Our Place in Space: Planet Earth

After our Holiday Traditions Around the World study, we decided to learn a little more about the place in which we call home. We read a book called My Place in Space by Robin and Sally Hirst. We decided to create our very own My Place in Space Books. 

We first talked about the place we live that we call home: our houses and apartments. We learned that the city we live in is called Dayton. We illustrated and labeled the first page in our My Place in Space books with our homes. 

Next, we learned that the state we live in is called Ohio. We learned about the state flag, that the state bird of Ohio is the Cardinal, and the state tree is the Buckeye tree. We also learned that the capital of our state is Columbus, Ohio.

After learning about Ohio, we learned about the United States of America. We learned that there are 50 states in the United States of America. We had fun exploring different states on the Promethean Board. We learned that there are states in the USA that have mountains and oceans, unlike Ohio.

We then explored the seven continents. We learned that we live in the continent called North America.

Finally, we learned that the planet we live on is called Earth. We were very interested in our planet and all that it has to offer.

We learned that planet Earth is made of 70% water and 30% land. We learned that there are many different types of people, plants, and animals on Earth. We had fun exploring jungles, desserts, and ocean life by watching video clips of Planet Earth.

We created a mural of planet Earth with paint.

We even made the land 3-dimensional like on a globe.

Next, we explored the different layers of Earth. We learned that Earth has a core, mantle, and crust. We related the parts of the Earth to the parts of an apple that we learned about earlier in the school year. We used different colors of play dough to create models of the Earth.

To incorporate art into our study of planet Earth, we used an overhead projector and projected an image of Earth onto our classroom door. Together, we worked to carefully trace and paint the image onto a piece of paper. We paid very close attention to detail while working together to recreate the image. The finished project turned our beautifully!

New Year's Learning Targets

It was wonderful to welcome all of the students back to school after winter break. The students were eager to come back to school and jump right back into the swing of things. 

We were very interested in the New Years holiday. We watched the ball drop on the Promethean Board and rang in 2012 together as a class. 

We discussed what it means to have a New Year's resolution. So, we decided to make our very own New Year's resolutions for our learning. We decided to call our New Year's resolutions our New Year's Learning Targets. We each chose a learning target that we want to master in the new year. We wrote down our New Year's learning target to hold ourselves accountable for meeting our learning target. We discussed plans for how we are going to meet our learning targets. Finally, we created self-portraits and displayed our New Year's Learning Targets outside of our classroom. 

Holiday Traditions Around the World

During the month of December, we explored how children around the world celebrate winter holidays. 

We used our Promethean Board to virtually travel from place to place around the world. At each stop we received a flag in our passports and documented what we learned about each place.

Our first stop: China 

We learned that in children in China celebrate Christmas by decorating their houses and trees with paper lanterns and paper chains. We decided that we should also decorate our classroom with paper lanterns and chains. We also learned that the Christmas tree in China is called "tree of light". 

We had so much fun working together to create beautiful paper chains.

Our next stop: Mexico

We hopped aboard the plane and traveled to Mexico. We learned that children in Mexico celebrate Navidad (or Christmas) with parades. We learned that the poinsettia is used to decorate for Christmas in Mexico.

We also learned that children in Mexico celebrate Navidad with celebrations. At their celebrations they have pinatas which are filled with candy and treats. We worked with Ms. Fleming's class to bust our very own Elmo pinata!

                                           

                  
  
Next stop: Germany 


We learned that children in Germany believe in a man called St. Nicholas, which is like our Santa Claus. Children in Germany celebrate St. Nicholas Day by placing their shoes outside of their bedroom doors at night. Children that have been good receive fruits, nuts, and candies. But, children that have been naughty receive potatoes in their shoes! On St. Nicholas Day, we put our shoes outside of our classroom door in hopes that St. Nicholas would visit us too! 

Sure enough, St. Nicholas made a stop by room 207! We loved finding little treasures inside each of our shoes. Don't worry, we had no naughty friends this year!

Another German Christmas tradition is the advent calendar. We learned that children in Germany create advent calendars that count down to Christmas day. So, we created our very own advent calendar to count down to Christmas day. Each day, different boys and girls had the opportunity to open the advent calendar and enjoy the treats that were inside.

Finally, we learned that the tradition of bringing an Evergreen tree inside and adorning it with decorations began in Germany. We loved seeing that this German tradition is something that we do in the United States!

Our next stop: Israel 

We learned that children in Israel celebrate the winter holiday called Hanukkah. We learned that Hanukkah holiday lasts for 8 days and nights. Each night, families light a special candle called a menorah. We learned that boys and girls in Israel get to open a present during each of the 8 nights of Hanukkah. During math, we had fun spinning and graphing Hanukkah dreidels. 

Our final stop: United States

We learned that in the United States many families have their very own holiday traditions. We had fun talking about our favorite holiday traditions. We learned that many people in the United States give gifts to share their love during the holidays. We each made gifts to give to our families. 

Before winter break, we had a holiday open house and invited our families into our classroom. We loved sharing our new knowledge about children around the world with our families. It was a wonderful way to celebrate our learning! 

Happy Holidays! 

Friendship Feast