Room 504 has been busy with their scientific explorations this semester. The class is working on a unit on living systems. Thus far, we conducted lessons to identify living vs. non-living things. We watched power points and various online resources to this topic. The class learned that living things move, grow, breathe and reproduce. We also learned that they need air, food, water and shelter. The class went outside in search of living and/or non-living things to bring back to class to share. Some students found leaves and plants while others found rocks and sticks. As we became experts, we adopted a baby boy Beta fish to help with our understanding of these concepts. We compared our fish, which we named Lou E. Fin, with candy Swedish fish. Each fit nicely into their specific category based on their needs and characteristics. The class now enjoys taking care of our class pet as well as its needs for a proper environment, food and clean water to swim in. We also make sure Lou is placed in a safe area free from being knocked into and out of direct sunlight. The students take turns feeding him just the right amount of food and enjoy observing as this tiny fish grows and becomes more active. Lou is a wonderful addition to room 504!
During our social studies unit, our class has been introduced to several American folk heroes. We learned that folk heroes tended to have regular jobs and factual information was shared within the stories as well as exaggerations about experiences or characteristics. Two of our favorite folk heroes were Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan. While learning about Johnny Appleseed, the class learned his real name with John Chapman. We learned that his birthday was September 26, 1774 and he did in fact plant apple trees but that his apples tended to be quite tart. We heard some stories which stated that he wore a pot on his head and a potato sack for clothing. We also heard of some unbelievable encounters he had with animals he met in his journeys. In honor of Johnny Appleseed, the class made several recipes which used apples in the ingredients, learned about the parts of an apple, sampled and conducted a survey on favorite apples of which we graphed our results. Additionally, we produced some apple decorations for our classroom and developed a great appreciation for this man. The students also enjoyed hearing the tall tales related to another folk hero, Paul Bunyan. Paul was depicted as a giant lumberjack who had a blue ox named Babe. They said his footprints made lakes and that he could eat stacks of flapjacks, which were his favorite food. The students laughed at all the unbelievable details shared within the various stories presented. Afterwards, however, we had a craving for pancakes! So, thanks to Paul Bunyan, we made a few batches in independent living class but made sure we only ate one or two!
