopefully they will be able to incorporate some of these into this week's writing assignment!  

Next, the class took turns reading their writing assignment on their favorite farm animals.  We picked out sentences from them to discuss and review facts and opinions.

Art today was a complicated project for this age group!  I explained that they did NOT have to attempt paper quilling unless they wanted to (I had another method available that involved less fine motor coordination), but each and every one of them insisted on it!  First, they created the bodies of their tom turkeys.  Then, they used actual quilling tools and quilling strips to add feathers.  This is not easy for this age group, and they rocked it!  We'll finish them up next week!