This week we have been studying about Colonial America. We have been comparing life now with life then and how they did some of the same things that we do today, just in different ways.
Making Butter
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Tag Archives: social studies
Thanksgiving
This week we are studying Thanksgiving – the first Thanksgiving and how we celebrate today.
In math, we read a book about a Pilgrim and Indian getting ready for their Thanksgiving feast and we counted different food items. Then we made a chart of the foods and how much they had. Finally, we took that information and made a pictograph! Then we answered questions about the book (which food did they have the most of?).
In reading, we are reading the poem “Over the River and Through the Wood”. We sequenced pictures to retell the story, identified pictures of things in the story and answered questions about the story. Each student even made their own copy of a book about the story. Later this week we will sing a song with the same words as the poem.
We are also learning about the different foods that families eat as part of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. On Friday we will cook Thanksgiving dinner! Last year we had a lot of fun with this activity, I know we will enjoy it this year, too. Additionally, we are discussing things that we are thankful for (food, clothes, family, home, school, friends, toys).
We have been practicing very hard for our holiday program, as well. Later this week I will post some video of some students singing some of our songs – they’re so talented!!!
Election
Yesterday was election day and we were out of school (originally a teacher planning day but turned into a furlough day). Today, as we were learning about elections, we had a class election.
The students came to the POLLING PLACE one at a time and marked their BALLOT with their CHOICE of what to do after lunch (recess or work). Then we counted the VOTES. Three people voted for work, five voted for recess. Recess had MORE VOTES so we had extra play time after lunch this afternoon.
Inventions
This week we have been learning about inventors and inventions. We made a pop-up book about Thomas Edison, read stories about famous inventors and then did research to find out who invented different things. Here’s what we learned!
We also played a lotto game matching what things looked like when they were first invented with what they look like now.
Explorer presentations
Today we presented our research on explorers. The students did a great job!
Our first presentation, for Mr. Butcher (and Mrs. McGaha) this morning
Our second presentation, for Mrs. Sorrells and her 5th grade gifted class.
Explorers
Columbus Day
Today is Columbus Day. We colored a picture of Columbus and one of his ship, we looked at the globe and a map to find Spain (where he started his journey) and San Salvador (where he landed).
Here are some of the things we did:
This afternoon, we started on our research projects. Each student is going to do a (very basic and brief) report on a different explorer.
- First I wrote different explorers’ names on index cards and let each student choose one.
- Then in computer lab, they printed a biography of their explorer (found here).
- Next we helped them type their explorer’s name into the search box on google images to find a picture and printed the picture.
- Tomorrow we will write the report.
Parents – Your child will bring home a study sheet on their explorer tomorrow (Tuesday). Please help your child study their explorer’s name and the area/country that they explored. The students will be presenting their explorer to their classmates next week on Monday.
Making a budget
Ignore the shaky camera and try not to get motion sick! Sorry!!