Some bittersweet goodbyes!

Our days at school have been full of unique learning opportunities!

The children have been focused the last few weeks on a personalized learning project with their classmates. They began by writing down something they were wondering about relative to our life cycle unit. We then sorted the children's interests into small personalized learning groups for them to investigate these wonders further!

Using apps, websites, and kid-friendly search engines including: Pebble Go,  Brainpop Jr., Worldbook Online for Kids, a-z-animals.com, kidrex.org, and enchantedlearning.com, the children began researching the answers to their questions! They kept track of their learning on a note-taking fact organizer.

In reading, our Poetry unit has grabbed our full attention! Ryan went home and used the links on our web page to create a number of creative and clever poems all on his own! He was so happy to come in to share them with his classmates. It is so much fun to see the children's learning take off in this way!

 Our lessons in poetry had us closing our eyes to listen to the words and visualize the poem in our minds. The children listened to poems a few times to absorb all of the details, and drew a picture to represent what they imagined. It was such fun to see the similarities and differences in the children's drawings and perceptions.

 This was the picture on the page of the poetry book that matched the poem that the children listened to and illustrated. It was about a person playing "tug of war" on a windy day with a kite!

 This was Alexandra's last day of school with us! The children worked hard to create and sign this beautiful poster full of pictures of our time together this year. It was fun to surprise Alexandra with it on her last day. We are going to miss our dear friend, but we surely won't forget her!

 It was also time to say good bye to our dear butterfly friends! We loved watching them move through their fascinating life cycle and grow from egg to adult. It was sad to see them go, but maybe we'll see them fly by again one day! :)

 It seemed that a few butterflies weren't yet ready to say goodbye to US!

 Mrs. Phillips stopped in to celebrate National Nutrition Month with us! She gave us countless healthy facts and tips, and she provided suggestions of good foods to eat. Mrs. Phillips also talked to us about food groups, portion size, and calorie intake, and she mentioned that physical activity is an important part of our day, too! Mrs. Phillips also brought our attention to labels on food items, and had us look for the words "whole grains" and 100% to be sure we are getting food at its most natural state if possible. Our heads were swimming with great ideas!

 Mrs. Phillips brought all of the children a tasty clementine treat. What a perfect finish to a great presentation! Thank you for coming in, Mrs. Phillips!

 The children enjoyed a lively "dance party" to bring Alexandra's final day at Dryden to a close. Good luck to you and your family in Sweden! Keep in touch!