science, art, behavior, oh my!

Last week we had a Williston author/illustrator Amy Huntington visit Allen Brook through an FAP grant. She shared some books she has written and illustrated and talked to the kids about how she gets her ideas. She also did a quick sketch for them and inspired them to paint their own animals later in the day! We really enjoyed her visit.

We have been very busy with science the last few weeks. We did a short inquiry unit with pushes and pulls where kids designed some experiments and practiced making t charts to record what they were learning! This project was inspired from the professional development we have been doing as teachers around the Next Generation Science Standards and working toward doing more inquiry. 

 We have also been spending time learning about maple sugaring and we did a class KWL chart (what they KNOW, what they WANT to know, and then what they LEARNED). I was really impressed with their questions and enjoyed hearing what they wanted to learn about!

 Yesterday we started a new class behavior chart where each child is thinking about and working toward expected behavior. It is similar to the buzzies but helping us focus on one thing and pay closer attention to how the day is going and learn to self regulate toward a goal. This week's goal has been following teacher directions.