The Rookery

Just in time for Village, the Herons had a fascinating conversation about laws on Thursday.  We have a class guideline:  If the predicted high for the day is 70 or greater, you may wear shorts.  On Thursday, the predicted high was sixty degrees…so no one was wearing shorts.  But we…

Another number talk, showing great flexibility…sadly, I did not record our negative number work. For several years, I have been interested in "The Mathematical Habits of Mind"  What can I help students do as math thinkers to become more successful in math and to best prepare them for using math and learning…

"Oh!  I have a skull!  Come quick."  "What is this?!?"  "COOL!"  "Ewww…"  "MICHELLE!  COME HERE NOW!"  "Intact vertebrae…I have intact vertebrae!"  "Dude!"  An audio feed from our owl pellet dissection yesterday would have been a hoot. (Sorry.)  There was a lot of enthusiasm as students' owl pellets revealed treasure after…

Last week, right after the honoring fair wrapped up, the Herons went down to our Dove bird buddies to help with their initial personal project research.  The Herons helped their Dove buddy record questions of wonder and then they read information books together. Their work had come full circle.  The…

This is one of my favorite weeks at Prairie Creek.  The students would probably say, "That's because you're not doing anything!"  And there is some truth in this.  I'm not the teacher this week…they are.  And what a joy it is to see them take on the role of "expert"…

Testing season is almost upon us – and, as always, it is ironically juxtaposed with Honoring Week where our children truly demonstrate their learning.  I feel very grateful that I'm at a school in which test prep is put in what I consider its proper perspective.  We don't ignore the tests…

Today's New York Times had an essay  by Angela Duckworth about character education.  She, along with Carol Dweck, a major proponent of the "growth mindset," have been leading voices in the recent conversation about developing "grit," resilience and character in schools. At Prairie Creek character education is nothing new.  The focus…

Our trip to the science center was great.  For the first part of our trip we focussed on rivers and then had time for exploration of other parts of the museum.  The Herons were far from done with their field trip when it was time for us to board the…

  Treasure hunting. I need to be up front.  I would like to keep this class for at least five more months.  We have a lot that we need to get to and our "to do" list seems to grow every day.  Right now, here are the topics that have come…

Fourth grade and honors projects are humming along nicely.  We have had many mini-lessons on how to organize note-cards into categories and order the notecards in a way that makes sense to teach your reader.  Students try to find about 4-5 pieces of information that work together and these will…