2016-2017 -- Greatest Hits

I made a video last year that was a sort of greatest hits from the year (view it here). It was fun to create, and well-received by the kids, so here is this year's version. Enjoy this peek into what we've been up to this year. (Tidbit: The still photos at the beginning were all taken on the first day of the school year.) 

Week 36 -- We have begun our final descent

As I’m sure you know, we had an amazing trip last week, and I heartily recommend you take a look at the previous entries to see what we were up to. We’re not taking a break now that we’re back!

First of all, we’ve clearly wanted to reflect on our adventures in Kentucky (and Ohio), so our warm-up on Monday was to draw a comic depicting one (or more!) favorite moment from the trip. (We also spent some time reflecting on the experience in a more hands-on way: Thoroughly cleaning out the bus that we spent so much time in.) The rest of our homeroom time has been spent either finishing up projects (we ordered our final set of biome game cards!), or enjoying the fruits of our labor (we’ve been able to play several rounds of the completed biome games.)

Much better...

We’ve also spent some time looking through our writing portfolios. Students in our group do a lot of writing over the course of the year, which is often done in small increments. I collect dozens of writing responses from them over the year, then periodically hand their entire folders back so they can see just how much they’ve produced. This week, kids are revisiting their old work one last time, selecting pieces to polish and/or share with the group.

The entire 5/6 group also spent part of Thursday composing group poems (in which multiple people are required to recite the piece), then spent part of Friday performing them for Elaine’s class.

In our math group, we’re also winding down, with some students finishing assessments before the summer begins, and others making progress in their Singapore sequence.

Performing this year's greatest hits in Music

Jason's Class: The Trailer

It is astonishingly difficult to get ten different kids to 1.) smile, 2.) keep their eyes open, and 3.) look at a camera at the same time.  

In this blog post, enjoy the many attempts that I made, along with a smattering of various happenings from the last few weeks. 

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Here's a video that you may have seen over email. Ella has called it "the trailer for our class." 

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We've had a few birthdays lately. It's a class tradition to allow the birthday person to choose a class activity in celebration. On Ella's birthday, she opted for "class karaoke." Watch the video below at your peril. 

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There has been a lot of wetland exploration at recess.

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Shan was unexpectedly out sick for PE one day, so we picked a park, got on a bus, and headed over to check it out. 

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In Math, kids are doubling down on their book work, setting personal goals for the end of the year. Some classes are spent working toward those goals, others are spent playing math games. Here are a couple of moments from a class game of Farkle, which is a favorite. 

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There have been a number of presentations lately. We've been learning about the American Revolution, and Nick prepared a lecture on the military tactics of that time. 

Later, Miel and Bora presented on guinea pigs, complete with a guest appearance by Miel's pets. 

Oliver the human meets Oliver the guinea pig. 

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Our milkweed & monarch project continues to require a significant amount of work. The good news is that our beds are almost prepared. 

This was on Juna's birthday. This probably wasn't how she planned on spending it. 

Rest for the weary. 

Our impact study. We delicately examine logs, looking to see what might be living in the area where we were digging. 

Here's what we found! These are the mystery eggs discovered beneath a log (pillbug provided for scale). Any ideas on what they are? 

This is the site where we harvested soil for our beds. What is the impact of our actions? What did this site look like before, and what will it look like after we've gone? Now that we've seen the small impact that we made, we were led to wonder where soil purchased from stores comes from? 

When we return from our spring trip, we'll be forging ahead to get things planted and established before the end of school. 

POOT: The Place Out of Time banquet

We began our first week back after Spring Break with a couple of field trips. 



The first was to the University of Michigan School of Education for the annual Place Out of Time banquet. There were a couple hundred students in attendance from Michigan and Ohio, ranging from 5th graders through high school. Check out this video to get a glimpse of the event (apologies in advance for the wobbliness of the camera): 

Chatting with Joanna at our weekly morning assembly

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On Tuesday, we took a trip to Hill Auditorium to hear a performance of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. 

(I confess that this would be much more effective if there was audio.)