Lovely Landforms

We have been learning about landforms this week during our Social Studies unit. Some of the exciting landforms that we have been studying are mountains, hills, plains, deserts, oceans, rivers, and lakes. We had the opportunity to build these landforms out of play dough. Then, we studied the different bodies of water and used blue paper to create streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, and an ocean. Finally, as a culmination project, we created our own landform illustrations. Here are some pictures from our fun week! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about our landform creations.

Mountain

desert--cactus

desert--cactus

plateau

desert

hill

sand dune

hill

desert with cactus

desert with cactus

desert with cactus

plain

desert cacti

plain

hill

desert with cactus

mountain

mountain

desert with cactus

desert with cactus

hill

Bodies of Water

stream

river

ponds

Lake

Ocean

Our Illustrations

Music Around the World--A Christmas Edition--Week 2--Africa

We had so much fun in our Music Around the World Class on Friday! We began our morning by reviewing our songs from last week. Ask your child to sing "Mele Kalikimaka" and "Roo, Roo the Kangaroo" for you! We are really working hard to learn the words for these two songs.  After a quick review, we jumped into learning all about our new country of the day--Africa!

We were introduced to some special places from Africa and learned about animals and instruments that are unique to this country. Then, we were in for a fabulous treat--a visit from a real musician, Mr. Mark! Mr. Mark taught us about some of Africa's favorite instruments--drums! He played several different types of drums for us. We loved them all! Then, we enjoyed some traditional African music from the African Children's Choir. We were so inspired by these musical experiences that we decided to create our own African instruments--drums, shakers, and tamborines. Finally, we learned our own rousing rendition of "This Little Light of Mine" complete with African drums, shakers, and tamborines! Here is a show of our morning! Check it out and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below. We have also included some pictures from another great day! We hope that you enjoy them! Today was so much fun! We can't wait until next week! :)

https://vimeo.com/367396563

Powerful Positional Words

This week during our Social Studies lessons we have been studying about positional words (prepositional phrases). Through exciting and sometimes silly games and songs we have been learning about top/middle/bottom, over/under/on, inside/outside, near/far, and left/right. Check out our show below and see all the fun things that we have been up to this week. Be aware...you just might find yourself humming along!

https://vimeo.com/367393837

(Featured songs or games include: a rousing rendition of An Inside/Outside game, Near/Far Game, and a chance to kick along to the "Cupid Shuffle" while learning left/right.)

Properties: A Study of Similarities and Differences

This week we completed a study of attributes or characteristics of an item. We practiced describing an item and finding the similarities and differences between items. You can view our ball description activity where we used describing words to talk about different types of balls. We made a bubble map of their properties. Then, we participated in a mystery box game where the students had to reach into a bag without looking and choose an item. Then, the children paired up and told how their item was similar/different from their friend's item. Finally,  I have included a picture of our attribute train activity where our students had to find a shape and tell how it was similar to the shape that the student had laid down before them. They could find it to be similar in color, size, thickness, shape, etc.

Ball Bubble Maps and Categorizing Game

Mystery Bag Game

Attribute Train

Music Around the World--A Christmas Edition--Week 1--Australia

Welcome to our Music Around the World STEAMSchool class--A Christmas Edition! I am so very excited that your child is joining me in this journey as we travel around the world exploring different countries and their unique music. I have two loves in life—music and children— so I could not be more thrilled to share this experience together with your child. We are going to learn to play instruments and sing songs from different countries. Then, we will share our music with you all on Thursday night, December 5th at 7:00 P.M. Please save this date on your calendar! It is sure to be a night that you will not want to miss! Thank you again for allowing me the privilege to work with your child. I can not wait to share this experience together!

We began our musical tour around the world today by talking about the universal language of music and how it can touch all hearts and help all people. Then, we enjoyed singing "Mele Kalikimaka" together before flying around the world to Australia. 

The land down under had a lot to offer us! We learned about everything from koala bears to kangaroos and explored the top ten places to visit in Australia on a kids travel website. We were also introduced to two of Australia's favorite instruments--bilmas and digeridoos. After listening to one of Australia's traditional songs featuring these instruments, we made our very own bilmas and digeridoos. Boy were they cool too! Finally, we began learning the Australian Christmas song that we are going to perform, Roo Roo the Kangaroo. It is a silly song that will make you giggle and laugh, while allowing you to soak up the unique sounds of the digeridoos and the bilmas. Here is a show of our first day together. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about our first week in Music Around the World!

https://vimeo.com/365914483