The Whales Dive Deeper Into Trees, Leaves, and Mushrooms! 🌳🍄

What an exciting and hands-on week of learning for the Whales! We have been continuing our unit of study on trees and leaves, and this week our focus took us underground — into the hidden world of mycorrhizal fungi and root networks. The Whales were amazed to learn that trees actually communicate and share resources with one another through these underground fungal connections. We talked about how the trees and fungi help each other: the fungi bring water and minerals to the tree roots, and in return the trees share some of their sugar. Teamwork in nature!

To help us see some of this magic in real life, Ms. Cassie (Whale parent and expert forager) led us on a wonderful mushroom walk. We explored the campus and found many different types of mushrooms — big ones, tiny ones, colorful ones, and some growing on old stumps as decomposers. The Whales practiced careful observation, collected mushrooms in baskets, and learned how decomposer fungi help break down wood and return nutrients to the soil.

Back in the classroom, Ms. Cassie showed us how to make spore prints. The Whales placed their mushrooms gill-side down on both white and black paper, and after waiting patiently, we discovered beautiful prints. Some mushrooms released white spores, while others left brown ones. It was an amazing way to see how mushrooms spread and grow!

Later in the week, we had another special guest — Professor Stacey Halpern, a biologist from Pacific University. She took the Whales on a tree walk around our very own campus. We learned about native species like the Douglas Fir and Vine Maple, and non-native species like the Gingko, which originally comes from China. The Whales collected leaves along the way and later worked in groups on the UC Patio to sort them into different categories.

It was a week full of discovery, exploration, and expert guidance. We are so grateful for our wonderful community members who help bring science to life for the Whales!

Fernhill Wetlands Field Trip

What a great day for a field trip! The Whales had such a blast exploring Fernhill Wetlands. They used their knowledge from our bird unit to identify the birds that they were seeing and hearing. I heard from the Whales that they saw Red-Winged Blackbirds, a Bald Eagle, Garter Snakes, Northern Flickers, Mallards, Robins, and more! The Whales went to different stations on their field trip. They had an opportunity to look through scopes to see birds in the air and on wooden posts. They played bird and wetland animal bingo. They created landscape art of the layers of a wetland using artists chalk. And they used iPads to identify what bird sounds they were hearing in different parts of the Wetlands. They were being kind and respectful of the animals environment. And they were incredible Ornithologists. When we got back to the classroom, the Whales were exhausted but so excited to share their stories of their favorites parts and the animals, and plants that they saw. A huge shoutout to all of our volunteers for being wonderful group leaders and supporting the Whales and Otters learning!

Final Week of May

The Whales cannot believe that we only have 2 weeks of school left. On Friday, we took our last trip to the library. The Whales shared how much fun we have had over the year taking trips to the library. The Whales made sure to grab some extra special books for the last 2 weeks of school. We are feeling all the feels getting closer to the end of the school year.

This week the Whales finished their bird presentations. We are so proud of the Whales for their hard work researching their birds. So many of the Whales can identify the different birds by just listening to their songs and calls. Its incredible! The Whales also learned more about ducks this week. The learned about how ducks stay waterproof using a process called preening. Preening is where ducks use their bills to collect the oil from the oil glands by their tail feathers to rub on their body. This oil is what helps birds resist water. How cool! This week has gotten the Whales so excited for our wetlands field trip next week! They are excited to be on the lookout for their birds!

The Whales learned about different ways to collect and display data. On Friday, they learned how to collect data using tally charts. They used a tally chart to find out what pets are common in our classroom and what are less common. They walked around the classroom and asked their peers what type of pets they have at home. They tallied to keep track of their data. They learned that the fifth tally goes across 1-4 so that when we are counting tally marks we can easily count by 5’s. The Whales did a great job being data collectors. They counted their groups up. We took that data they collected and worked together to transfer it to one bar graph. You can see the bar graph in the classroom under our friend pictures. We learned that bar graphs hold the same information but display it in a different way. Have your Whale collect their own information over the weekend. Help them make a tally chart at home.

Fun Run, Bird Research, Storytelling & African Dance

What fun the Whales had this week! The Whales showed up to the Fun Run with enthusiasm and drive! They just kept running and running! We are so proud of the Whales for working so hard. After the Fun Run, the Whales had the choice of laying down to read, or to work on their writers workshop stories. The Whales really enjoyed this quiet time to rest their bodies and to continue to work on their stories.

During the week, we heard from many Whales about their researched bird. We have learned so many unique facts about their different birds. Ask your Whale about their cool fact about their bird. We also learned about birds in flight. We talked about how wings are designed for flying. We looked at the motion that wings use. They flap up and rotate. They do not just move up and down. We looked at how long a wing span would have to be for a human to be able to fly. The wing span would have to be 1 and 1/2 times the height of the person. We measured what that wing span would look like and each Whale stood next to it to see how big it would feel to have wings that would help them fly. At the end of that day, we made different paper airplanes that were similar to the types of flying we learned about (active soaring, passive soaring, high-speed, and elliptical). The Whales tested their paper airplanes in the Atelier.

On Thursday, we had a guest speaker. Ms. Habiba is a oral storyteller and African dance instructor. She came into our classroom to tell the students some different oral stories. The Whales learned about her home country of Ghana. They learned 5 different ways to say thank you from different countries in Africa. Ms. Habiba also taught the Whales an African Dance. She taught us how to move our body to a beat, and we danced along to her drum. It was so lovely to have Ms. Habiba visit us and the Whales had a great time!

Birds, and Celebration of Learning

The Whales are Ornithologists! This week we started our unit of study on birds. At the beginning of the week the Whales asked what makes a bird a bird? We looked at different birds characteristics such as beaks, ability to fly, and feathers. Ultimately, we learned that feathers are what makes birds; birds. Birds are the only animal with feathers. The Whales looked at two different types of feathers. We looked at contour feathers and down feathers. The Whales noticed that contour feathers would be better for flight. The Whales noticed that compared to the contour feathers, down feathers are lighter and softer. Down feathers are used to keep birds insulated (warm and cool).

The Whales studied the beaks of birds. We talked about chisel, strained, seed-eating, nectar-eating, spear, and tweezer beaks. Working in groups, the Whales practiced what it would be like to have each beak. The stations were set up to resemble each beak. At the chisel beak station, Whales took turns hammering nails into a wood round. At the strained beak station, Whales used clips to try to catch insects from the water. At the seed-eating station, the Whales used pliers to pick up and crush seeds. At the nectar-eating station, Whales used pipettes to get nectar out of a hummingbird feeder. At the spear station, Whales used tongs to dive into the water to catch fish. At the tweezer beak station, Whales had to used tweezer to pick up corn, and insects. After our stations, we talked about how important it is for birds to have certain beaks depending on what they eat. If a bird eats seeds but had a nectar-eating beak, they wouldn’t be able to crush seeds. If a bird fed on nectar but had a seed-eating beak, they wouldn’t be able to reach the nectar.

There was so much to celebrate at Celebration of Learning. It is amazing to see all of the growth from the Whales. On Friday, the Whales had a conversation of how they felt during Celebration of Learning. The Whales felt so proud to show off their newest published books, their weather reports, their must do tables, artwork, and more. We are so proud of them all!

Thunder Cake, Cityscape Art, and Sunny Weather

The Whales were busy this week finishing up their unit of study on weather. They learned all about thunder and lightening. On Monday, the Whales learned that lightening happens when billions of water droplets in the clouds are rubbing together due to a lot of warm and cool air moving them around in the cloud. Each water droplet has a little bit of electricity in it. When billions of them are rubbing together that electricity grows and grows until it has to escape. That is when we see lightening. Thunder occurs due to the lightening. The lightening causes so much hot air to escape all at once that it has to release, creating thunder. We talked about how we see lightening right when it happens, but that thunder takes some time to get to our ears. Light travels faster than sound waves. We made our own version of thunder by breathing our hot air into a brown paper bag, and popped the bag with our hands. That hot air escaping is what made the thunder sound from our bags. We also made electricity with a balloon and our bodies. The Whales rubbed a balloon on their heads to create static electricity. This electricity was so strong that we could light up a light bulb just by holding it.

On Wednesday, the Whales read the book Thunder Cake. In this book, a grandma is with her grandchild when a thunder and lightening storm begins happening. They count how far away the storm is. While the storm is far away they gather different ingredients to make their Thunder Cake. They mix all of their ingredients together and put it in the oven. When the storm finally arrives, the sound of thunder makes it real Thunder Cake. The Whales made our own Thunder Cake and we even used the same ingredients including; pureed tomatoes, and chocolate. The Whales were a little nervous to try a cake with tomatoes in it. But they each took an adventure bite and decided the tomatoes helped the cake be super moist and delicious.

This week the Whales started a new art study on James Rizzi, a cityscape artist. James Rizzi cityscapes have fun and funky faces and lots of different colors and shapes. Look up some James Rizzi art with your Whale and ask them what they notice. Next week the Whales will continue working on their cityscape art. We will have them done and ready in time for celebration of learning! Yay!

The Whales are starting to learn some really tricky endings to some words. This week we talked about verbs. We said “If it is an action it is a verb!”. When we want to make a verb a past tense verb (something that already happened) then we need to add an -ed to the end. We learned that the -ed ending can say /t/, /d/, or /ed/. If the word has a voiced on letter at the end before the -ed then the -ed sound will be /d/ like in the word called. If the word has an unvoiced letter at the end before the -ed then the -ed sound will be /t/ like in the word jumped. The Whales are going to continue practicing this rule in both spelling and reading next week. This weekend be on the look out for words that end with -ed. Talk about the sound they make and talk about the past tense verb it is attached to!

Friday, was a warm and sunny day! The Whale enjoyed playing outside in the sunshine. They were able to cool off and enjoy a delicious popsicle. The Whales built with blue blocks to make amazing castles, they rode trikes around, and made some beautiful chalk art.

The Water Cycle, Lei Day, The Wind Blew Play

It is never a dull moment in the Whales classroom! The Whales continued on their study of weather, looking at the Water Cycle. They learned the Hawaiian celebration of Lei Day, by making Leis. And they worked on a small play performance that connects to our Weather study.

In creative expression the Whales worked on their props for their play of The Wind Blew. Each Whale either made props for their character or they helped their peers engineer the props for other characters. They created an umbrella, a wig for a judge, a kite, and more all out of paper! By working together they finished their props and started to practice the play. We used a high powered fan to create the wind we needed for this play. Look below to see a recording of The Wind Blew play. The Whales had such a blast having their props fly out of their hands. To see the video of our wonderful The Wind Blew play, look below.

In literacy this week, the Whales are studying the spelling -es at the end of some words. The Whales practiced using -es at the end of noun words they want to pluralize. The rule is that the word has to end with a -ch, -sh, -s, -x, -z. Some example words are; glasses, bunches, foxes, buzzes, dishes. We have talked about the e in the spelling -es says the schwa sound. The s in the -es spelling makes the /z/ sound. If the noun word does not end in those endings than it is usually pluralized with a -s such as, lights.

In math this week the Whales worked on a game called “Make that Number”. Starting with one die the Whales would roll to get a number. They would then roll two more dice and decide to add or subtract to get a number that they could find on their board. The goal was to get 4 numbers that connected in row. The Whales worked on thinking about the different answers they could get if they did adding-adding-adding, adding-subtracting-adding, subtracting-adding-adding, and more. This had the Whales thinking outside the box and strategizing about how they wanted to make their number sentence.

On Wednesday, the Whales learned about the Hawaiian celebration of Lei Day. The Whales learned that Lei Day is a time for people to celebrate the culture of Hawaiian storytelling, dance, music, and food. One way that the Whales celebrated was by making their very own Leis. The Whales also made a Strawberry and Guava Cake, that they got to eat at the end of our day. The Whales also got to watch videos of Hawaiian dances, including a Hawaiian dance with Ms. Aimee! A big thank you to Ms. Aimee for bringing a little piece of her Hawaiian culture into our classroom for the Whales to experience.

On Thursday, the Whales explored the water cycle. We read a nonfiction book that taught us all about the different stages of the water cycle. The Whales learned that water can be in 3 different states; liquid, gas, and solid. In the first stage of the water cycle (evaporation), the water on our earth gets heated up by the sun and turns into water vapor, a gas! In the second stage of the water cycle, the Whales learned about condensation. This is the process of water vapor going high in the air and getting so cold it turns back into water droplets, a liquid! These water droplets come together and form clouds. When these clouds get so heavy from all of the water droplets, it begins to rain. That rain falls back to our land and goes underground to water our plants, or finds its way back to our oceans, lakes, and rivers. The Whales were so excited to learn that water is reused and recycled and there is a possibility that we are drinking the same water that dinosaurs drank many years ago! WOW! Weather is so cool!

On Friday, the Whales had a mystery reader. Our mystery reader was a bear! Just kidding! It was Mr. Mark! He read a great book, Amos and Boris, that connected to our conversations of what makes a good friend. We got to go on an adventure with a little mouse that came across a giant whale friend. What a great story! Thank you Mr. Mark!

Clouds, Wind, and The Whale Weather Reports

The Whales put on their meteorologists hats and dived into their weather unit this week. On Monday the Whales learned about thermometers, rain gauges, and anemometers. Tools we use to predict the weather. We used a thermometer to measure the temperature of the air in the classroom, room temp. water, warm water, and ice-cold water. The Whales kept track of their data on their thermometer recording sheets. We used our knowledge about the temperature of the classroom air to predict what the temperature would be for the warm water and the ice-cold weather.

On Tuesday, the Whales studied praying mantises. We have praying mantis egg cases in our classroom and the Whales have been making observations throughout the week. They are very excited to see the Nymph praying mantises once they hatch. We looked at the praying mantis life cycle and learned some very interesting unique facts about the praying mantis. For instance, praying mantises have 5 eyeballs and they are nicknamed the ambush predator.

On Wednesday, we learned all about clouds. Clouds are made up of many tiny water molecules that cling to dust in the air and other water molecules to form clouds. We learned about 4 different clouds. Stratus clouds are like blankets in the sky. They look like they cover the sky and they typically mean, rain! Cirrus clouds are wispy and very high in the sky. These clouds mean lots of sunshine! Nimbus clouds are dark and big clouds that tell us a storm is coming! Cumulus clouds are white and puffy. Often times you can see different shapes in these clouds. Cumulus clouds mean it’s going to be a nice day! The whales went outside with cloud viewers and identified the clouds they saw in the sky. At the end of our day, the Whales created cloud art to teach others about those four different types of clouds! Check them out next week hanging right outside the Whale classroom.

On Thursday, the Whales were blown away. Literally! They felt the wind of a high powered fan. We talked about how wind feels against our bodies. We could feel the force of the moving air molecules pushing against our bodies but we couldn't see it. During our study, we found that air is there even if you can’t see it. The Whales tested this by using plastic bags to catch air. They worked together to trap air into their bags. This led us to our next question. Does air have weight? We used a balanced hanger to help us test whether or not air has weight. We used two balloons that were empty on the hanger and saw it was balanced. When we filled up one of the balloons with air, it tilted our hanger and we saw that the balloon with air was in fact heavier.

The Whales started the Whale Weather Report. They are working in teams of two to use the tools we have learned about to predict the weather of that day. Next week we will continue to do Whale Weather Reports. They get posted everyday in the lobby of the ELC.

Meteorologists, and the Whales Poetry Slam

The Whales are practicing Meteorologists! This week the Whales started a new unit of study on Weather! We turned our focus towards the sun. The Whales learned that the sun plays an important part in all weather patterns (rain, snow, thunder, etc.). On Tuesday we studied how the sun heats up the earth. We learned that the sun heats up the earth (ground) and the earth heats up the air. Ask your Whale to show you the hand motions that go with “the sun heats up the earth, and the earth heats up the air”. This makes it so the air closer to the ground is usually warmer than the air way up in the sky. It takes longer for the earth to heat up the air that is higher up. We thought this was interesting since the sky looks closer to the sun. After studying how our earth gets warm, the Whales looked at what makes day and night, and the seasons that we experience on earth. For this we went outside. We took turns with Whales being the sun and the earth. If you were the sun you stood still and strong. If you were the earth you had to spin on your axis all the way around the sun. The Whales learned that this spinning rotation around the sun is what makes day and night. The tilt of our earth is what makes the different seasons. The Whales learned that it takes 365 days or 1 year to rotate all the way around the earth. The Whales tried to spin 365 times around the “sun” but they got real dizzy! We all decided that the sun is REALLY COOL!!

Throughout the week the Whales worked on finishing up their poetry. They painted their beautiful poetry book covers with tempera paint. They decided that using bright colors would be fun for a poetry book. They each painted such unique and gorgeous art to hold their treasured poetry in. We also practiced reading our poetry out loud to our classmates. The Whales did such a great job all week supporting their peers. They cheered each other on for each practice. They are true poets!

Lets talk about the Whale Poetry Slam! WOW! WOW! WOW! I am beyond amazed! If the Whales taught us anything today, it is that poems can be about anything! The Whales are all such unique individuals and it was so fun to see their personalities and creativity shine through this afternoon. Before the Poetry Slam the Whales did a quick meditation and we talked about how we were feeling about reading our poetry out loud to people. Some Whales were feeling nervited (nervous + excited), some were scared. However, they all got up in front of a large group of people and delivered with strong voices. I want to give another big round of applause for this spectacular group of students!

Lego Builders, Poets, and Compost Captains

This was a full week for the Whales! We had a special guest, poetry writing, compost presentations, a library trip, and Sea Lion Buddy time! We even got to enjoy some sunshine!

On Wednesday, the Whales had a special visitor. Mr. Cody came in to teach the Whales about lego building! That’s right! The Whales got to see some amazing lego creations that Mr. Cody and Fox have worked on together. Their pieces have won awards at lego conventions. Mr. Cody even told us he has worked with some of the people on Lego Masters! Our Whales were so excited to hear this! The Whales learned about a lego user group that is in Portland called PORTLUG. Mr. Cody said they have groups for Adults, Teens, and Kids. The Whales got to walk around the classroom and look closely at the lego structures. They asked Mr. Cody questions and got some insider tips on great lego building. The Whales also got to practice building their own MOC’s (My Own Creations). The Whales saved their creations and worked on them throughout the week! The Whales built spaceships, landscapes, houses, and more! A huge shoutout to Mr. Cody for sharing with us!

The Whales are poets! Their poems are magical, loving, silly, and so so so kind! After poetry writing time, the Whales shared out their finished poems and we got to celebrate each of them. These poems light up our classroom and we cannot wait to share them with you during our Poetry Slam. The Whales also got to read their descriptive poems to their buddies and hear their buddies read a poem all about them. There was a smile on every Whale and Sea Lion face!

On Friday, the Whales took their composting posters to the different ELC classrooms and presented with their group all about composting. They answered questions about how composting can help the earth, and what we can and cannot compost. They are the Compost Captains for the ELC! We will pick up the Seals and Dolphins composting bins every week and dump them at the UC compost. The Whales will continue to do this for the remainder of the year! I know the Whales are up for this task!

During our trip to the Forest Grove Library, the Whales looked at the amazing art that the Seals and Dolphins created. The Whales thought their art was beautiful and were in awe of their younger peers. After seeing the beautiful art the Whales picked out some new library books to bring to the classroom. We are looking forward to more fun next week!

Change-makers, Earth Stewards, and Poets

The Whales returned from Spring Break and got right back to work. We continued on our study of Change-makers. The Whales have been learning about different people who have made big changes to help the Earth and to Protect the water. This week the Whales started thinking about ways that we could help the Earth. We learned about composting and about how composting can limit our waste. Composting helps foods decompose faster and allows us to use the nutrients from our food waste to make nutrient rich soil. The Whales created composting posters that show what you can and can’t compost here at the University. Next week, the Whales will be going into each of the ELC classrooms with their posters to teach other students about composting in their classrooms and what composting is. The Whales are really excited to be Change-makers as they lead this project!

In honor of our Change-makers unit focusing on ways people have made change to help the Earth the Whales created a cooperative art piece. They worked together to paint a giant Earth. We were sad to take down our sunflowers but we are excited to have Earth focused art up for upcoming Earth Day. The Whales also each made their own Earth and placed their handprint on the inside. They each answered the question: How can we help the Earth? The Whales are indeed following their pledge of being Stewards of the Earth and Protectors of the water.

The Whales are all starting to learn about long vowel sounds. We have specifically worked on the long A and long I sound. We have talked about when we see an e at the end of the word, many times it changes the vowel to say its own name. Some example words are; hide, side, lame, face, etc. We have been practicing using this rule during our writers workshop time.

The Whales are poets! We have started our study on Poetry and wow, wow, wow!! The poems that are being creative are loving, fun, silly, rhyming, and so much more! I am so excited to continue this study. We learned about noticing small details in our poems. The Whales wrote poems about items and focused on using their sense to notice details about their object. Objects included pinecones, pencils, glue sticks, wheat, and rocks. We also learned about rhyme schemes and the different patterns that some poets use to rhyme in their poems. Last but not least, we learned about descriptive poems. The Whales got together with their Sea Lion buddies. They worked with the Sea Lions to write a descriptive poem about Ms. Abby. Then they were set off with their buddies to write a descriptive poem about their buddies. Next week the Whales will finish their descriptive poems about their buddy and exchange poems. The Whales love their Sea Lion buddies.

Get ready for lots of birthdays! The Whales will be celebrating 5 birthdays this month. They celebrated the first birthday today. We absolutely love celebrating each other. It brings a smile to everyones face.

Rascal Leprechauns, World Down Syndrome Day, and Game Night Fun!

On Monday morning, the Whales came into the classroom and noticed that the Leprechaun never visited. They thought that he was being tricky by not coming. Sure enough after outside time, we walked into the classroom and what a mess those rascal Leprechauns left for us! Agh! There were tiny footprints on the tables, chairs knocked over, writing caddies tipped over, green toilets, gold glitter all over! The Whales were happily surprised to see that the Leprechauns did leave them a little golden chocolate treat! The Whales worked together to put our classroom back together. During lunch, we talked about the changes we could make to our traps that would’ve helped us catch a Leprechaun. Oh well! Maybe next time!

Throughout the week, the Whales have been learning about Change-makers. This week the Whales learned about Kate Sessions. Kate moved to San Diego in 1884 to be a teacher. Her passion was to study trees. She noticed that San Diego was a desert that was bare and had no greenery. People told her it was impossible to grow trees in that area. Kate reached out to people in different states to find out what trees grow the best in warm and dry areas. She brought people together to help her plant tree seeds and she created Balboa Park. She became known as the “Mother of Balboa”. The Whales also learned about Winona LaDuke. Winona grew up in Oregon, and eventually moved to live with her Dad in Minnesota. While in Minnesota, she learned how to speak her native language of Ojibwe, and she learned from her father how to farm rice. She became very passionate about protecting water, and she advocates that water is sacred and we must do what we can to protect it. The Whales took an Earth Steward and Water Pledge. After repeating the pledge, they signed it. We promised as a class that we would be Stewards of the Earth and we would do what we can to protect our sacred Earth.

On Thursday, the Whales celebrated World Down syndrome Day by wearing bright mix-matched socks. We had conversations about what Down syndrome is. We read a book and learned that many people are born with 46 chromosomes. A person with Down syndrome is born with 47 chromosomes. We talked about how amazing it is that everyone is different and those differences is what makes us all unique.

Card and Dice Game Night was a huge success! We are so thankful to have a community that can get together, play and laugh together. It was so heart warming to see all of the smiles on everyone’s faces and to see Whales so excited about popcorn. It’s the simple things! Thank you everyone for making game night such a blast!

Change-makers, Pi Day, and Leprechaun Trap Engineering!

The Whales started the week by learning what a Change-maker is. We made some educated guesses before hand. Whales thought Change-makers might be someone who changes something, someone who helps the earth, somebody who grabs something and changes it. They had so many ideas of what a Change-maker could be. After we made our best guesses, we had an interactive read aloud of The Lorax book. We saw that the Once-ler was being greedy and only cared about making money and growing his business. The Whales noticed that the book starts with dark images, and as more and more trees get cut down the dark the illustration gets. At the end of the story, the Once-ler noticed what he had done wrong and invited the Whales to help plant more Truffala tree seeds so that the air can be cleaner, the Bar-Ba-Loots and the other animals could come back and live happily in their habitat. After we read the book we had a discussion about the characteristics of a Change-maker. There are three steps to be a Change-maker. Those three steps are; 1. Identifying a problem (looking for a problem), 2. Seeks a solution (How can we solve this problem?), 3. Bring people along with them. We had a discussion about how the Once-ler identified the problem at the end of the book, he looked for a solution, and he invited us to come with him to solve that problem. The Whales will continue this study in the following weeks.

On Wednesday the Whales created cards to put next to their Leprechaun traps. These cards had different tricky and enticing sentences. Some Whales wrote, “Come on in Leprechaun. This is not a trap.” and “There are sweet treats inside”. The Whales sounded out their words and made sure that they had felicity writing so the Leprechauns could read their words. Later in the day, the Whales decorated their cards with different green, golden, and shiny materials. They look very fancy and will definitely attract a Leprechaun.

During math this week the Whales focused on place value. They played a game called Speedy Bugs Love to Race to 100. They did an amazing job of rolling their dice. Collecting their ones, and when they had enough ones they packed their bags and they grabbed a ten stick. They worked on counting by tens, and counting on. Once they had 10 ten sticks they grabbed a hundreds plate and completed the game. They are becoming such strong mathematicians. We also celebrated Pi day this week and played many math games while also learning alittle bit about the number Pi. We made a chocolate-pudding pie that we were able to measure. We measured the circumference, the diameter, and did some fancy dividing on a calculator. We got 3.14! We also measured the circle plates we were going to eat our pie on. After dividing the circumference with the diameter, it also came to be 3.14! Wow! Circles are cool!

Like always, Friday was a busy day! We had Ms. Ren come in to be our Leprechaun Mystery Reader. She read a book that was a perfect lead in for our Leprechaun trap engineering. We went to Taylor-Meade auditorium and watched the lovely performance from the Sea Lions. They did a spectacular job in the Pirates From Grammar Island musical! We planned our Leprechaun designs and engineered our traps! A huge shoutout to Ms. Shelby King for helping the Whales through the craziness that is Leprechaun trap making. The Whales did a lovely job designing their traps. We ended our day with reading with our Sea Lion buddies. We of course had to give them a Whale round of applause for their beautiful performance. What fun seeing our buddies rock it on stage!

We hope everyone has a great sunny weekend, and cross your fingers we catch a Leprechaun!

Wrapping Up Migration + Birthday Celebrations

This week the Whales finished up their unit of study on animals in winter. We listened to the final presentations and learned about the Canada Goose, Whimbrel, and the Bar-Tailed Godwit. We noticed that the Whimbrel and the Bar-Tailed Godwit look very similar. Look at pictures of the Whimbrel and the Bar-Tailed Godwit and see if you can notice the differences. We went out into the sunshine and practiced being a flock of Canadian Geese. The Whales were in a V-formation with one leading the others. The Whales determined that it is tricky to stay in a V-formation but they had so much fun trying! The Whales have all finished the scientific illustrations of their migrating animals. They worked incredibly hard on these illustrations and had to notice small details of their animals. They thought about what art medium to use to add color to their animal and the background.

The Whales were able to celebrate two birthdays this week. We shared baby pictures, dance parties, and birthday treats. It is such a joy to see baby photos of the Whales and to see how much the Whales have grown up.

Friday was a busy day! We had a math morning, a lovely mystery reader, sharing, a library visit, and a birthday celebration. The Whales also had a fantastic time playing in the sunshine! Next week the Whales will begin their unit of study on Change-makers!

100th Day of Kindergarten, Tie-Dye, Migration, and SO SO MUCH MORE!

HAPPY 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL!

This week was all about the number 100. We were number investigators during classroom choice, we counted to 100 by 1’s, 5’s. and 10’s, we created 100 year old self portraits, we worked together to make 100 day charts, we dressed up as 100 years old, and we took a 100 day walk. On our 100 day walk, we loudly counted to 100 all the way up to the top of Berglund Hall. At the top, the Whales were able to look down at our Piazza and Cedar Classroom. Wow! What a view! The Whales had a busy and spectacular week to say the least!

Friday was also Tie-Dye day. The Whales learned from Mr. Mark all about how to best dye their shirts, dresses, hoodies, socks, and more. A huge shoutout to Mr. Mark and our parent volunteers that helped the Whales create beautiful master pieces!

We had another amazing Mystery Reader visit our classroom this week. Ms. Robin, read us The Doorbell Rings. She also created a fun math game that goes along with it! A huge thank you to Ms. Robin for the classroom gift, and the super fun read aloud!

Not only did we do all of those things, but many Whales presented their migrating animal. We learned about the Northern Pintail, the Chinook Salmon, the Long-Billed Curlew, and the Tundra Swan. These animals have incredible migrating journeys and we are so proud of the Whales for their hard working learning about each of them. One of our Whale friends went and saw the Beached Whale on Sunset Beach on the Oregon Coast. They brought back photos of what the Fin Whale looks like currently in its decomposing state. We looked up an article that talked more about the Fin Whale and we had a great conversation about it. We talked about how it is sad that this whale died, but it is also very educational for people to learn more about this animal. We also talked about how the Fin Whales body will now be giving back to the environment. We related this to some of our migrating animals such as the Chinook Salmon, that dies shortly after having its babies. The Chinook Salmon body now provides nutrients and purpose to the ecosystem. It is so fun to make these connections!!

The Whales are Back!

Wow! It felt like our classroom was complete again this week. We had all of the amazing Whales back in action. We started off our week with Friendship Celebration part 2. In the morning, the Whales worked together to make egg-free snickerdoodle’s. We spent time in the day to talk about what it means to be a good friend. We expressed our gratitude for the friends in our classroom. At the end of the day, we exchanged friendship gifts. We exchanged gifts one at a time, so we could thank our friends for their gift. After exchanging gifts, we had a glow in the dark dance party, and ate our delicious snickerdoodle’s. What a fabulous day!

Throughout the week we heard many migration presentations. We learned about the Sooty Shearwater, the Gray Whale, the American Golden Plover, the Monarch Butterfly, the Rufous Hummingbird, and the Porcupine Caribou. All of the Whales who presented did a great job at showing where their animal starts and ends their migration. We watched videos on each animal to get a better idea of what they looked like and some of their characteristics. The Whales have started their scientific illustrations of their migrating animals and are working extremely hard on them. Look below for the lyrics to our new Migration Song: “Fly away, fly away, fly away bird. Fly away, fly away, fly away bird. Fly to the Tundra for the party. Fly down to Mexico to have your babies”. Ask your Whale to teach you this song.

In literacy, the Whales have been learning about consonant digraphs (2 consonants coming together to make one sound). We did an activity where some friends were a consonant digraph, and other friends were part of a word. We worked together to make different words with our digraphs. We talked about the meanings of the words we made, and noticed when a word was made up versus real.

On Friday, the Whales welcomed Ms. Patty. She was our mystery reader. The Whales were so excited to see her and listen to her read “Giraffes Can’t Dance”. We even got a photo of her with some of the Whales who have been in her dance classes. How fun! We ended our Friday, soaking up some much needed sunshine. The Whales ran, played and pretended to be their migrating animals.

Friendship Celebration Part 1, and the Start of Migration Presentations

This week was full of many Whale wishes for our friends who were resting at home! As always the Whales were so supportive of the idea of changing our big friendship celebration to next week so we can celebrate with all of our Whale friends. However, we still had so many friendship activities throughout the day. For meditation we went around our circle and complimented the person next to us to the whole group. As a group we agreed that when we receive compliments, and when we give compliments it fills our buckets! The compliments did not stop there! At the end of friendship day, we got into a friendship circle. In our friendship circle, we held a ball of yarn, threw it to a friend and made a compliment to that friend. At the end it showed how connected we are in our classroom! It was beautiful and heart warming to see our community express our feelings about each other aloud. See below for a video on the Whales all being connected.

This week we started our migration presentations. So far we have learned about the Humpback Whale, the American Eel, and the Arctic Tern. During the Humpback Whale presentation, we measured how long a Humpback Whale can be (62 ft). The measuring tape went all the way from the reading couch in our classroom, to the drying rack in the atelier! Can you believe that! The Whales also thought it would be a great idea to lay down and see if all the Whales together would be as long as a Humpback Whale. We weren’t even close! Below you can see the video of the Whales laying down to try to be as long as a Humpback Whale. After the Humpback Whale, we listened to the American Eel presentation. We learned that the American Eel is born in the Sargasso Sea, as a baby swims to freshwater. While in freshwater it goes through the various phases of its life. Once it is a grown adult, it swims back to the Sargasso Sea to have its babies. We thought how extraordinary it is that the American Eel knows exactly where it needs to go. On Friday, we listened to the Arctic Tern presentation. We learned that the Arctic Tern is one of the greatest migrators as it travels around 28,000 miles a year (going from the Arctic, to Antartica, and then back again in 1 year). The Whales are becoming migrating experts and have been stretching themselves in this unit of study.

Friday was a jam packed day. We had migration presentations, sharing, engineering with 3D shapes, freeze dance for wiggle time, a birthday celebration, and we finished our chapter book James and the Giant Peach. WOW! The Whales are excited for a long weekend so we can all rest and be ready for Friendship celebration part 2 on Feb. 20th.

Migration, Chinese New Year, Whale Authors, and More!

This week the Whales dived into their study on Migration. We talked about what migration is and the whales picked their migration animal that they will be researching and presenting to the class. Next week the Whales will be looking at the different migration routes of their migrating animals. We will be mapping their routes, looking at short and long distances. This week we also touched on cardinal points (north, south, east, west). We talked about in Winter many migrating animals migrate south where it is warmer. In the Spring, many of the migrating animals migrate back to the North. The Whales are so excited to learn about each others migrating animals.

Wow! We had a publishing Week in writers workshop! So many Whales finished their stories and published their books. We read their published books during lunch and celebrated each others accomplishments! We had stories about Christmas trees, Snowstorms, Rhinos named Reggy, and fun times at school. The Whales are stretching themselves in their writing. We used Mo Willems as inspiration and thought about adding speech bubbles to our stories to tell the reader how our characters are feeling.

On Friday we had Ms. Rita and Mr. Vincent come in and talk about the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year). They shared with us the story of the Monster Nian, and the story of the Chinese Zodiac. The Whales learned that if they were born in 2017 their Chinese Zodiac sign is the Rooster, and if they were born in 2018 their Chinese Zodiac sign is the Dog. We learned that the Lunar New Year is centered around removing the bad and the old and welcoming the good and new. The Whales were even gifted a special decoration to hang in their home!

Hibernation Presentations!

This weeks blog deserves to start off with a huge round of applause for the Whales. For the last couple weeks they have researched, studied, practiced, and presented a research paper in front of 2 different large groups of people. Not only did they get to present for their families and friends, but they also got to be teachers to the preschool classrooms. Some Whales were feeling “nervited”, but that did not stop them! They all did such an amazing job presenting and should feel incredibly proud. I also want to give a shout out to the families of our Whales for practicing with our Whales at home and supporting their learning. A big part of their success comes from the loving people in their lives who support them each and every day.

Along with hibernation presentations the Whales did other fun activities and learning this week. During the week the Whales met with their Sea Lion buddies, had an engineering morning, started writing friendship cards, practiced subtraction word problems, began a study on 3D shapes, learned the floss rule, and more!

Something to try at home: In the Whale classroom, we start off every morning with a small meditation. We close our eyes, take breathes, and say affirmations out loud. The Whales are strong learners, meditators, friends, teachers, readers, and so so so much more! Have your Whale lead you in a morning meditation. Some examples of affirmations we use at school are; you are kind, you are strong, you are a caring friend, you will have a great day, and you are loved.

Becoming Hibernation Experts

This week the Whales dived deep into their Hibernation study. They have been creating sample hibernation sites, and studying their hibernating animal facts. The Oregon Black Bear group worked together to paint the outside of their den. They used black, brown, and green to make the outside of their den look like wood, and moss. The Little Brown Bat research group, worked together to paint the outside of their cave. They used black and white to create a rock like surface. They also have worked incredibly hard cutting out little brown bats to go into their cave. The Northwest Painted group, worked together to make a large example of a plastron and carapace (front and back of their shell). They had to look at the little details on the Northwest Painted Turtles shells. The Common Garter Snake group, started to create many paper snakes to make a hibernaculum. They used their science eyes to notice all the details of the colors and patterns on the Common Garter Snake.

The Whales will go home this afternoon with a copy of their research facts. Their job over the weekend is to study their facts a couple times to help prepare for their presentations next Friday. They are practicing in the classroom as well, and are doing an incredible job.

For mathematics, the Whales are finishing up their study on 2D shapes. They have been observing the characteristics of each shape and noticing how they are different or similar than other shapes. We have also started take away (subtraction) problems, including story-word problems.

In art, the Whales finished their Ted Harrison landscapes. They were all so incredibly proud of their creativity, and uniqueness that they each showed in their art pieces. Check out their amazing and colorful landscapes near their cubbies. They have also began their scientific illustrations of their hibernating animal and will continue on them into next week.

The Whales were so busy this week with their studies, however, they were able to take a relaxing listening walk to the Pacific University fountain on campus. It is such a blast to explore the University campus, and to see all the beauty our campus holds. The Whales were so excited to explore something new. Check out the last couple of photos that show their adventure to the fountain.