Insectapolooza Mystery Gest

Mike Wolfin, a graduate student from Cornell’s Department of Entomology, was a recent "Mystery Guest" at The New School. As a spokesperson for Insectapolooza, he brought with him a stick bug that both excited and captivated all our students. Mike shared his passion for chemical ecology and his own research. He shared photographs of microscopic samples which engaged and intrigued even the youngest of our students. The second and third graders have been part of an in depth study of bees. Mike discussed all of the senses and how insects use them in ways we cannot. This gave the students the opportunity to compare their senses to bees and other insects such as ants, crickets and stick bugs.Mike will be returning to our school for an encore bringing with him a "Mystery Animal"!

Mystery Guest - Hartwood Farmers

“Two mystery guests in one week,” the children shouted with glee! Our second mystery guests of the week were Matt Robinson and Maryellen Sheehan, farmers and owners of Hartwood Farm. Their 70 acre farm sits in the hills of Fenner, about 2 miles east of the windmills. They were invited to The New School to support our study of Mesopotamia, especially irrigation and farming. Matt and Maryellen explained how they irrigated their farms and the challenges and pleasures of growing organic vegetables and fruit for their CSA members. A lively discussion took place about “good” and “bad” bugs and how the weather impacts their harvests. 

B.F.G Read Aloud

Our youngest children (kindergarten and 1^st) loved listening to Johnna, our student teacher,  reading The B.F.G. by  Roald Dahl. This is a fantasy story that explores the B.F.G.’s kidnapping of Sophie. He carries Sophie away to giant country and leads her on an unforgettable journey. The students really enjoyed being about to draw in their sketch books and being able to make predictions as Johnna read. 

Mummies in the Morning Book Club:

Six students took part in a book club and read Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborn. This book club gave the students a chance to further their knowledge about mummies and pyramids. At book club meetings the students shared predictions for the up coming chapters, responded to comprehension questions, and worked through packet pages. 

Letters Home

 This fall, students in 3^rd through 6^th grades were introduced to letter writing by our student teacher, Johnna. Students began by exploring the elements of a friendly letter; including the heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature. Each student was asked to share or brainstorm interesting events that had happened at school. From this brainstorm they chose a different topic for each body paragraph. After writing a rough draft in their notebooks it was time for a peer edit. During the final week of class, the students learned how to address an envelope and put all of the pieces of their letters together. Then their letters were mailed home!

Friendship Bracelets and Boondoggle fun

Johnna, our student teacher, enjoyed sharing her interest in arts and crafts activities during investigations. She choose to teach the students how to make friendship bracelets. Each student was given the chance to make a friendship bracelet to then give to a good friend.

Boondoggle was another way Johnna engaged her students in conversations. This activity also gave some of the students a chance to teach others what they had learned. The students really enjoyed creating boondoggle key rings. 

Data and Graphing

This fall the younger group of students in 2^nd and 3^rd  grades began a data class with Johnna our student teacher. Throughout this class the students demonstrated the ability to collect numerical data, represent class data in a variety of ways and develop language used to interpret data. Johnna modeled each step before the students were free to complete them on their own. We learned how to tally when collecting data, and how bar graphs and pictographs are ways to represent collected data. The students  answered questions to interpret the data. They worked through multiple steps:

Step 1: choose a question to investigate

            Step 2: collect and record data

            Step 3: organize the data

            Step 4: represent the data

            Step 5: describe and interpret the data

Each student went around the school and collected data about a question they choose in small groups. They had to organize their data and then began working on a bar graph to represent the data.