Sunday, November 26, 2017

Our Illuminated Pages For Our Classroom Book of Days

 The first grade Navigators are becoming great paragraph writers! (Yes, in the midst of all of our fun learning we accomplish the expected educational standards.)

For our classroom Books of Days, each student picked a topic of interest, did some research using books and the internet, went through the writing process, and ended up with a beautifully done five sentence paragraph.

We are working on handwriting, using capital letters correctly, and including a period, question mark, or exclamation point at the end of each sentence.

Also notice the topic sentence, three details, 
and a concluding sentence that ties up the paragraph like a bow.

We read this book and learned how a book was made in the Middle Ages. Since they were completely hand-made, they took a long time to make. 

Rats were everywhere, including in the scriptorium (and in the margins of this page.)

 
We enjoyed making very fancy letters.

Several boys were interested in the Black Death and did their research together.

This one included a quill in the picture. 
His curiosity led to getting out some feathers and trying to make quill pens.

Notice the enlarged letter "T" of the first word "the". 
We still find this style in books at the beginning of chapters.

We used glitter to illuminate our pages. 
In the Middle Ages gold leaf was used. 

We worked long and hard on this project.
Our illuminated pages turned out sparkly and brilliant!


We 💛 glitter!



Saturday, November 18, 2017

Ada's Violin - How One Story Can Be Used in a Classroom




The Navigators read the book and went to the play, Ada's Violin, The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay. In true Seabury style, the Navigators enjoyed the story from a variety of angles:

Angle 1: We read the book.

Angle 2: We went to the brand new Federal Way Arts & Events Center to see the play. 

Ada's Violin

The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay
Book It Theater  | 
An extraordinary true tale based on the book Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood. Ada Ríos longs to play the violin, but she lives in a poor community on a landfill. When a music teacher finally arrives there are not enough instruments for all of the children. Teacher Favio Chavez’s solution? They will make their own instruments – out of trash! This show is performed in English and Spanish.


Practicing theater etiquette 
The set: a landfill 
The Navigators with Mount Rainier in the background


Angle 3: We learned about the real orchestra.
Click here to watch a video of the real people of the story. 

Angle 4: Book Study
We wrote the beginning, middle and end parts of the story. 

Angle 5: Math: Practicing the "Draw a Picture" strategy for solving word problems

Estimation: How many people do you estimate the theater holds? Answers were from 50 to 2000.
Correct answer was 716.

How many people from Seabury School went to see the play, Ada's Violin?
___ people in the bus + ___ in car 1 + ___ in car 2 + ___ in car 3 = ____ people from Seabury School
Angle 6: World Geography
 We marked Paraguay on our classroom map
Angle 7: MakerSpace/Art Class with Miss Angela/Performing Arts with Miss Suzanne

We made our own instruments, wrote our own songs, and formed our own band.


Click here for a video of the song "Princess Starfall." 
Angle 8: Music Appreciation
We continue to learn about instruments and enjoy classical music in our classroom. 

Angle 9: Writing thank you letters
"Thank you for the awesome play."
"My favorite part was when you put the instruments together."
"I was inspired to play the violin." 

A future violinist?!


Tuesday, November 7, 2017

A Sunny Halloween, October 31, 2017



The 2017-2018 Navigators (plus a little brother)

Evie of the Decendents

Pikachu

Mario

Ninja Warrior

Harry Potter

A zombie princess

Hermione

Darth Vader




Saturday, November 4, 2017

A Virtual Tour of our Classroom Castle

HUZZAH! Our QUEST to make a castle has been accomplished.

Step inside and see what a real Medieval Castle looked like. 



The beginning stages: a "Genius Hour" collaborative activity.




"We need some battlements."
"Let's use index cards."



Every castle needs a "dungin." Especially after reading You Wouldn't Want to Be in a Medieval Dungeon!




 We need tape. Lots of tape! To make a moat and a portcullis and to hold things together!



We also do math.


Let there be light, as in torches, chandeliers, and rose windows. 




More finishing touches: flags and a throne room fit for a King and a Queen.


 

What an engineering task we tackled. 

The results? 

Education at its best and all the things we strive for at Seabury School:

  • planning
  • collaboration
  • communication
  • innovation
  • creativity
  • imagination
  • hands-on learning
  • critical thinking
  • real life play
  • grit
  • student led inquiry-based instruction
    • What does our castle need?
    • How can we make battlements/a portcullis/an armory etc.?
    • Where did the people sleep?
    • Can we make a working drawing bridge?
    • What did real tapestries look like?
    • What should we put in our treasure box?
    • What did they put on their flags?
    • People had dogs in the Middle Ages. Can we make a dog? (of course!) How? 
    • What else do we need?!
And it all started with some boxes...






First Grade-isms

A first grader recites 200+ digits of pi!