I love the way Chickadee is looking at Dolly in this picture! It’s especially cute because I also know that she kissed Dolly about 10 seconds later…so sweet!
Month: August 2013
Wordless Wednesday
Science Center Field Trip
Today was the second day of the new school year, and we went on a field trip. How cool is that?!?
We’re starting over with the four-year history cycle this year, and before we really dive into the ancients, we’re learning a bit about archaeology. The St. Louis Science Center just happens to have a fun, interactive area where children can pretend to be archaeologists, see what kind of tools they use, and look at different examples of fossils. They also have volunteers working on fossils they found on one of their summer trips to Montana…we were lucky enough to get to talk to Woody, who was not only working on part of a fossil he discovered, but who has also found (and named), a T-Rex jawbone!
In science this year, we’re going to be studying astronomy (yay!), and the Science Center also happens to have a nice planetarium, so we went through there, as well. We didn’t see any of the the shows, but we got to look at a lot of cool space memorabilia, in addition to some items from actual space flights. The children also got to find out how much they would weigh on the moon, and how much it would cost the three of them to travel into space!
This was our second field trip of the week…I’d say we’ve gotten the year off to a great start!
My Students
I always try to get a picture of all four of my students, even though one of them doesn’t go to school at home!
The Tagalong
She may not be in school yet, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like hanging out with us (and trying to steal my stuff)!
First Day of First Grade
The First Day of Fifth Grade
Schultüte 2013
No kindergartners this year, but we had so much fun with them last year, I decided to make schultüte again! Here’s a look at the contents:
Some of the items were the same as last year: crayons (regular, and special Crayola color packs), pencils (again, regular, plus an Angry Birds pencil), tape, and candy. I also found some new stuff, like scented markers, and some complementary stuff, like pins to go on last year’s lanyards, and something other than post-it notes for writing on. Such a simple, fun little way to get a new school year off to a great start!
Paper Cranes in Forest Park
When we went to the Art Museum today, we noticed that the lawn in front of it was covered in giant paper cranes:
I looked it up when we got home, and learned that it was the STL Crane Project, which is a memorial to St. Louis fallen first responders. Sad to see, but a cool way to honor those who have died serving our area!
Family Sunday at the St. Louis Art Museum
Sometimes, a completely unplanned, spur-of-the-moment field trip comes up at the last-minute, and you just have to roll with it. That’s what happened today, all because I was reading the newspaper. There was an article about the new restaurant in the St. Louis Art Museum expansion, and reading that made me realize that we hadn’t been there since the addition opened, and for quite some time before that. So I went to check out their website, to see what was new, and came across Family Sundays.
I have no idea how old this program is, but I had never heard of it before. The theme for August is ancient Greece, which is perfect because we’ll be studying the ancients in school this year. Since we already have plans for next Sunday, we had to go today if we were going to learn about the Greeks, so off we went!
The had a craft activity, which was only somewhat successful, but still fun…bead-making:
They also had a (free) tour of some of the ancient Greek art, along with a discussion about the Greek myths that the art represents:
The tour guide was awesome, and did a great job. And even though they already knew all the stories he discussed, Turkey and Bunny really enjoyed it. We’re hoping to go back at some point next month, when the focus will be on ancient America!