Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
Have you heard of a lion named Christian? If not, please feel free to view what we saw today in our cluster at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sju3kSTAzdI. Who would have thought a lion could be a pet? We had a wonderful discussion about the difference between domestic and exotic pets and how different animals relate to us in our world. Mrs. Frederickson came to speak to us about her pet sugar glider, Blossom, and shared her story of living with an animal that requires special attention as an exotic pet. We’ll continue to explore the world of exotic pets over the next 4 Fridays. We can hardly wait! Pooch-A-Palooza Pooch-A-Palooza had a great first meeting! We started off by getting to know each other's names, and the students chose a picture of the dog breed they would be if they were a dog. We talked all about the pups we have and love at home. We also discussed what we are hoping to learn in this cluster. Finally, Alicia Steen, our campus LSSP, brought her therapy dog, Darby, to meet the students. She read a book and explained Darby's important job to the students. We loved getting to learn about Darby...and pet her! It was a PAWesome first meeting! Barton Creek Ninja Warriors We had a great first day of the Barton Creek Ninja Warrior cluster! We warmed up with a getting to know you game and some stretches, which helped us get in the mood to begin pushing our bodies to be stronger and faster! We then moved back to the classroom to watch some real American Ninja Warriors tackle the obstacle course, and get some ideas for our own! Everyone did a great job participating and brainstorming awesome plans for future Fridays! The Force Awakens Our first Force Awakens cluster meeting was super galactic! We spent some time getting to know each other and sharing our wealth of knowledge about Star Wars! We took some time to study pictures and video clips of The Galaxy from Episode IV: A New Hope. We used cornstarch and water to make Galaxy Oobleck complete with a dark sky and sparkly stars! We were excited to play with our oobleck and were fascinated with the transformation from solid to liquid, in an instant! Next week, we will explore the planet of Mustafar and make some Mustafar lava to recreate a scene from Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Jewelry Factory The Jewelry Factory is open for business! Our cluster had a wonderful time getting to know so much about one another. We made a bead glyph necklace that told us all about each student. We did some research on types of DIY jewelry, looked at some examples, and as a group decided to create a different style of handmade jewelry each week. Nature Lovers We began our Nature Lovers cluster by creating a nature stick to show what we love about nature, what we're interested in and what we'd like to explore during our cluster time together. The children then showed their stick to the group. We had lots of similarities! We then took a walk through our courtyards and noticed the sounds and sights of nature around BCE. We ended our time together sharing our noticings and brainstorming what people who love nature do. The common thread from week one was wanting to take care of the birds by providing homes and feeders. Our next step is to identify the birds that live around our school by learning to be "birdwatchers" with some volunteers from Travis Audubon! App Smashing “What do you know and what do you wonder?” We began our cluster by sharing our knowledge and wonderings about app-smashing. The students had some great information and we all learned that app-smashing is the use of multiple apps to create one final project or presentation. We watched some clips of movies that other children had created by smashing apps and noticed interesting features that we might want to learn how to do. We downloaded our first app called “ChatterPix Kids” which gives us the ability to make any photo or drawing “talk”. After exploring the app, we ended our time together with some ideas to ponder for our next class. "How can we use app-smashing projects to teach or entertain others? What do we want to teach?" We can't wait until our next class to share our "smashing" ideas! Games, Games, Games We started our first session by getting to know each other with a couple of group games including the Shoe game and the Line Up game. We then broke into groups and played Uno, Zingo, and Jenga. We ended with a brief discussion of our favorite games. Krafting Kindness Our first day in our Krafting Kindness Cluster was a success! The kids did a great job deciding on a craft to make to spread kindness around BCE. We also all decided who we would give our craft to. After we had all made a decision we each got to make a bracelet! Some children finished their first one quickly and made two bracelets. Everyone was so sweet, respectful and absolutely adorable! I cannot wait for Fridays now. Create and Illustrate Our first day was full of laughter and creativity as we began exploring the world of illustrations. We started with Drew Daywalt’s hilarious book, The Day the Crayons Quit. We brainstormed and giggled our way to a list of colorful things to draw. Then we began our illustrations by selecting our favorite color from the crayon box and letting our imaginations run free across the page. We had purple dragons, green tree houses, pink bunnies and blue warriors! Now we are going to explore watercolors in Oliver Jeffers, How to Catch a Star, and begin to explore the possibilities for our final project! |