Squawking Squatters

Each spring a Robin comes back to this nest on our patio. I'm glad and amazed that our dog and two kids don't scare them away so we can watch them grow. 

Food Museum: Goats

The Catlin Gabel first grade class spends the spring studying food for their science and social studies units--farm to table style. In groups, they choose a type of food of interest (fruits, vegetables, bread, meat, dairy) to research. They conduct interviews while on fields trips to a local grocery store and a farmer's market. Parents come to class and teach each group how to make a food from their category: dried fruit, jam, pickled veggies, loaves of bread, jerky, yogurt, and ice cream. Then groups create a "Food Museum" with activities and informational posters. 

This was one of my favorites from this year: "chickens and things you make them in to." 

Originally, Magnolia choose dairy, but then she wanted to specialize in goat products. Her teacher allowed Maggie to branch off from her group to create her own food museum--I love that about our school! Now, this girl is now passionate about goats. 

She worked hard during work time and some of her free time on her exhibit, agonizing each evening, worried she'd wouldn't finish before the parent viewing event. Magnolia, and her teacher, were incredibly proud that she pulled it off. When I got to the event, as she showed me her museum, I realized why she had been worried, and was overwhelmed with pride myself.

She didn't just create the one required information poster or activity. Magnolia had made three informational posters,

an Interactive "Fun Fact" board, 

AND a goat game to test your new knowledge!

She really knew her stuff!

Some things I learned about goats from her exhibit:

• Goats have rectangular pupils to help them see in the dark
• Goats discovered coffee beans
• Goats are picky eaters
• Each breed of dairy goat gives a different flavored milk

Fairy Visit

Kaleia, as half-fairy, attends fairy school in the middle of the night and is our resident expert on fairy life and the wishes of the queen fairy. In this interview, Kaleia introduces us to a fairy she has caught. 

P.S. Forgive the low quality of the video -- and length! I just couldn't cut any material! The technical difficulties with this video roadblocked my blogging the last few months, but now we should be rolling again. 

Penguins (by Magnolia)

Penguins

by Magnolia

Swish, swish, 

penguins like to glide and slide

down icy hills. 

Splish, splash, 

penguins like to swim about

deep down in the water. 

Crick, crack, 

penguins like to warm their eggs

until they hatch!

Published in the 1st grade poetry book

Experiential Days (by Magnolia)

Experiential days are when you go to experience something you don't do in a regular day at school for four days. And what I did for experiential days is "We love Animals." "We love Animals" is where you learn about animals. My teacher was the fourth grade teacher who is also named Maggie. 

Click to read more about my Experiential Days

It's alive!

"Mama! Mama! Look at the dead bug we found! Oh, wait...It's alive!" There are so many exciting things on the ground that we grown-ups take for granted.

We're curious and have decided to collect some data. Use the poll to the right to share with us what you call this bug. If your choice is not listed, leave us a comment. 

Sauvie Island with the Parris Family

We decided we needed to do something touristy in our new hometown. So we headed out to a farm on Sauvie Island with our friends, the Parris family.