On Exploring God's Great Big World

 

Hi, everybody! Would you believe I had all these pictures loaded to a blog form at 11:30 this morning and forgot to actually write anything until just now? Classic me. The astronauts and I have had a great start to our October. If you've seen our recently posted video, you'll know we've kept ourselves super busy learning great things. The weather the week before last was very nice, which was good news as we had to do a little bit of exploring before we could begin our ecosystem project.

 

We've been learning all about what makes ecosystems tick during this first quarter, and for our big project, we needed to put all that knowledge together to create a a self-sustaining ecosystem model.  

 

We collected rocks, moss, fungus, and pill bugs.

 

So many, many pill bugs.

 

Then we divvied out the spoils, as our supplies got a bit mixed up in the frenzy of catching all those pill bugs (a feat accomplished mostly by Astronaut RN, who is fearless), and got to model making.

 

Astronaut MD manned the pouring station, making sure everyone had just the right amount of dirt and I had just the right amount of pictures.

"Did you get it? No, don't worry, I'll just pretend to put more dirt in. Take the picture."

 

 If you've ever driven along the street the school is on, you'll have noticed the big and beautiful trees that lined the road. Sadly, those trees were cut down over the summer - much to the community's dismay. The residents of the houses surrounding our school asked to use our cafeteria for a community meeting discussing what happened to the trees and what trees would be planted, as the city was discussing importing small trees not native to Maine from out-of-state. This was a perfect community service opportunity, especially because we happen to be studying ecosystems - which involves, as you might guess, trees. This was a very last minute thing, but I think we did pretty well with the time we had! We made about five billion (i.e. a little over a hundred) cookies, which the astronauts adored doing, and two pretty cool posters (with the finishing touches put on after school by Astronaut JR and his grandmother - thanks, guys!).

 

The meeting was a total success, and our cookies and posters were a total hit! People were talking about the cookies all night, and some even asked to take a few home. They were very impressed with our students' knowledge and effort, and it felt great to make a difference and get our name out.

One of these people is the mayor of Saco. The mayor of Saco ate our cookies, guys. The mayor.

The very next day, we had our first field trip of the year. Because we're studying ecosystems, I thought it would be cool if the astronauts got to see one in action. Luckily, there's a really good example of one practically just down the road from our school:  the Scarborough Salt Marsh.

 

 

It was a really great trip. The kids met with our program guide Miss Ellie, who taught us about the different birds, plants, and fish living in the marsh and how they all work together to survive and thrive.

 

Then we went out into the marsh and got to observe the birds, plants, and fish we'd studied about in action. The astronauts had an especially great time feeling how the water of the marsh affects the firmness of the ground, as it meant they got to jump around in mud and watch Miss Ellie effortlessly bury her walking stick almost 100% in the ground. This trip was made possible by our drivers/sponsors, so I'd like to thank Mrs. D, Mr. A, and Pastor Brenda. You guys are awesome!

 

Back at school, our own little ecosystems have been doing some surviving and thriving of their own. Our grass and bean plants have grown. Our pill bugs have mostly died, but a couple are still running about and Astronaut RN's experimental slug is still up and kicking, so we consider it a success! It's been fun to watch the astronauts observe them up close, finding different ways to get different views, and compare their models to their peers'. Every week they write a little log about what they've observed, and make a prediction about how they think their ecosystems will have changed by the following week. It's been a fantastic learning experience!

 

And last but not least, we had our second cooking session of the year. The astronauts requested baked potato wedges and onions, so we had fun chopping up the potatoes and onions and mixing them around in the oil and seasoning. I have to say I was pretty impressed with their newfound willingness to get their hands dirty, as last year's Agents didn't want anything to do with anything messy. Progress? I think yes.

 

And on that final, classically Astronaut VS note, this wraps up our first October blog post. I hope you've enjoyed reading about our adventures at least half as much as we enjoyed having them! Tune in on October 19 for the next blog post, and if you visit our Facebook page on November 2 you can catch a recap of everything we'll have gotten up to in October. Have beautiful two weeks!

 

God bless,

Mia

One Crazy First Month

 

We are one month in, people. One month. Four weeks. Twenty days of school. I know, I'm just as shocked as you are. Every time I go to write a blog post, I think to myself, "Do I really have anything to write this week? Did anything interesting happen?" Then I look at the photos I've taken and it all comes flooding back. Things sometimes get so busy at school that whole days and events blur together - especially here in the beginning, where everything is a whirlwind of change and adjustment. There are a few established constants in our classroom by now, though, and the largest one is what we like to call the 'Puzzle/Carpet/You Know What' (depending on stress level).

 

 

We use this for at least two thirds of our group activities. Each student has their own assigned letter, so last year's 'I didn't get to sit next to hiiiiim' and 'she sat there last tiiiiiime' are things of the past.

 

I requisitioned it during our last rummage sale fundraiser, and it turns out the glorious thing was donated by none other than Astronauts M & A and their parents.

 

 Imagine having a live, constantly accessible history report about something you buy - because that's what we have. Every so often one of the Astronauts will pick up a piece and M or A will tell us what happened to make any particular markings on said puzzle piece. For instance, during the activity below, Astronaut M picks up one of the filler circles and turns it over to reveal several tiny indents. "See this?"  Astronaut M says. "A and I used to chew on this when we were little. These are our teethmarks. Hah."

And we love it, secret teethmarks and all.

 Some important things happened during the past two weeks. We had our first Creative Movement session of the year.

Look at them go.

 Astronaut M. turned 7 and we celebrated with glorious, glorious cupcakes.

And we had our first cooking class of the year - spaghetti and tomato sauce, a crowd favorite.

 

We also saw one of the biggest benefits of a one room school in action. Our two oldest Astronauts, R and M, were caught being super helpful with the younger students during our first painting craft. Having a mixture of older and younger students is fantastic, especially as our enrollment grows. The younger kids get the benefit of role models, and the older kids learn responsibility and helpfulness.  

 

Finally, I leave you with probably the most horrific thing I have ever seen dangling in the middle of the sky like the worst UFO ever. At first it just looks like a black dot, right?

 

 I saw it from my desk and thought it was a plane or something, except it hovered and wriggled. So I went a little closer.

...oh no.

 And then, out of morbid curiosity and a lack of self-preservation, I went a little closer.

...oh no.

I don't know what this monstrosity had in its terrible clutches, but whatever it was made me glad that both of them were outside and I was not. I've not seen Spiderzilla again since last Friday, and that is 100% okay with me.

Tune in on October 5 for the next blog post. If you've liked us on Facebook (and if you haven't, why not?) you can also check our newsfeed on September 28 for a special video recap for the months of August and September. I hope you've enjoyed this little insight into our classroom, and the Astronauts and I wish you a very happy end of September!

God bless,
Mia

On the First Two Weeks

 

Hello and welcome to the first blog post of the 2014-2015 school year! I cannot even believe I just typed that. It seems like only yesterday the last school year ended and we were off to the great summer months beyond. Now we're beginning our third week of a new school year and time is flying faster every day. We went through a lot of changes here at FMLCS over the summer. For instance, our classroom used to look kind of like this...

 

 

...and now it looks kind of like this!

 

At least, one corner of it...

 

 Our class used to look like this...

 

 

 ...and now it looks like this!

 

 

 

 

We doubled our enrollment this year, going from three students to a very impressive six - so now when we eat lunch, it looks like...

 

 

We also went from having one girl to having three, so now when we have recess, it sometimes looks like...

 

 

Which is crazy awesome. So! Let's meet the recruits! Our theme this year is - have you guessed it? - space, so instead of Secret Agents, our students this year are Astronauts.

 

Astronaut R.N. - 3rd Grade

 

 

Astronaut M.D. - 2nd Grade

 

 

Astronaut V.S. - 1st Grade

 

 

Astronaut J.A. - 1st Grade

 

 

Astronaut A.D. - Kindergarten

 

 

Astronaut J.R. - Kindergarten

 

 

It's a fantastic bunch of kids, I can tell you that already. It's interesting how different a number six is than three. In many ways having a larger class is much, much easier. Activities are more fun. Songs are sung louder. Recess is played more enthusiastically. Better choices are made, better examples are set, and better listening is done. Sometimes, of course, planning for six students - and four grades at that - can be a challenge, and it leaves me feeling kind of like....

 

 

But when I think of how great a reward all that planning will reap, I suddenly feel like...

 

 

We did a lot of neat stuff during our first two weeks of school! Both involved a lot of getting-to-know-you and team building activities. Although almost all of our students knew each other, be it from being in the same class last year, from LTCC's Aftercare Program, or from being siblings, the class has a new and unfamiliar dynamic that will take some adjusting to. For instance, in order to make things like Guided Reading go more smoothly, we've split the class into three teams.

 

Team One

 

Team Two

 

Team Three

As the students grow up and have new experiences, their preferences and priorities will change - and that takes some getting used to as well. We made these Astronaut Goal posters to see what some of those priorities are, and what the students hope to accomplish by the end of the school year. The loftiest goal so far is to learn to count to 6,000,000,000 - and we'll get there! Some how, some way.

 

 

 

 

 

We also learned how to do things we weren't doing last year, like keeping the classroom super tidy and giving it a really good once-over on Friday. Possibly cleaning the room is the kids' favorite part of the week. You should see how fast Astronauts M.D. and R.N. go for that broom.

 

 

 

 

But it wasn't all fun and games. We also did very serious things, like celebrate Astronaut A.D.'s birthday with awesome cupcakes (provided by her awesome parents)...

 

 

...and have a pizza/pajama day with the fantastic kids from LTCC.

 

 

 

 

And leave it to Astronaut M.D. to close out week two by remind us Fall is fast approaching. We had a moment of silence for the first tissue of the year.

 

It has begun.

Well, that's all I've got for today, folks! I'd better get this post up and kicking before I have no Sunday left. If you enjoyed reading about what we've done so far, tune in two weeks from today (that's September 21) and every two weeks after that to read even more. The blog this year will be updated biweekly. Don't forget you can also like us on Facebook for more updates, and check out our website at lombardchristianschool.org. Here's wishing you as fantastic a week as we here at FMLCS anticipate having!

 

God bless,

Mia