Five for Fraturday: Field Trip, Poison Prevention, Research, and Projects...Oh, My!

What a busy and productive week! We've had a lot going on and I'm happy to share some of it with you in this week's Five for Friday. Thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting!

Field Trip to the Nature Museum!

Field trips are a mix of stress, fun, anxiety, and excitement for me. How about you?  All went well on our trip to the Nature Museum this week.  The kids participated in a class on Animal Life Cycles, explored the museum, walked through the Butterfly Pavillion, built a cabin and had the BEST RECESS EVER! and even took a short hike through the woods. We came back exhausted! The kids had the best time. Most agreed that getting to pet a real snake was the highlight of the trip. And no, I didn't remember to take a picture of anyone petting the snake. Sigh.

The Wonderful Nurse A and Poison Prevention Week

Next week is Poison Prevention Week. Our wonderful school nurse visited our class to share some information about poisonings and how to prevent them. You may not know that according to the CDC, "Every day more than 300 children in the United States ages 0 - 19 are treated in an emergency department, and two children die, as a result of being poisoned." That's a pretty scary statistic.  Nurse A. showed my students how easy it is for kids, especially those who aren't reading yet, to mistake a chemical for a soft drink, or an anti-itch cream for toothpaste. You'll want to check out pillsvscandy.org to play a game that proves how easy it is to confuse medicine and candy. 

pillsvscandy.org

Research and Projects

I decided to let my kids take charge of their own learning this week by researching the life cycle of an animal of their choice. After finding out about the life cycle, students needed to create a project that would help them teach others what they learned. We began the projects on Thursday and we would finish on Friday so we could begin our presentations. Well, the highlight of my week came when one of my students couldn't wait until the next day to finish. She begged me to take hers home so she could finish that day. Here's what she brought back on Friday morning.

Didn't she do a wonderful job? She used a cereal box to make her display board. 

The other students were very creative as well. Here are a few of the other projects.

Gorilla Life Cycle

Turtle Life Cycle

I love that they used their imaginations and the rather random supplies I set out to create their models. So inventive!

Boots!

It's been awhile since I shared a picture of my Bootsie. He was laying on my lap and didn't want me to go to work the other morning. I told him I would much rather stay home and pet the kitty, too.  LOL

My Latest Project

I'm working hard to finish my own project this week. It will include a lot of information and activities about honeybees. Right now, it includes an original poem, a non-fiction passage with questions, a word search, a mini-book about the life cycle, and a writing activity. I'll be adding some art connections, science activities, and some honeybee-based math, as well. I hope to finish it up and have it in my store by next weekend. Make sure you follow my store so you'll know when it's posted. I'll have it priced at 50% off for the first 48 hours after posting.