9/17/19

The kids enjoyed sharing their writing assignments this week!  Keep up the good work!

Our projects are coming along nicely!  They'll go home next week.

9/10/19

What a day!

The kids were able to see the newest baby goat, work in the garden with Ms. Miranda, and split up into chore groups to feed all of the animals!  Our lesson today was an overview of general health.  We talked about how people, just like animals, need to be healthy.  The class gave examples of things they do to stay healthy: eat right, exercise, take vitamins, etc.  I explained that each of those things helps keep us physically healthy, but that we should also include our emotional, mental, and social health.  I gave examples of how different animals need different things physically, but they also need to be with their herd or flock and not isolated, have attention and love, have things to keep them from being bored, etc.

Children love taking care of animals, and I use this as a bridge to help them understand our own needs.  At home, they will be choosing one of the animals on the farm and writing ideas of how to care for its physical, mental, emotional, and social health.  We'll share these in class.

In art, the students continued to work on their layered farm scene.  We will be finishing up the painting portion of this project soon and will be adding paper scraps and pieces of paint chips to create the details.



I love the enthusiasm and excitement in this group!  We try our best to keep things hopping.  We hop from indoors to outdoors, from listening time to "doing" time, from slower paced to fast paced.  This is intentional!  I will do my best to help these little ones learn to "change their channel" and switch modes, as needed.  It takes time to learn how to learn in a group, and I'm happy to lead them through this journey!

Beautiful, Sunny Day 1!

What a beautiful first day for the 1st-3rd grade class!





The students met all of the animals, getting an overview of the farm. They learned that billy goats are actually called bucks, that angora rabbits are super fluffy, and that there are huge differences between breeds of livestock! The class was also able to meet some 3 day old goat kids and spent the day checking on the other two pregnant does.








Whether it’s planting, breeding, hatching, or expanding, many aspects of farming involve making plans well in advance. We talked about the importance of setting goals on and off the farm. I asked a few students to help me with a demonstration. The kids each threw a ball into the air and caught it 3 times each. The class took note of how few drops were made. Then, I asked each kid to throw their ball up three more times, but this time they had to try to catch someone else's ball. Of course, they missed almost every time. The class discussed reasons for this difference. Then, I explained that this is a lot like setting goals for ourselves versus when other people set goals for us. If we take an active role in setting goals for ourselves, we are more likely to reach them!









After some fun animal time and a read-aloud, reach student came up with a personal goal for the year, which they drew on paper. In the next few weeks, we will be incorporating the concept of goals into our art project. We began our project by painting the backgrounds, but the class will see it really take shape next week!

5/13/19

Well, that's a wrap!

I must say, this year has been pretty magical.  I decided today that out of everything that I raise and grow here, I love growing little people the most!  We played and laughed and learned all year, and today was the cherry on top.  This group has come such a long way.  Not only have they learned new concepts, terms, etc., but they have learned how to communicate, how to give and take, how to display frustration in healthy ways, how to help others, and how to be responsible.  I am immensely proud of each and every one of them!

I hope the lessons they learned here on the farm help them to tackle obstacles, come up with solutions, handle disappointments, overcome heartaches, and revel in the beauty of this amazing life.  

5/6/19

The school year is definitely wrapping up... you can feel it in the air!  In May, the kids are always especially active.  So, we "got our wiggles out" many times today!

After our animal chores, the kids met inside for a little lesson on chicks, ducklings, turkey poults, and guinea keets.  (We mixed in some phonics as we talked about different ways that the long e can be written.)  Each of the different types of poultry have specific personalities!  The turkeys are usually shy and reserved.  They move slowly and duck and hide when they are scared.  In contrast, guinea keets are completely spastic!  They freak out and run at full speed, even running straight into things!  The class met a few babies, and then we got up out of our seats to duckwalk around the building.... yes, even me!

While they had snack, the class read their barn cat stories that they worked on at home.  Their writing has improved so much over the year.  By the end of our stories, the class was vibrating with energy once again!  We made our way to the yard, and the kids and I "shook it out" to some music!  I cranked up "I Know a Chicken", and the kids and I sang as loudly as possibly while shaking out "eggs" to the music!

Last week, the kids learned the importance of soybean farming.  They were able to see how slow the process of candle-dipping can be!  This week, each student was able to choose their own essential oil scent (or make a combination of their own), and then they made pour candles in 4oz jars.  We reviewed the terms transparent, translucent, and opaque.  I think they will remember those terms from here on out!

We ended our day with a game.  Two students were our livestock guardian dogs (or LGDs), and the rest were the foxes.  The foxes had to run across the yard and carefully step into their den (hula hoop) without knocking it down.  One by one, the foxes entered the den until it fell.  Then, they all had to sprint back to base before the LGD's caught them!

4/29/19

Last week, the class learned about quotation marks and how to use them.  They worked in groups to come up with short skits, with the farm animals as the characters.  They worked together to write down their stories, and then we created puppets for the animals.  This week, they added the finishing touches, practiced with their group, and then presented them to the class!  It was a perfect day for some outdoor theater!

Our rescue barn cats have been on the prowl and keeping the rat population here on the farm to a minimum.  One of the young cats, Mrs. Chippy, has made friends with the baby lamancha goats.  They hang out and play together, and they are even similar in color!  The class played an outdoor game called Barn Cats & Field Mice.  The three "cats" had to chase the mice and catch their "tails".  If the cat tagged them, they had to go sit out under the canopy.  But, the mice could grab an extra tail and rescue their friends!  There were sweaty faces and tired kids by the end!

Once inside, the class heard a short lesson on soybeans.  Most kids don't realize how useful soybeans are, and how they have many uses outside of being food!  I showed the kids a big bag of flaked soybean oil.  We talked about the difference between transparent, translucent, and opaque, and then the kids were able to see how heat changes the soybean oil from opaque to transparent.  In Swiss Family Robinson, the Robinsons just dipped wicks into an oil from berries to make candles.  I morphed our literature lesson with our agriculture lesson today, and the class was able to see how time consuming it is to dip candles!  At first, everyone was excited to give it a try... but once a few came up to participate, they realized that it would result in very delayed gratification!  We continued to dip the candles throughout the day, and the kids were able to see how the wax builds up to create a candle.  Next week, we'll work on a simpler and much quicker soybean oil candle so that the class will be able to take something home!