Shadows

We've been exploring space (from the comfort of Earlysville).  Today we traced our shadows in the morning and again in the afternoon to see if and how there were any changes.

We noticed long, skinny shadows in the morning and much smaller shadows in the afternoon.  Students were then able to determine that as the earth rotates through the day, the sun shines on it from a different angle, changing the direction and shape of our shadows.

On our Nature Walk today, we noticed huge dark spots on the mountains.  At first, most children thought the spots were from trees.  Eventually, they realized that the spots are huge shadows caused by clouds.

Thanks to Tony and Gabriel for capturing some of our shadows in the following video.

Valentine's Day Party

Sign up HERE if you wish to contribute to our Valentine's Day Party.

The Butterfly Class will celebrate Valentine's Day!

We will make a sweet and salty treat together.

Children may bring Valentine cards to share with classmates on this day.  If your child does bring Valentine cards to school, please make sure that he/she includes every child in the class.  Please let me know if you need a list of names.

Friends and family are invited to join us.

Snow Days

I know you may have mixed feeling about receiving all of those calls from Josh Davis announcing a snow day or a delayed opening.  These Albemarle County students have made it very clear that they love getting calls from Mr. Davis.

Hello, Sunshine!

We started our study of space with a question about the sun:  What comes from the sun?

We initially came up with four ideas: light, heat, life, electricity.

Within a very short time, students realized that well, just about everything comes from the sun (including popcorn, people and clouds).

Happy MLK Jr Day!

We looked at the beautiful images from the book Martin Luther King by Malcah Zeldis and Rosemary L. Bray.  Then we brainstormed words and wrote an acrostic-style poem together.

Patience

Everybody

Agreement

Country

Equal

Enormous 100s Chart

Today we created a huge 100s chart on our classroom floor (yes, dry erase markers come off of tile).  Students noticed:
You count by ones if you go across.
You count by 10s if you go down or up.
You can count forwards or backwards.
You can start at any number and count by ten.
If you go up and down you can see that the same number repeats itself.

We made a plan, moved furniture, worked together, made a mess, learned a ton and had a blast!

ps- Can you spy Kelsey?  She is the newest member of the Butterfly Class!

Animals

National Geographic for Kids

We love this website about animals.  Check out beautiful photographs and exciting videos about these animals and many more!