Welcome from the Loving Lava!!

Greetings! It’s back! The ever popular OCS blog! For folks who are new, the goal of this blog/newsletter is to share with you some of the experiences that are happening in your children’s classroom. From math games we are playing and what we are reading and writing to what we are learning in theme, you’ll find it here. I hope these classroom updates help initiate colorful, detailed and meaningful conversations with your children about their experiences throughout the week.

This first entry is a bit overwhelming; we have done SO much this fall! So, I decided to do a photo entry that focus on some of our time spent learning together and a bit about our studies in geology.

Earlier this fall we began learning about different lifeskills, skills that we will always need in our life. Our first was friendship and what it means to make and keep a friend. It was fun playing getting to know you games and learning a bit more about each other. Some of us had to think pretty hard to come up with something that no one already knew! We discussed what it means to be a friend, how to show friendship, and how to make a friend. We learned how to make friendship bracelet and gave them to our younger buddies. And as most of you know, the kids put their great friendship bracelet making skills to use for a good cause by selling them to help raise money for our Cycle for Water fundraiser. Such an amazing group of kiddos!

This month we have focused on cooperation and helping others. We are so incredibly helpful and cooperative, every time I turn around someone has something to add to our poster of examples of us using cooperation in our classroom and lives or helping others. A few things that are on the list…”getting math supplies for a partner math game while another gets pencils,” helping to make breakfast for my family,” “cleaning up our classroom,””holding the heavy outside door open for our younger friends." The kids thought it would be fun using cooperation to build human pyramids!

SNOW DAY!! Now this snow creature took some serious teamwork (and a whole lot of FUN!). Making the three large snowballs together was not too difficult once there were 3 people rolling the ball. When it was time to assemble, that took some ingenuity! After the kids gathered up as many kids and adults they could fit around the giant snowball and discovering that we could not lift it high enough, the problem solving began. One kid mentioned building a ramp thus beginning a search of the playground for anything that could fill in for a ramp and ta da- top of the toy chest! And with lots of muscle, encouragement, and directing they got it done!

In geology, a few highlights have been learning about the types of volcanoes and then creating each kind…. We also learned a bit about Yellowstone and geysers, fumaroles, mud pots, and hot springs. The kids created their own experiments to model each one. They gave me the list of supplies they might need, I put them out and presto a bubbling mud pot made of coco powder, baking soda and vinegar and a geyser with baking soda and vinegar and a lid with a straw poking through that really let the geyser blow!

The trip to Burke Museum was really interesting! We saw uncut diamonds (!!) and many beautiful gems with many ooooohs, aaaaaahs and “Jeriann, you have to see this!!” It was a great kick off for us to learn about rock and minerals. This week we learned about the different types of rocks, how they are made, and the rock cycle.

We had our second trip to the food bank this last Friday. WOW! These kiddos get things done! Yeah! It was 45 minutes of nonstop work as kids opened boxes, took out the fruit bowls and put them in the crates. As they worked with their younger buddies they developed different systems to help each other out or to be more efficient. A couple of pairs joined up as one tore the packaging off, one snapped the fruit bowls apart and the two others put them in the crate - phew!

K. finally lost her other front tooth and I just couldn't resist taking this photo. CUTIE PIES!