The Rookery

I just read an article on Northfield Patch about the very significant cuts that the Northfield Public Schools will be facing next year.  The first paragraph mentions cutting elementary band, a program which has been a favorite of Prairie Creek fifth graders for years.  (There's a public hearing at 7pm…

It's Electric (If I knew how to insert the music to the " Electricslide" here, I would) Hopefully by now you've heard about some of the initial adventures of our first theme.  Yesterday, students were very sure they could easily make light with a battery, a paperclip and a flashlight bulb.…

It's personal project season — a great time of year at Prairie Creek when kids regularly come bounding up to you, eager to share the latest fact they've learned about their passion.  The lunchtime conversations one overhears are full of tidbits from research:  "Oh, you probably had that dream during…

Some of you may have heard the recent fund drive for National Public Radio.  One of their recurring themes is, "How much is this news coverage worth to you?  A quarter a day?  A dollar?"  They then go on to talk about how much people pay for cable or for…

 Our last class at Wolf Ridge was the ropes course.  I was ambivalent about that.  Yes, it could be a very exciting way to end the week.  On the other hand, sometimes when students do not do every stage of the ropes course they are frustrated and feel that they've…

Great day – but cold.  The video camera was so cold that it hurt to hold it so I don't have a ton of footage.  Why the long video then?  Because I hit the wrong button and included whole clips instead of doing the auto edit and by the time…

It's true…these fourth graders have been lost in space these last two days!  Tuesday we started our planet research.  The 'astronauts' have been working in groups of three researching a planet (we also included the sun and pluto in our research).  Each group is making a travel brochure for other…

Things continue to go swimingly — well, not "swimingly" — no unfrozen water around.  We had a wonderful time at our class on birds.  The Herons did an especially nice job making discoveries during the lab portion of the class where we analyzed bird parts to determine the characteristics of…

Hello from the cold (but not as cold as it's going to get) North.  The Herons had a great first day.  We studied Wolf Lake, looking at its ice depth, fish population and temperature.  After we collected data, we got to try our hand at ice fishing and two very,…

Bustling, excitement, and three galaxies – this morning the 4th graders came in ready to get going on their space week work.  They made signs for our galaxies, Tadpole Galaxy (aka the Robins), Whirlpool Galaxy (aka the Kestrels), and Black Eye Galaxy (aka the Herons).  They found their hooks for…