Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn Adventures

Last year the middle school students learned about their world through Sonlight's Eastern Hemisphere, but finding an interesting curriculum for younger grade levels posed a problem.  Until, that is, we discovered History Pockets.  Sometimes teaching "facts" day after day is just too boring! We changed to a curriculum that gives students the same learning opportunities as the original curriculum, but with a hands on approach. Teaching time takes twenty minutes, and coloring and crafts takes much longer, but when you double this class with the reading of a Magic Tree House book related to your pocket, you have a couple of VERY happy students. Best part of all? After each book study, students have a finished project with everything they've learned.

We just finished our Ancient China study. This was one of my favorite pockets, especially when it gave a student an opportunity to lead. She was very happy to be "teacher" for History this day.

Teaching us how to count to ten in Mandarin. 

Serving Jasmine Tea

Now why is it they listen closer, give their full attention, and enjoy class so much more when they teach themselves?! Hmmm....maybe I should give them leadership opportunity more often? 

Real life experiences. Real tea parties. Real China.

Working on contractions at Global Treehouse combines visual learning with the rules of spelling! 

Not to forget Science! Yes, we study science in first grade; doesn't everyone? What better way to make the study of deserts come alive than a field trip to the Botanical Gardens? 

Learning happens even during recess!

Science was taught and the students had questions to answer.  The life skill here is the ability to go back and review the lesson and find the answers to those tough questions.

Our Halloween Treat! 

Ghost Bananas and Clementine Pumpkins!

Art Class: Crayon Resists Spider Webs

We were too busy creating spiders out of random art supplies to get pictures of the finished product. Too bad, because their creativity and imagination created fantastic spiders.

A game of math facts was a welcome break from the book! 

Knowing this is a "standard fall picture" doesn't take anything away from the joy these children experience on a warm autumn day between the concentration and the challenges they must overcome in class. (If you haven't taken one of these pictures for awhile, don't miss your opportunity!) 

Fall Fun

Visual Behavior Chart 

This has to be one of the most useful tools I have ever used in school. If students are having a particularly hard day, their clothes pin is moved to orange or red. This gives them a visual warning, and they typically change their way of doing things and move back up without me having to tell them to "stop" or "no". 

Our class pet for the day apparently hitched a ride from piano lessons! 

A tin home provided an interesting opportunity of nature watching. 

If we study volcanoes in science, 

you better believe we are going to do the volcano science experiment!

I expected teaching first graders how to weigh an apple on a triple beam balance scale to be challenging. 

It took one lesson and they mastered it! 

It's Fall Y'all! 

 Peel off the paper on our crayons, 

make some leaf rubbings and turn leaves 

into different kinds of creatures using markers!

After enjoying this book, 

we decided to do an owl art project. 

Oh to have the eyes of a child again...where every idea is a masterpiece, 

every finished project, an accomplishment. 

Creativity at its best!

Each new season brings interesting topics to study. 

Fall's subjects so far: apples, leaves and owls! 

Let's take this pellet apart and see what this owl had for dinner!

Owl pellets are fascinating examples of nature. 

Does the owl really digest everything except the bones?  

It looks that way to Global Treehouse students. 

Wait...give me that magnifying glass again!

Keeping track of our studies and learning to organize ourselves through the use 

of a schedule is perhaps one of our most important and useful skills.

A Year of "FIRSTS"

First Day of School! First Grade! 

Welcome to a new year and a new experience. 

Get ready, here we go...there is so much to learn! 

Organization: the first lesson. 

History lesson:  The first people and how they collected from nature to make dyes and artifacts. 

It's great to have books - even better to have experiences.

Quiet work at a desk can be exciting, too. 

Especially after seeing first hand how weather effects us.

A tornado in a bottle shows students the force of nature,

...and daydreaming about summer clouds is at their fingertips.

Yes, of course you may read to me :)