I have finally gotten all the pieces together, so I can communicate easily with you through this email and Blog!
We are really settling in now, and students have fallen into a fairly regular routine. Lessons are going well and students, for the most part, are following through with assignments.
Tomorrow, we will be sharing several interesting projects that were inspired by our experiences at Camp Widjiwagan. Everything from salt dough sculptures to power point presentations have been prepared, and I am amazed at the level of creativity that has been expressed in this process!
We are continually adding learning materials and supplies, and our pioneer classroom is offering more choices for learning and exploring. We welcomed 2 male finches a few weeks ago, and our new aquarium will be ready for fish on Monday! Thank you for all of the generous donations as we develop our classroom as a comfortable and peaceful learning environment. The bird supplies, filtered water for the fish tank, books for our library, and healthy snacks are all much appreciated!
We have been studying the formation of the earth,the eras, parts of the earth, Pangaea, plate tectonics, and types of rocks in our science lessons. Students are now classifying rocks as igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. After our Widji presentations tomorrow, we will begin work on geography projects. These will be shared in mid-December.
I feel that our classroom community is developing into a respectful and supportive environment where we celebrate our differences, encourage each other, and share our various gifts in the spirit of learning and personal growth. I really enjoy observing students tutoring and helping classmates, and we've even had a couple of students teach lessons!
I'm looking forward to meeting you all again during conference time, and learning more about the wonderful people I get to share my days with!
Mary
