Learning About Mammals at the Zoo

Learning Trip to the Zoo
Our learning trip to the zoo was very special because of all the wonderful parents who joined us, our docent, Mr. Jason, and, of course, those incredible, fascinating mammals. Mr. Jason has had a lot of experience in the wild and at the zoo with all kinds of animals, so he was full of interesting information that got us all thinking about animals and ourselves. Parents and children alike were full of inquiries, and we all were enriched by this experience. The children and I enjoyed writing about this visit in our journals.  A big "Mahalo" to all the Magic Stone Parents who made our learning trip special!

Pumpkin Carving
We have six beautiful, big pumpkins sitting in our room! It looks a bit like autumn on the farm!  Oh, of course, there is also our handsome, little pumpkin, Senor Pumpkey, who writes the children messages each day on the Morning Meeting board. The children enter the room each morning anxious to read what he has written to them.  We have decided to see how long we can keep him. In a story we are reading, Pumpkin Jack, a little boy is sad to take his jack-o'-lantern out to the garden after it begins to rot. The kids decided we should see how long we can keep Senor Pumpkey, who has become our class mascot. They decided that if he is still around for Thanksgiving, we can make him into a turkey; at Christmas he can become a snowman or Santa, on St. Patrick's Day a leprechaun, and at Easter a bunny. This will be a very interesting and fun science/art project, I think.  We'll keep you posted!

I have enough parents for the Pumpkin Carving on Monday, October 29, from 12:30 to 2:00, but some parents will need to leave early, so if any of you would enjoy helping out, just come along. I need all parents who signed up to bring a good, sharp cutting tool that you will use to cut the children's designs.A good scraping tool for the insides would help, too. While you are cutting, the kids will be busy counting seeds. Thank you to all who donated pumpkins and to those coming to carve on Monday!

Inquiry Research
The room is nearly transformed into desert, temperate forest, rain forest, ocean, and Hawaii habitats.  We will be beginning our research on these habitats and specific animals in them. I will be sending a note home soon asking parents to sign up to help with our Inquiry research. You will enjoy helping the children read information about their particular inquiry and write it in their own words. The 2nd Graders are already quite accomplished at this, but the 1st Graders will need a little more support. 

Magic Stone Party
Last Friday we celebrated AS's birthday and combined it with a Magic Stone Party. What fun! The children voted to play Halloween games and came up with "Pin the Mouth on the Ghost" and a version of "Duck, Duck, Goose" that they called "Ghost, Ghost, Goblin."  Ms. Pang, AS's mom, provided ice cream and, of course, we all danced.

Be sure to check the photo gallery for some great shots of your children enjoying their learning at MPI!

Posted on October 25, 2007 2:49 PM | Permalink