A Riddle Walk, Field Trip and Visit From an Ornithologist - Wow!

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The Whales had such an exciting week! First, we had a visit from Mr. Chris (ornithologist and Whale dad) who brought some pretty special feathered friends to visit. The Whales had a list of about 20 “bird questions” that Mr. Chris answered for us, then we spent time looking at a cage of Zebra Finches. We noticed and shared tiny details about the 6 birds he brought, including color, size, beak type and feet type.

On Friday we boarded our first school bus and took a field trip to Fernhill Wetlands where we rotated through stations that included viewing birds through scientific scopes, listening to birds and identifying their sounds, playing Bird Bingo, and drawing the layers of a wetland landscape with oil pastels. It was amazing fun!

Finally, many of our families visited the wetlands again on Saturday and took our Riddle Walk. It was so fun to show our parents all we have learned, and to show off our amazing scientific illustrations! Whales are birders!

Celebration Of Learning

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The Whales spent a happy and magical evening proudly sharing some of the amazing learning they have done this year with their most adoring fans. We had a fabulous turnout for our Celebration of Learning on Thursday night. Our Whales acted as confident tour guides, leading their parents around the various spaces in the classroom, showing off their work and sharing in some well-known Whale activities. Our Whales are authors, readers, scientists, mathematicians, actors, artists and members of a tight-knit Whale family of learners!

Bird Feet and Claire West Artist Study

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Whales continued to learn more about their research bird this week. We are becoming amazing bird experts! We learned how a bird’s feet help them survive in their special habitat. We also played a new board game that taught us facts about all the research birds we are learning about. In addition, the game gave us an opportunity to try to fly or sing like our birds.

We added the final layers to our Claire West landscape art and the finished product is absolutely dreamy!

Bird Beaks Are Neat!

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The Whales have had tremendous fun this week, exploring how birds fly. We created our own paper airplane birds with various wing shapes to see if they flew like the birds they represented. The Whales compared the flight of birds with active soaring wings, passive soaring wings, high speed wings and elliptical wings. We continued to investigate feathers under a magnifying glass, using colored pencils to sketch the rachis, vane and barbs.

On Tuesday, Whales looked closely at the beaks of birds, sharing in an active read-aloud where we tried to imagine what it might be like to catch and eat our food with beaks. Then we did some hands-on exploration of chisel beaks, spear beaks, tweezer beaks, seed-eating beaks, nectar beaks and straining beaks. We decided that having fingers (and forks!) is much easier!

We continue to learn more about our research birds. Whales are becoming ornithologists!

Landscapes and Birds

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In honor of Earth Week, Whales spent time studying the beautiful paintings of British landscape artist Claire West. We talked about perspective, noticing how layers within a landscape look to our eye, as we used the terms here, near and far. Using artists chalk, smoothed and set with liquid starch, Whales began the first layer in their painting. The colors are stunning! We will go back and add our details in the near and here portions of our landscape next week.

We began our bird unit this week, and Whales have been noticing one another’s birds outside in the Piazza and in many of the books we have been reading. We completed the first part of our multi-step research paper and learned some cool facts about our birds!

We spent time examining feathers, looking at the structure, color, shape and form our feathers took. We did some experiments with air movement (we know all about that from our weather unit!) and discovered that flight feathers did a much better job moving air than downy or semi-plume feathers did. More bird talk to come!

Composting and Chemistry with Whales

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After talking about the health of our earth during Earth Week, the Whales decided that they wanted to do something to give back to our planet. The Whales have decided to take on composting at the ELC. We made teaching posters to hang in the other classrooms at the ELC, educating friends about what is acceptable to compost and what is not. We delivered our first load of compost to the UC. It felt good knowing that our food waste would be turned into rich soil for new plants and trees!

On Friday, the Whales had an extra special visit from Chemistry Professor Dave! We got to watch all kinds of experiments based on states of matter. The Whales have been learning about states of matter as it relates to rain and the water cycle, so the presentation was even more exciting to watch. The photos give you just a glimpse of the level of excitement in our classroom!

Happy Earth Day from the Whales!

More Weather With Whales

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The Whales got to experience a truly wacky weather week as they continued to hone their skills as meteorologists. We saw everything from hail, snow, wind and rain, to bright sunny skies! The Whales spent time learning about anemometers and worked to classify different strengths of wind. They learned all about what makes thunder and lightning, and they made thunder and lightning in the classroom. It was crazy-good fun! To celebrate learning about extreme weather, we participated in a shared reading by Patricia Palacco called Thundercake and then we made Thundercake with Ms. Abby. It was delicious!

In addition to giving a daily weather report to the other classrooms in the ELC, the Whales have been busy noticing signs of spring - even in the midst of snow!

Whales Are Weather Watchers!

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The Whales have spent the last two weeks diving deep into an exploration of weather. We started by learning about how vital the sun is for all weather (and all life!) on earth. We learned that the sun heats the earth, and the earth heats the air. We became the sun and the earth and explored how the sun makes our day and night, and the position of the earth relative to the sun is what makes our seasons. We had lots of fun with our shadows and discovered that the length of our shadows changed depending on where the sun sat in the sky.

When we moved on to the study of wind, we had enormous fun experimenting with moving air molecules! We made kites and sailboats and explored how different objects get carried by the wind. We talked about how the sun creates wind by heating the earth at varying degrees. We learned that cool air pushes on warm air and makes it rise, creating those swirling wind patterns around us.

The Whales have become expert cloud watchers as well! We have learned how to identify cirrus, cumulus, stratus and nimbus clouds, and can pretty successfully predict the weather, just by looking at the clouds in the sky!

In the next couple of weeks, Whales will become meteorologists, giving a daily weather report to other students at the ELC. Stay tuned for more on that!

St. Patrick's Day Fun!

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The Whales had a day chock-full of St. Paddy Day fun! We started by reading a book to find out all about Leprechauns, and just exactly how one might catch one of the wee rascals. We knew we had to be clever and design a trap that met the following design criteria. First, the trap had to include a way for a leprechaun to get inside. Second, it must include a place to hold something gold and shiny. In addition, we agreed that including an activity to keep the leprechaun distracted and happy was a clever idea. Finally, we knew it was only polite to include a letter, welcoming the wee folk into our trap without giving away our true intentions!

The Whales engineered some amazing traps, and we felt pretty confident that this year, FINALLY we might catch one of the wee rascals! After lunch, we walked into the classroom only to find a HUGE MESS! Those little imps had somehow gotten into the classroom and they left green footprints, gold glitter, and chocolates, tipping over chairs and messing up the writing caddies on their way through. Sadly, we did not catch a single one, though Whales saw endless evidence of the little people everywhere they went…..

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Whales give migration a try!

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The Whales had a spectacularly fun time being migrating birds today! Berglund Hall was filled with the sounds of honking, chirping, whistling, cheering and laughing as the Whales flew through an obstacle course that included migration hurdles such as glass windows, power lines, blizzards, wind tunnels, polluted lakes, filled-in wetlands and pesky cats! The Whales agreed that being a migrating bird was lots of fun…and hard work!

A special thank you to our pesky cat (current Sea Lion and former Whale!) Maple, and the action photos by Mr. Mark!

Whales Design and Engineer Bird-Feeders

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Whales started their engineering morning with a discussion about the needs of birds who migrate, as well as those that adapt to cold weather. Whales know that birds who migrate need plenty of fuel to make the journey, and birds that adapt to our cold winter months welcome an abundance of easy-to-get food. Once students established the need for bird-feeders, we went about examining the designs of a variety of feeders, looking for design elements that were common to all of them. The Whales kept these requirements in mind as they set about designing their feeder. The feeder needed to have a place to hold food, a place for water, a cover to keep the food dry from rain, a place for the bird to perch safely as it ate and drank, and a way to hang the feeder or place it up high, away from other animals.

Whales spent the entire morning perfecting their designs, and they were so proud of the results. We hope that our new feeders will be the perfect “snack shack” for our hard-working feathered friends!

Whales Study The Mystery Of Migration

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Last week, the Whales were assigned a migrating animal to complete some research on at home. We spent this week teaching one another about what we had learned. We found out that many of the animals that migrate are birds, but there are insects, aquatic animals and mammals that migrate as well! We were thrilled to listen and learn about the distances each migrating animal traveled, and learn more cool facts about our migrating friends.

We spent time being migrating geese, honking and trying to fly in a V-formation. We discovered that being a migrating bird is hard work! We also played a game that took us through the many obstacles that migrating birds must go through in order to reach their final destination. We had to read and measure, and read some more. It was great fun!

At our storytelling table, we worked together creating tales about people who migrate to different climates. During our guided meditations this week, we imagined becoming our migrating animal as we concentrated on slowing our bodies and minds through deep breaths and calm images formed in our minds.

Whales are scientists, mathematicians, readers, storytellers and meditation experts!

100 Hearts Party

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The Whales pulled out all the stops and celebrated both Valentine’s Day and the 100th Day of School today! It was a day so chock-full of fun that it was hard to record it all.

We started our day stuffing Valentine cards into the fancy watercolor envelopes that we had painted and then sewn together last week. Then we went into the classroom to share in 100 Heart activities, including coloring our crowns for the 100’s March and baking chocolate cupcakes together. At carpet time, the Whales were buzzing with excitement as we watched our ten sticks “pack their bags” and move to the hundreds place! To celebrate, we donned our crowns and headed all the way to the top of Berglund Hall, counting to 100 all the way up, and all the way down.

Later in the day we did some work for our Memory Books (describing through pictures and words) what we thought we might be like when we are 100 years old.

We ended the day by enjoying our cupcakes (complete with sprinkles and Oreos!) and opened our Valentine cards. The final event was a Glow-In-The-Dark Dance Party….in the bathroom! Wow!

What a wonderfully happy and slightly wacky 100 Hearts kind of day!

Hibernation Presentations With Whales

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The Whales had the opportunity to present their research and hibernation sites to preschool classes and parents this week. Before the presentations, they had the chance to add tiny details to their sites and took time to explore what it might feel like to become one of the animals they were studying. Students worked hard to memorize their research facts and presented them with confidence and grace. Our preschool classes remained rapt, and the outdoor presentations were a smashing success!

A huge thank you to Mr. Mark for taking the beautiful photos attached below.

Animals In Winter - Whales Study Hibernation

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The Whales began a new unit of study this week about northwest animals that hibernate in order to survive the cold winter months. We are studying the Common Garter Snake, Little Brown Bat, Oregon Black Bear and Northwest Painted Turtle. Students gathered in small groups to complete a research paper, then worked together to create hibernation sites that included all the elements their animal would need to make its home for the cold winter months. The creation of the sites was hard work, but our young Whales are practiced at working together to get even challenging things done! Next week, we hope to finish our hibernation sites, and share our research with preschool friends and family.

Engineering Mornings and Mingle Math with the Whales

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The Whales have enjoyed working together on Friday mornings to engineer houses, towers, chain reactions and much more. We’ve had to use our skills in communication, cooperation, flexibility, patience and planning as we work together to build our creations!

In addition, this week we have been honing our skills in the popular Whale game Mingle Math. To play, Ms. Ellie sends the Whales out to “mingle” together in the classroom. We practice saying kind words to one another and make our way around to visit as many Whales as possible before she calls (for example) “7 elbows!” or “16 fingers!”. Whales must quickly work together to assemble the correct number of body parts. We have discovered that there are endless ways to create 16 fingers, or 8 eyeballs, or 11 feet. The Whales present their combinations in teams to their friends. Movement, cooperation, problem-solving, addition and grouping are fun when you move!

Inspired By Changemakers!

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The Whales have learned about so many people who have helped inspire change in the world! We discovered that there are steps that every changemaker goes through when they begin their work. First, they Identify a Problem, then they Seek a Solution and finally they Bring Others Along. We spent time this week sharing ideas about why each step might be important in the process of making change in the world.

This week, we studied the work of female architect Zaha Hadid, tree lover Kate Sessions, activist Malala Yousafzai and in particular the work of Louis Braille, Yash Gupta and Dr. Patricia Bath. The Whales explored what it might feel like (and how hard it would be!) to be blind or vision impaired. We discovered the results of the work of Louis Braille all over our classroom and lunchroom at the ELC.

Whale teachers have heard the following refrain often this week “I want to be a Changemaker when I grow up!”. Whales are strong, brave, powerful and kind people!

The Power of Being a Whale!

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The Whales took advantage of the warmer days this week and spent time running, jumping and playing in the sunshine together. We took time to notice the small buds growing on our resting deciduous trees and we noticed the squirrels running busily about.

We continue to study Changemakers and the Whales have been inspired by the stories of Wangari Mathaai, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Winona LaDuke, Mahatma Ghandi, Amelia Earhart and more! We felt so inspired that we made a list of ways that we could help the world - right now! We used the power of our writing hands to share our ideas through words and illustrations.

The Whales are becoming such strong readers too. We have enjoyed sharing the magic of a good book, remembering to use our linger finger and our memory of heart words to make our reading easier and more fun!

3-D Shapes, Morning Letter and James Rizzi Art

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After a restful and happy winter break, the Whales were excited about being together again, so they jumped right in and started learning about the crazy sounds that the letter y can make, the three letters that make the ing ending on words and 10 new heart words. We did all this work during our Morning Letter time, and it’s tons of fun!

We’re also learning more about 3-D shapes. We sorted our blocks according to shape and presented our groupings to Whale friends.

Finally, we’ve been exploring the art of James Rizzi and are working on entire cities of skyscrapers using oodles of different 2-D shapes. James Rizzi always puts a face on his skysrapers, so we did that too. They are magical and so fun!

Whale Winter Solstice Read-In and Author's Celebration

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The night was clear and chilly, but Whale families snuggled together under magical twinkle lights and celebrated our talented young writers. The months of practice exploring elements of story, details in illustration, prewriting, drafting, revising and editing paid off. The Whales were so proud of their accomplishments. It felt fitting to toast their work with shared reading, song, hot chocolate and cookies!

A huge thank you to Mr. Mark for the magical photos attached below.