Revolutionary Problem Solvers

 In our recent classroom project, students took on the roles of inventors during the American Revolution! They solved real problems faced by colonists and soldiers using historically plausible resources and plenty of creativity.

The students began the lesson by reading letters written by colonists and soldiers to uncover the challenges they faced. From there, we compiled a class list of the most pressing problems, such as food shortages, communication struggles, harsh weather, and poor, muddy roads.

Students formed groups to tackle one problem, researching what materials were available (and unavailable) during that time. They brainstormed ways colonists originally tried to solve these issues and then dreamed up innovative, yet realistic, solutions that could have made life easier during the Revolution.

Once they reached a group consensus, the teams sketched their designs, labeled the materials needed, and created prototypes using classroom craft supplies. The results were extraordinary—everything from clever transportation devices to warm, mobile carts for soldiers!

This project brought history to life in an exciting, hands-on way. It encouraged students to think critically, collaborate, and understand the struggles of the past while imagining practical solutions. 

Below are the students explaining their inventions! 

 

Problem: Harsh weather 

Solution: Insulated chariot for the soldiers 

Problem: Food scarcity

Solution: Hunting device 

Problem: Muddy, unpaved roads

Solution: Pulley system to move materials without having to use wagons

Grateful, Thankful, Appreciate

 It is that time of year,  not Christmas, but the holiday before

Christmas- even though Target is already ready for Christmas!  I’m talking about Thanksgiving.

Anyway, our SEL character trait for this week is gratitude.  We have been practicing gratitude recently by writing in our gratitude journal daily after lunch.  It is a way to appreciate , refocus, and get ready for the afternoon.

 Building off of the daily journals,third grade students wrote about all

of the things they are grateful for.  

After reading several picture books and brainstorming at our tables we made a class chain to display in our room to remind us of all of the good things we have in our lives.

If we write things down, we tend to remember it–we want to remember all of the good things that we have in our lives even at the ripe old age 8 years old.

Go out there and be grateful, thankful and appreciate!

The Importance of Block Play in Preschool

Ms. Kilkenny’s preschool students are not “just playing” with blocks, it is so much more than that. Block play is a simple yet powerful tool that fosters a wide range of developmental skills in preschoolers.  It supports intellectual, social, emotional, and physical growth, while providing a fun and engaging way for children to learn and explore the world around them.  How? You might ask.  Here they are in action:

Cognitive skills such as problem solving, spatial awareness, math, and cause and effect are needed to build structures.

Block play can also enhance Social-emotional development such as collaboration and teamwork, confidence and independence, and emotional expression.

Block Play can also enhance fine motor skills.

Block play is open-ended allowing children to use their creativity and imagination.

Block play helps increase focus and attention.

Block play helps children increase language development.  Just ask a child what she just built…and you will hear a fantastic story.  

With all of these benefits, it is no wonder that the block area is the most popular and the largest area in any preschool classroom.

Building a Neighborhood

We just finished up our nonfiction unit in 2nd grade, and the social studies focus for this unit was Geography. Students learned about different types of communites, maps, and making map keys in this unit. To finish it up, we had a special guest come help us! 

A student's mom works for the Chicago Children's Museum, and she does different projects with students that she brings to schools. She came to our classroom and taught students all about the different parts needed to form a neighborhood, and where things do/do not make sense to be placed. Students then got to use all recycled materials to build their town! 

Not only did this project help wrap up our nonfiction unit, but the students had a blast doing it! I loved that this ended our unit with a hands-on and collaborative project to help students fully understand how communities work. Thanks, Mrs. Eberhardy!

Chicago Bucket Boys

The Chicago Bucket Boys are a group of talented street performers who have made a name for themselves with their extraordinary ability to create music using only plastic buckets and drumsticks.

 Today, our school had the pleasure of hosting a truly unique and unforgettable experience for our students! The Chicago Bucket Boys brought the spirit of Chicago right into our school gym.

From the moment the Bucket Boys took the stage, you could feel the excitement spreading through the gym! The assembly was designed to be interactive, which added a whole new level of engagement for the students. The Bucket Boys didn’t just perform, students had the opportunity to learn some rhythms and play along with them.

One of the most valuable lessons from the assembly was that music and creativity are for everyone. The Bucket Boys shared stories of how they began and allowed the opportunity for students to ask some questions. Their message was clear: you don’t need fancy instruments or a big stage to create something beautiful, sometimes, all you need is a bucket and a dream.

Bringing the Chicago Bucket Boys to our school was more than just a fun assembly, it was an experience that will stay with our students for a long time. We are grateful to the performers for their energy, talent, and for sharing their art with our students.

Thank you Goodrich PTO for making this experience possible!

Chain Reactions

In our first science unit, we learned about balances and forces to answer the question of how a train can float. During this unit, we learned about the different types of forces as well as the different types of magnetic forces. We used different objects to see if they attract or repel with magnets, and created our own magnetic forces.

For our final investigation of the unit, we talked about chain reactions and gravity. These play a part in the magnetic forces so we wanted to build our own chain reactions. Students watched a video of a man who created a chain reaction of pulls and pushes all to flip the page of his newspaper. After discussing with our table mates on how we know that was a chain reaction, what types of forces we saw, and a plan, they were ready to make their own chain reactions. They were given materials like an index card, a spoon, a wood block, a rubber band, and needed to work together as a team. 

Chicago Wolves Performance

 Yesterday I had the privelege of directing our fifth and 6th grade students as they sang before the Chigago Wolves hockey game as a tribute to our armed forces. This was so fitting just before Veterens Day and the kids did a fantastic job. This is one of my favorite events of the year and I can't wait to take next year's group back to do it all over again.

The students have worked hard on the medley since the first day of choir this year. They learned all of the songs for each branch of our armed forces and felt a sense of pride in being able to celebrate these brave soldiers who help to protect and keep our country a safe place to live. We had many conversations throughtout the learning process about how hard it would be to live away from your loved ones, but that their job is so important. 

I love this event even more because the students families also come together as a community to support their children and get to enjoy a great hockey game, as well. I get to see many current students that are younger siblings of the choir students and I like for them to see what they may get to be a part of one day. I also get to see many former students who are older siblings of my current choir students. I get to catch up and have a nice relaxed time to hear about all of the wonderful things they are doing in their lives. All in all, this was a great event. The kids were amazing and there were many smiles all around!

RACE Responses

The RACE strategy is a powerful tool for improving reading comprehension and writing skills. It stands for Restate, Answer, Cite, and Explain. In 4th grade, we have been using this strategy to clearly and thoroughly write about our reading.

When students are asked a question about their reading, the RACE strategy gives them a structure to answer in their own words, go into the text to cite evidence, and then explain their evidence to show understanding. It provides them with helpful sentence stems to start each part of their written response. 

We have done several examples together so far this year, and now students are starting to complete them on their own. We used this graphic organizer today to answer a question about a nonfiction text. The goal is that students feel prepared to structure a response that displays deep thinking and write a strong paragraph about it. 

Mixing Up Science

Yesterday in our science class, we dove into the fascinating world of mixtures and solutions. We were tasked with a new challenge as food scientists: to create an ideal salad dressing—one with good flavor and texture (meaning no sediments remaining at the bottom and no separation into layers). The experiment was designed to introduce students to the concepts of solubility, sediment, and the differences between soluble and insoluble substances. We used common ingredients—sugar, pepper, citric acid, and cumin—with the goal of discovering which ingredients would dissolve in water and which would settle as sediment.

The students made observations based on what they saw once the ingredients were mixed together. Each team noticed that the sugar and citric acid dissolved in the water, while the pepper and cumin remained separate. Students were able to understand what was happening on a molecular level. The ingredients that dissolved in water were made of molecules that were attracted to water molecules. On the other hand, when pepper and cumin were mixed with water, their molecules were not attracted to the water molecules, so the ingredients remained largely separated.

The students used this experiment to determine which ingredients would be best for making a "new" salad dressing.

Kindergarten Happy Things

As part of our kindergarten routine, we have been starting our day by sharing one happy thing to prime our brains for great things. In various book studies and professional development courses, I have learned about the power of creating a positive environment and the great things that can come from that and have wanted to harness that energy to start our days with a positive mindset. Each day, it has been so wonderful to listen to one another share one thing that makes us smile. The students look forward to this every morning and have been so respectful to one another as they are sharing. Positivity is contagious and it has had a great impact on one another.