Apple Day!

Apple day was so much fun! We all dressed up in apple colors, and the students had their mouths watering as they prepared to taste test 17 different kinds of apples - yep, that's right. 17 different kinds!!!

 

Before we tasted them, we wrote down some words that described what each apple looked like on the outside, and what made each of them different.

Then came the fun of taste testing all of the apples, and describing what each tasted like. It was amazing to taste all the differences of each apple! I think most of us were on serious apple overload by the time we were done!

Mrs. Lytle showed the students how to make apple crisp. At the end of the day, we all got to sample that warm, crunchy, apple goodness. :-)

 

We then did a fun project making cinnamon applesauce ornaments. You mix together cinnamon, applesauce and glue into a dough. Then you flatten it and press a cookie cutter into the dough. In a few more days, the ornaments will be hardened, and we will be able to decorate them.

 

Our final activities of Apple day included singing Apple songs, hearing stories about "If I were an apple" (stay tuned for that in the next post), and playing an Apple matching game.

Quiet Valley Farm

Today the Elementary students took a step back in time, and got to explore a farm complete with an 1800's family giving us the grand tour.

Some of things they enjoyed learning:

* How farmers planted & plowed the fields
* How corn got shelled and ground
* How butter got churned
* How animals were cared for
* How food was cooked over a fire
* How cups, utensils, bowls and candles were made
* How sheep wool was spin into yarn and weaved on a loom
* What attending a 1800's one-room schoolhouse would be like

Some of the things they enjoyed seeing:

* Honking geese, horses, ducks, chickens, rabbits, HUGE pigs, and mules
* 1800's barn
* 1800's house's kitchen and bedroom
* Different eggs found on the farm
* An old well

Some of the things they enjoyed doing:

* Jumping in a haystack
* Playing with homemade toys
* Petting Janie, the mule
* Having a lesson in multiplication, fractions, geography and spelling in a one-room schoolhouse
* Using an outhouse (well, perhaps they didn't enjoy THAT too much ;-))

Fun in the Sun

The elementary students are enjoying the warm, summer days while they last! The girls were having fun picking dandelions on the playground this morning...

 

Enjoying the sun with Destiny & Cally!

They're Getting It!!!

Today during morning announcements, both Mrs. Lytle and I took a picture of these girls. Just look at them! After a few days of being reminded how to sit during this time of the day - they got it!! (Of course receiving merits was a great incentive :-))

Lend a Hand

I was put in charge of the classroom job chart this year. Of course, Pinterest was an inspiration and I saw a job chart called "Lend a Hand". So I figured out the jobs, and then yesterday I had each student trace their hand and write their name in the middle. After school I laminated them all and added them to the job chart to complete the look. 

For the first 2 weeks, the first graders are "resting" their hands to give them a chance to get better acquainted with their new surroundings. :-)