Monkeys, Zebras, Giraffes, Oh My! October 25, 2007

Honolulu Zoo
The children loved visiting the Honolulu Zoo and going on a guided tour to learn about some of the mammals in residence. We had a fabulous guide who "talked" to the animals and got the animals to respond.  The children were thrilled with the chatter of Elvis, the gibbon ape, and the responses of the many animals we visited when our guide, Mr. Jason, would rattle his keys or call the animals by name.  Our fact-filled trip certainly had an impact on the students.  The following list includes some of the information the students learned during our visit:

• Cheetahs will eventually be extinct.  There are less than 1,000 in the wild. ZC
• Giraffes have black or purple tongues so their tongues don’t get sunburned.  CH
• Monkeys don’t like water, so there is water around their island so they won’t escape. EM
• Cheetahs are the fastest land animal.  They don’t run; they glide.  Cheetahs' feet are on the ground for two seconds out of two minutes. JC and ZC
• A giraffe's tongue is as long as an adult's arm. SY
• Water bucks don’t taste good to their predators.  JH
• Rhinoceroses can’t see very well.  They just bump into things.  MM
• Zebras go in groups because some animals can’t count, and the group of zebras looks like one big zebra.  Spider monkeys have a strong tail, so it’s like having another hand or foot.  KL
• There are two different kind of elephant,  the African Elephant and the Indian Elephant.  KM
• Giraffes stay under trees, and their coloring looks like the ground and the light that shines through the trees, and that way lions can’t see them.  LW
• All animals have different protection and defenses.  Different animals eat different things, like fruits and vegetables and meat.  TC
• Rhinoceroses can weigh up to eight tons, and their horns are made up of hair. AW
• Zookeepers carry keys so they ring the keys and the animals come because they think they are going to get food. MH
• The black Gibbon ape can blow up its throat really big because it wants to protect its territory. SA
• Hippopotamuses kill more people than crocodiles and lions and sharks.  Hippopotamuses kill 6,000 people per year.  The water buck’s horns are made out of hair. ER
• Horns don’t fall off.  Only antlers fall off.  AK
• Cheetahs can glide when they’re running.  SY
• Giraffes have long necks to eat the leaves on trees. KJ
• Hippopotamuses stay underwater a lot so their skin doesn’t get dehydrated and sunburned. SA
• The black monkey with pointy ears bangs on the trees, and when cheetahs hear the noise, they think it is a bigger monkey. LW
• The black monkey with pointy ears has orange babies because the dad monkey will hurt it or kill it because he wants to protect the girl monkeys. SA
• Lemurs have thirteen stripes on their tails. JH
• When a wart hog loses a tusk, it will grow back in a little while. KL
• Wart hogs are sometimes very dangerous because their tusks can hurt you. MM
• All mammals have hair. They don’t lay eggs - they give live birth. They are warm-blooded. They feed their babies milk. They all have seven neck bones. If they are swimming, they need to go to the surface to breathe. -Class

***Check out the photos from our trip in our Classroom Photo Gallery.***

"Animals in Art"
On Friday, October 26, The Academy of Arts Ambassador Program will bring its Museum in a Box "Animals in Art" unit into all the 1/2 classrooms. An artist will explain how different cultures at different periods in history represented animals in art. On November 2, we will visit the Academy for a docent tour of "Animals In Art" in the galleries, and the artist will return on November 7 for classroom art activities.

Pumpkin Carving
Our classroom is beginning to look like a pumpkin patch!  Thank you to all the families who have donated a pumpkin or who will be donating a pumpkin for our carving festival on Monday, October 29, from 12:30 to 2:00 pm.  The children can't wait to carve pumpkins!

Spooktivity
We're looking forward to seeing all the animals or animal-themed costumes from our class on Wednesday, October 31.  All parents are welcome to join us for the Spooktivity festivities from 12:30 to 2:00 pm.

Thank You
Thank you to the wonderful parents and family members who joined us on the field trip to the Honolulu Zoo: Steve Adams, Jill Cullinan, Wendy Handa, Carolyn Hersh, Theresa Kuo, Ann Loo, Tracy McConnell, Karen Mento, Torry Montes, and Sandy You.  Our class (and Ms. Revard's class) also enjoyed a special, refreshing treat from Theresa -- thanks for the yummy shave ice!  Thank you to ER for supplying Jackson with more scrumptious crickets.  Thank you to CH for the delicious Mega Chocolate Chip Cookie that the class shared to celebrate CH's birthday!  We were amazed at the circumference of the supersized treat!

Posted at 10:11 AM| Permalink

Humpback Whale Scientists: October 18, 2007

Humpback Whale Presentation
Whale and dolphin researchers from The Dolphin Institute (http://www.dolphin-institute.org/) treated our class to an informative presentation and interactive activities relating to humpback whales.  After the visit, the students reflected on what they learned and what they enjoyed doing with the whale scientists.  Here are some excerpts from the thank-you notes the students wrote:

• We learned about humpback whale behavior and how the primary male humpback escorts the female whale. -SY
• I liked when we had to guess what the female, the male, and the challengers were doing. -TC
• I learned that baby whales are as big as its mother's pectoral fin. -LW
• I liked watching the crittercam videos and learning about the baleen and the primary escort and the challengers.  I hope you get lots more crittercam videos!  -SA 
• I learned that they eat at Alaska and liked guessing who was acting like the female whale, primary escort whale and challenger whale. -KJ
• I learned that humpbacks go to Alaska to eat krill and they go to Hawaii to give birth. -KL
• Measuring the whale was fantastic!  I couldn't believe how big the mom whale was. -MH
• I liked measuring the size of a humpback whale and learning about how each humpback whale fluke is different, like a fingerprint. -MM
• I liked learning about whales. -ER
• I learned about whale flukes, their different fluke patterns and that whales eat in Alaska and migrate to Hawaii. -TC
• I learned that whales eat in Alaska and have their babies in Hawaii. -AK
• I enjoyed the migration game we played and measuring the size of the humpback whale. -JC
• I loved seeing the humpback whale finding the other humpback whale. -SY
• I liked the obstacle course and I also liked measuring how big a whale is. -CH
• I liked it when we watched the video and when we measured how big a humpback whale is. -KM
• I had fun studying whales.  It was funny when the primary escort made bubbles. -EM
• I learned that humpback whales only eat in Alaska. -ZC
• I liked playing the whale game and learning about the first place male whale challenging the second place male for the female. -JH

Awesome Storyteller
On Tuesday, the elementary school gathered to hear some great stories told by Lyn Ford, an acclaimed storyteller.  The students were mesmerized by her stories and rhythmic speaking!

Quilt Patterns
Our first grade mathematicians are busy working on designing quilt patterns.  The students are using a repeated unit to create a pattern and noticing how shapes come together to make new shapes when the quilt squares are placed together.  It's amazing how right triangles and squares become larger triangles, irregular trapezoids, parallelograms or rectangles when the quilt patterns are repeated.  After creating their quilt patterns, the students are transferring their designs to clear sheets using permanent markers to create "stained glass" quilt patterns to display in our classroom.

Thank You
Thank you to KL and TC for bringing in crickets for Jackson.  He is one happy Jackson chameleon!  Thank you to all the parents who helped our class make Spooktivity decorations for the dining room: Cliff Cheng, Tracy McConnell, Ann Loo, Sandra You, Laura Adams, and Wendy Handa.  The students loved stuffing Mr. Spider with newspaper and making trick-or-treating bags for Spooktivity.  If you have a chance to peek in the dining room and see Mr. Spider hanging from the ceiling, it is well worth the trip!  Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to send in pumpkins and help with carving.  The children are anxiously anticipating our pumpkin-carving party on October 29th.

Posted at 10:14 AM| Permalink

Animal Explorers: October 11, 2007

Ocean Animals

We learned all about Hawaii reefs and shores and the animals that inhabit these places on our field trip to the Waikiki Aquarium.  In particular, the aquarium docents talked about various habitats and the adaptations of plants and animals that help them to survive and thrive in a certain habitat.  The four different habitats discussed were sandy shoreline, shallow reef and tide pool, wave impact, and quiet-water.  Thanks to the parent chaperones for accompanying our class on this adventure!   There are a few photos from our field trip in our classroom gallery - take a peek and see!

We are transitioning from studying ocean plants and fish to ocean mammals.  Next week Tuesday, we have a dolphin and whale expert from The Dolphin Institute coming to talk to our class about ocean mammals.  We are excited that the timing of this classroom visit is in-sync with the natural migration of humpback whales from Alaska to Hawaii.  According to the Honolulu Advertiser, "The first humpback whale sightings of the season were reported this week by a Lahaina tour boat" (Honolulu Advertiser, Section B1, October 11, 2007).  We look forward to learning more about these amazing creatures!  ZC also brought in a book about whales and dolphins to share with the class.  Yesterday, we listened to numerous tracks of whale and dolphin sounds and played "Name the Animal."  The students were very good at determining what was a whale song and what was a dolphin song.  Here are a couple of the "songs" that we listened to.

02 Track 02-Bottlenose Dolphin.m4a

01 Track 01-Humpback whale.m4a

Inquiry Resources - Searching Online
Yesterday at our faculty meeting, the librarian for the middle school and high school spoke to us about the various resources that are useful for inquiry research.  Instead of just "googling" a subject, Ms. Kemble provided the faculty with a list of the MPI Library's online subscription databases for the Elementary School.  EBSCOhost is a subscription to magazine, newspaper, and reference articles.  The "Kids Search" feature is designed to be user-friendly for elementary students.  Another great resource is World Book Kids.  A handout will be sent home explaining how to log onto EBSCOhost and World Book Kids.  In class today, we explored these two search sites and looked up information on animals that relate to Halloween (see paragraph below).  These are two great resources for finding information for our inquiry studies!

Halloween Decorations
Next week Monday, our class will be working on Halloween decorations to make the dining room festive and spooktacular.  Since we're studying animals and dressing up as animals (or something related to animals) for Spooktivity, it is only appropriate that our decorations tie into the animal theme.  So, here we go with the bats (flying mammals) and spiders (arachnids)!  Thanks to Mrs. McConnell for being our go-to-gal and organizing this decorating event.  We will be having our Spooktivity craft day from 12:30 to 2:15 on Monday, October 15.  Please contact Mrs. McConnell if you would like to come create Halloween creatures with our class,

Food-Sharing Project
Our MPI community is supporting individuals and families reaching out for help by initiating a year-round "Sharing Food" project.  In Character Education, the students have been discussing ways to be compassionate and help others who are hungry and have limited resources for getting food.  Non-perishable food is collected on the third Thursday of each month. All food that is collected goes to St. Patrick's food pantry in Palolo Valley.   This month, the "third Thursday" is October 18.  Please send in any canned food donations by October 18.

Box Tops
It's amazing how quickly 5 cents here and 5 cents there can add up to over 30 dollars.  With the routine clipping and saving of the box tops, our class is banking some big bucks towards Box Tops for Education.  Your children's keen eyes have even spotted various sources of box tops in our classroom (the Band-Aid boxes and Ziploc boxes).  Thank you for continuing to save and send in box tops!

Thank You
Thank you to Tracy McConnell for providing our class and Ms. Revard's class with delicious pretzels on our field trip to the aquarium.  Thank you to all the parent chaperones who joined our class on the field trip!

Save the Date
Pumpkin Carving - Our class will be carving pumpkins on Monday, October 29, from 12:30 to 2:00 pm.  Tomorrow, your child will bring home a "Pumpkin Helpers Form."  If you would like to donate a pumpkin to the class or carve pumpkins and count pumpkin seeds with us, please fill out and return the form that will be sent home with your child on Friday.

Spooktivity - Wednesday, October 31, from 12:30 to 2:00 pm.  Come and join the elementary school for the Spooktivity parade (and see all the different "animal" costumes in our class).   

Posted at 9:43 AM| Permalink

New Class Pets: October 4, 2007

New Class Pets
We have a new addition to our classroom!  Thanks to the Imoto family (BI was a student in Mr. K's class), who donated a fish tank, complete with a filter, light, rocks, fish, and fish food! 

First-Grade Math
The first graders are continuing to explore features of shape in math workshop.  In particular, we have been focusing on identifying characteristics of triangles and quadrilaterals and developing language to describe 2-D shapes.  This week, the students were introduced to the Shapes computer software that accompanies the geometry unit in Investigations.  Using the SmartBoard, we explored various geometric ideas such as the combination of different shapes, geometric transformations (rotation and reflection), patterns, and symmetry.  The software uses three different shape sets (Pattern Blocks, Power Polygons, and Tangrams).  During math workshop, the students use these different shape sets, and the computer software provides yet another context for learning.  Compared to the "real" blocks that students manipulate, the Shapes software makes students be even more precise and intentional when manipulating geometric shapes.  When deciding how to fit a block into place, students must think about how much to rotate a shape and select a tool to complete the operation.  The computer software is also great for exploring vertical and horizontal reflection and the repetition of geometric shapes to create patterns.  While demonstrating the various features of the Shapes software on the SmartBoard, the students also practice describing shapes using geometric vocabulary.

"Diary" Stories
A number of groups began typing their "Diary of (an Animal)" stories this week.  After writing a first draft, reading their story aloud to the class, receiving peer feedback, conferencing with a teacher, editing their story, and writing a second draft, the students were ready to start typing their final drafts on the computer.  The students are using Pages, which is a word-processing program designed by Apple.  Compared to the previous Apple Works, this new program is user-friendly and very exciting to use!  We modeled typing and formatting a piece of writing on the SmartBoard, and then the students started to type away.  Quite a few groups have even elected to come in and work on their writing during recess.  Whenever I do not have supervision duty, the children are invited to work in the classroom. Nothing can stop these authors - not even recess.

Aquarium Field Trip
Our class will be visiting the Waikiki Aquarium next week Tuesday, October 9th.  Details about the field trip will be sent home with your child on Friday.  In preparation for our trip, we have been talking about vertebrates and invertebrates with respect to ocean animals.  The class is also reading The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor.

Thank You
Thank you to SA for donating the book You Are Special to our classroom library!  Thank you to AW for being a super scientist and finding a dragonfly nymph to bring in and share with the class.  With a Jackson chameleon, a dragonfly nymph, and fish, our classroom is turning into an animal exhibit!  We researched dragonfly nymphs yesterday (yeah, SmartBoard!) and KJ expanded on our learning by bringing in an insect book with information about dragonflies today.  Our learning never ends!

Thank you to the Yamada family for having an Edible Bouquet delivered to our class in celebration of SY's birthday.  What a delicious, nutritious birthday treat!  The students devoured the strawberries, grapes, honeydew melon, canteloupe, and pineapple!

Posted at 11:50 AM| Permalink