The Rookery

We took a break from testing on Tuesday afternoon to do some testing of our own.  Our final challenge for our rocketry theme was to land a rocket on a platform (I embellished with a story of horible, fatal lava surrounding a plateau on the center of which was the…

Our trip to Riverbend was wonderful and left the Herons wishing we had a lot more time to explore.  We took readings on the temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, pH and turbidity of the water in the Straight River and then compared our data to those collected by the Robins at…

This week we will take time out of our curriculum to prepare and take the reading MCAs or Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments.  We make every effort to help students feel comfortable when taking a standardized test.  We also make every effot to keep the test in what we feel is a…

I took a breather from our busy honoring week to read about a PCCS alumna, Devyn Gardner, in the Northfield News.  I taught Devyn many years ago and she came back to PCCS this year to volunteer with our Girl Scouts and honors project students.   What caught my attention…

This is an exciting week to be at Prairie Creek.  Kids are bustling about, posters, props and notecards in hand, anxiously awaiting the chance to teach us about their passions.   Today I ran into a fifth grade parent who had stayed after her child's honors project to watch a…

Last week was a special one at Prairie Creek.  No one on staff could remember the last time that new sand had been delivered to the sand box.  In fact, until last year, no one on staff really knew there was a sandbox.  The pile of scruffy dirt by the forts…

Algebra — it's often a topic reserved for middle school and, for some it's a topic that produces a shudder.  Many remember it as the time when math "stopped making sense."  But times have changed.  We begin teaching algebraic thinking in kindergarten and we've just completed a unit on algebra…

On Monday, the Herons had the honor of helping the Nuthatches work on their personal projects.  It was a very exciting time for everyone.  The Nuthatches were getting a ton of work done (Elise pointed out that it was the equivalent of 10 volunteer hours) and the Herons were, I know,…

We had a great time launching straw rockets (I can't believe I keep forgeting to take video!) on Tuesday.  Our first launches were right before spring break and I allowed students to openly explore the basic construction of a straw rocket.  They could make any changes they wished between launches.…

We are right in the heart of project season and the excitement is mounting.  As I've been reviewing my sons' project work (they're in kindergarten and second grade) I've been observing first hand the arc of projects during a child's time at Prairie Creek.  The teachers have done a lot…