In Social Studies, we have been learning about communities changing over time. We have a made-up community in our classroom, and since it was Valentine's Day, we named it Valentown! Our community started as one small neighborhood on a big sheet of paper. Then, a valentine factory opened, and lots of people started moving there to work in it. Then, we realized they would need places to shop and police to keep them safe, and restaurants and other buildings. We added lots of new places that would make even more people want to live in Valentown. But then... the valentine factory closed! People started moving away because they didn't have a job anymore. Then, the stores started closing because they didn't have any customers. Then more people moved away, and eventually the neighborhoods got really run-down and empty. We decided we make people want to move back to Valentown by making it nicer again. So, we had to decide if we would fix the old buildings up or tear them down. We could either leave it empty or build something new. After we fixed them up, we decided that people would want to live there again!
Want to hear a disgusting thing? This week, we learned about how water gets polluted by doing a simulation. That means we acted it out. We pretended like a tub of water was the Potomac River. Mrs. Freeman gave us each a cannister of something to pollute the water. We put a fish-shaped sponge in and pretended it was a fish. We listened to a story about the river over time, and when we heard the name of our cannister, we came up, opened the cannister and dumped the stuff in the water. After we were finished, we thought that the fish wouldn't be able to live in it anymore. We learned that we humans are the ones that pollute, so we should all try to stop. On Friday, we went to the Detroit Zoo for a field trip! We practiced using a real map to get to all the places we wanted to go there. Some of us saw the polar bear, the eagles, the kangaroos, the gorillas, the flamingos, the prairie dogs, the tiger, the wolverine, and the lions. It was an incredible day! When we got back, we had more excitement! We had a jogathon assembly and we won the Golden Shoe! We even had a Smarty Party that day.
Click here for a video of the polar bear playing in the water. It was amazing! On Monday, we had a treasure hunt in our classroom. First, we made a map of the room and all the furniture in it. Then, one table of kids went out in the hall to wait. Then, Mrs. Freeman hid some treasure in the classroom. We put a treasure chest on the map in the place where the treasure was hidden. Then, the kids came in and used the map to work together and find the treasure. We made the treasure hunt harder and harder for each table. And that's the story of the treasure hunt, matey! Arrrrrrrrrr!
We've been learning about different kinds of communities. One kind is urban - that means a city. We imagined what it would be like to live in an urban community. We decided where we would live, work and have fun if we lived in a big city. Today, we had a visit from King Community, a reporter from WRBN Uuuuuuuuurrrrban Television. He interviewed some of us about living in an urban community. The rest of us will get interviewed this week. Stay tuned for more urban news!
We've been building communities in our classroom, step by step. Before we could build them, though, we had to learn about communities. We learned that communities are places that people live, work, play, and solve problems together. We each created drawings of some of these places. Then, we got together in groups to decide where each part of our community should go. Finally, we put all of our ideas together to create a big collage of our very own community. After each group had a chance to share their work with the class, we got some new ideas! Then, we had a chance to revisit our own collages to add new details. They are hanging up in our classroom. Check them out next time you stop by!
We are learning our classroom rules. Each day, as we learn a new one, we get to act out saving the day! Today, three Super Smarties saved the day with kindness! Yesterday, two Super Smarties saved the day by keeping kids safe. I wonder how the Super Smarties will save the day tomorrow. Stay tuned to hear about the Super Heros rising...!
|
AuthorThis blog is maintained as a collaboration between all students and myself. Each week, one student has the classroom job of "Blogger". That student helps decide subjects for our posts, as well as writing one blog post about him/herself. Archives
June 2016
Categories
All
|