Ms. Hartshorn’s Classroom News
September 23, 2010
Dear Families,
Check out the new photos posted!
“Hey! Look at that! It's huge! It's orange! I think it's a carrot top! There's a whole bunch of them? Can we pick them?” Today was such a beautiful day that we took part of our morning to investigate the raised beds on the primary playground. We checked out the sunflower plants and bean plants that some of us planted last spring as kindergarteners. We noticed that some of the green beans had turned all brown and hard and had large, hard brown seeds inside. The current second graders planted several things last spring, including salad greens, green beans, radishes, and carrots. We harvested the greens and radishes last June for our picnic salad. Over the summer, there were beans and greens harvested. Today we discovered how tall the vegetable plants can grow once they flower and turn to seed, and are no longer producing vegetables to harvest. We decided that we needed to pull out these giant weeds this morning and get our raised beds tidied up. We were pleasantly surprised at the huge carrots we found. Tomorrow we will have some for a snack.
The garden time provided us with an opportunity to talk about seeds and how plants create different types of seeds that have special ways of traveling and being planted so the plant cycle may continue. We brought several plant, flower and seed specimens inside to look at through our microscopes. We had a good time dissecting and sharing our findings and our questions. We also talked about how weeds are plants, too—just growing in a place you don't want them, or not having a purpose or use for you at the time you decide to pull them.
Mrs. Harvey helped us make some giant sunflowers last week in Studio Art. We have hung them in our classroom, along with the butterflies we made and decorated. Next week we plan to make some giant colored leaves to post in our windows to celebrate the coming of Autumn in .
Next Tuesday, September 28th, Sharon Stafford, Jack's Mom, will lead us in a Four Winds lesson. We'll learn all about spiders! We have several fiction and non-fiction books we're reviewing now in preparation for our lesson with . We are looking for another Four Winds volunteer. If you're able to help us out once a month, or want to know more about this great science program that helps kids learn and appreciate their own backyards in Vermont, please let me know.
If you drove by the school Tuesday, you may have noticed several pinwheels on the front lawn. In honor of World Peace Day we decorated paper with images that help us feel peaceful, quiet, happy and comfortable inside. We folded the papers into pinwheels, attached them to pencils with push pins, and stuck them in the ground with our 5th/6th grade buddies in Mrs. Puffer's room and Mrs. Orr's students.
Thank you, Parents, for getting in all of the field trip permission slips and admission fees for your children! We're all set for the field trips we have planned this year. Some of you wrote to let me know you're interested in joining us on the March maple sugaring trip to Shelburne Farms and/or to in May. I will keep note of this, send out a reminder asking if anyone else would like to join us when we get closer to those dates.
In preparation for our first field trip of the school year (Flynn Theatre's October 18th presentation of "Harold and the Purple Crayon," and other Harold stories by Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson), we will be reading several stories in the coming weeks. We are also fortunate that a parent will join us to lead us in some theatre activities that will help us bring the stories off the printed page and into action.
A math update will be emailed to you soon to let you know what your child is learning in mathematics.
Dates to Remember:
Oct. 6 School Picture Day
Oct. 7 National Guard helicopter landing and new K-9 dog graduates Visit MES
(Thank you Mrs. Allison for arranging this!)
Oct. 7 Open House 6:30-7:30
Oct. 11 No School—Inservice for Teachers
Oct. 18 Flynn Theatre (Harold and Purple Crayon)—Your child will need a cold
lunch and drink on this day.
Oct. 21/22 No School—Teachers' Convention
