Pumpkin Dissection

Kristi Long is an Athens State students learning to be a teacher. She spent last week with us and she is back again this week. Monday will be her last day with us. She is teaching us about the writing process this week. She read a book to the class about pumpkins and pumpkin seeds.

She then surprised the class with real pumpkins to look at. We got a chance to pull all the seeds out of the pumpkin. Later we will describe what the pumpkin feels like.
Everyone got a chance to pull seeds out of the pumpkin. Some students thought this was gross, but I did not see anyone turn down a chance to put their hand inside the pumpkin.

Here is what we pulled out of the pumpkin. Mrs. Long is going to do something with the seeds tonight, and said she would have a surprise for us tomorrow with them. We can't wait for tomorrow!

Chemical Testing!!!!

Chemical testing is a fun unit for the kids. We have to keep up with all the data we gather through various tests to find out what our unknown chemicals are.

Students have five unknown chemicals. (All household chemical, so we are not going to blow the school up) We will test each unknown with water, water mixture and a filtration test to see if they are solutions or suspensions. We did these tests on Monday.

Today we tested the five unknowns with Iodine, Vinegar, and red cabbage juice. We saw some neat things today.

We saw the orange unknown bubble and fizz when mixed with vinegar.

The orange also turned purple-black when tested with Iodine. The class loved this.
We have a class chart as well as each student collecting data and making their own chart.

Tomorrow will be the heat test and then Thursday students will use their data to find out what our five unknowns are.

Math Fun with Addition

Students used base tens to make addition problems for their partner to figure out.
The class had to figure out the numbers they were adding and then come up with the answer.

Partners would take turns trying to stump their friends.

They really enjoyed the hands on approach we used doing our daily math problems. It was a nice break from paper and pencil work.

Field Trip to Botanical Gardens

We got to the gardens and had a short class on seeds. Everyone had to sit on the seats and watching and listen as our guide explained about what we were looking for on our field trip.


Volunteers were picked to be trees who dropped acorns that became more seeds. The students had fun with this activity. They learned about how seeds move and why seeds move.

Here Alexia is passing the seeds. Students got a chance to see various seeds in different stages.

Alexia held the two seeds for me to show what the class was looking at. We have one seed that is fresh and still living. The other is a dead seed that has already released the seeds in side.

The students are looking at the flowers and looking for seeds.

We had a picture taken of all of those left at the gardens before we got back on the bus. We had a great trip. Everyone was well behaved and learned a lot about seeds.

Fall Break Trip to North Carolina

I visited my sister and her three kids in North Carolina for Fall Break. Coby who started Kindergarten this year is playing Flag Football. Saturday afternoon we went to watch his game. He is the one with the yellow shorts and red shirt in the back.
Corban the baby fell asleep at his big brothers game. He had fun watching for a while, but gave up by the end.

I did get caught sneaking Corban a chocolate chip cookie. My sister didn't get too mad because she had given him bits before. He loved it!
Here the kids are Sunday night before church. I hated thinking that I had to leave on Monday.

I finally got one picture where all three were looking at me. Coby, Sydney, and Corban were waiting for us to leave.

Violin Recital

Here we are showing our violin talents off to parents on Wednesday, October 7th.

The class showed their bows off and how to hold them.

We played several song for parents to see all that we learned during our ten lessons. Everyone did a great job! I was so proud of them.

Twinkies!

I showed up at school on October 7th and found a second grader with the same outfit on. We had a good laugh, so I had to add it to the blog.

Red Ribbon Parade Chant!

Here is the class practicing the chant for the Red Ribbon March on Saturday. They all did a great job learning the words and movements for this chant in PE.

Orange Rally Friday!

Cerise and the rest of the class really enjoyed the Orange Rally Friday afternoon.

We were visited by the Austin Black Bear! he brought with the Austin Cheerleaders and a few football players.
The show started out with the bear chasing around football player #8 from Austin. In the end they were hugging and having fun as the cheerleaders lead the group in a fun active cheer.

The students really got going when #8 lead them in an A high chant.

The cheerleaders preformed several cheers that the whole group could help with. Everyone was having a great time.

Mrs. Praytor got the microphone to remind everybody why we were having the Orange rally. We were getting ready for the Red Ribbon March on Saturday.

#8 lead the students in a drug free chant.

Violin Lesson are going great!

Mr. Frank is showing the class how to hold the violin and bow.
Our little musicians are playing the violin. We have learned several songs so far.

We have learned the Monkey song, Donkey song, and the Flower song.

This is rest position. They place their violin under their arm with the bridges peeking out and bows down.

This is called Flat Bananas. They do this before going to playing position.

Pen Pals sent a gift!

Our pen pals sent us a gift. They read the book "Sideways Stories from Wayside School" and wrote their own version as a class book. We really enjoyed reading it. We learned a little bit about our pen pals in the process.

Here is a page from the book they sent. We read it as a class, but students all want a chance to read it on their own.

Pen Pal Letters

Our Pen Pal letters from Oklahoma came and the class was so excited to read them and learn more about their new friends.
Alexia and A'Kyah are enjoying reading some news from Oklahoma and learning the what their new friends like to do.

Kassie is sharing her letter with the students around her.

Cerise had a big smile on her face as she read news from her pen pal.

Gauge is reading his letter

Zach is reading his letter from pen pal Zach! I thought it was cool that they had the same name.

We are writing back to our pen pal and will be awaiting their responses.