Tallmadge School
Our class on customer service training has been going on a wild and courageous adventure with the great Robinson Crusoe throughout the month of February. Before reading each student made a list of what they thought they would need if they were stranded on a deserted island. I was impressed with many of the items. Several students said they would bring weapons for hunting food, seeds to plant crops and a dog or cat for companionship. Other items that made the lists were an iPad, a game system and favorite stuffed animals. We then discussed that a deserted island most likely would not have electricity, which was extremely disappointing to our tech-savvy students.
As we journeyed around the globe with Crusoe, students were asked if they would make the same choices he did throughout the story. The class was split when deciding to leave their families or stay home at the beginning, but as the journey progressed, each child became more and more excited about the adventures. We finished the story last week and students are now working on building models of Crusoe’s island and home or writing their own adventure story. Stay tuned for photos of their projects next month!
We have also focused on human anatomy this past month in biology. Children were fascinated to learn about the inner workings of their bodies, especially their heart and brain. As we read books about each organ students asked questions and researched their answers. We learned the names of each lobe of the brain and their functions. We learned how to use a stethoscope and check our heart rates. Students loved checking their heart rate, doing an activity, and then re-checking their heart rate to see what happened.
In our Geometry studies students have been focusing on types of triangles and angles. We read a story about how geometry came to be and have been using our infamous Box of Sticks to create the seven different triangles (right-angled isosceles, right-angled scalene, acute-angled isosceles, acute-angled scalene, obtuse-angled isosceles, obtuse-angled scalene, and equilateral equiangular.)
Excitement overflows each Monday afternoon as students prepare for their Latin class with Magister Tom (Mr. Tom McCaffrey). I have been so proud of each child as they answer Magister Tom’s questions about English words derived from Latin and their ability to remember, from week to week, their new Latin vocabulary. They have learned simple greetings, feminine and masculine forms of nouns and verbs, as well as plural forms. This past week, their favorite activity was answering questions in Latin. Magister Tom would ask, “Quis est?” and point to the table. Every hand shot up in excitement to answer “Est mensa.” They can say over 30 words after just a couple of lessons and their pronunciation is fantastic! We have made labels for our classroom in Latin and students enjoy reading the label and placing it in the correct spot.
One goal of mine is to provide the children with several experiences outside of the classroom. This past month we went to Playhouse Square in Cleveland to see a show called Dino-Light. This was a show done without words, using only light and music to convey the emotions of the characters. The story was about a scientist who built a dinosaur, but the dinosaur was missing a heart. The scientist gave the dinosaur a heart in hopes he would became a kind and loving dinosaur. The scientist and his dinosaur were separated and they searched for each other throughout the play. In the end, the dinosaur defeated his foe to save the life of the scientist, thus showing his love. The play was fantastic, but my heart melted when we completed our “End of the Day Journal” entry and Annika said she had a lesson on friendship because the dinosaur in the play learned to love and care for another person, just like a true friend.