Lilja Duck Stamp Artwork

Now that our official Junior Duck Stamp contest pieces have been sent off for review, we have taken students' second best picture of their goose, duck or swan to display in our in-house Lilja Duck Stamp contest. We have given the pieces numbers rather than names to have the artwork stand for itself (but your child will be able to tell you which is theirs).

We sent out ballots to our specialist teachers, front office staff, custodians, learning support teachers and counselors. They rate which pictures they would honor with a 1st, 2nd, 3rd place award or an honorable mention from each class. The students with the most points awarded will receive a small prize. While we know the chances of our students winning any recognitions from the actual Duck Stamp contest is extremely unlikely (most are given to home-schooled students who have private art lessons) they have a much better chance of earning a merit in our in-house contest.

Part of this exercise is also a practice in winning and losing a contest graciously - how to congratulate a winner when you are also feeling a bit disappointed that you did not win, and how to accept accolades gracefully without bragging or gloating. Both are important lessons.

The collective wall of work looks amazing and many students and staff have stopped in to compliment the artwork and the effort of the students in this endeavor. Each child grew so much throughout this experience in their skills as an observational artist - we think they are all winners!

Valentine Writing Celebration

Today we celebrated the effort and hard work of our nonfiction writing unit! Our kids have been writing books about subjects they are "experts" in: dogs, sharks, dance, arachnids, dinosaurs, swimming, video games and a wide range of other topics too. They have been practicing their craft to include comparisons to help readers visualize information, using keywords to help their readers learn the lingo on a subject (think tack, canter, trot, groom, and curry in a book about horses, for example), the features of nonfiction (like headings, tables of contents, glossaries, diagrams, and so forth), and many other features of powerful informational writing we learned from mentor authors.

As it is also Valentine's Day, we gave each child a heart shaped note to write what they "loved" about their buddy's book. We also told the kids a little about the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia - how young women wrote their names on slips of paper and placed them in an urn from which young men would select the girl who would be their partner for the games and dances of the festival. Many times these young companions would go on to marry. However, our version, of course, was based on more platonic couplings - friendships.

We also read a picture book about St. Valentine whose true legacy was in the type of love that comes from kindness, empathy, steadfast loyalty and putting others' needs before your own.

We put the names of the 1-2M kids in a jar and had each student from 1-2A choose a name to be their Lupercalia buddy for the day. Their buddy sat with them at lunch today and was the partner they shared and celebrated their book with. It was a fun celebration for all and now clears the deck for our upcoming units of study for after the vacation!

Enjoy the pictures below of buddies sharing their expert books.

Thrive, Survive, or Starve? An Exploration of Bird Beaks

As part of our study of birds, we have been looking at the different forms and functions of bird beaks. A bird's bill (as well as its feet) are adapted to help it get the food it needs - meat, fruit, insects, plants, seeds, fish, etc. Many tools in our toolboxes or kitchen mimic the functions of these beaks - pliers, chopsticks, straws, nutcrackers, strainers, tongs. We put these tools out at tables surrounding a food source (okay, a simulated food source) and had kids try their hands at obtaining the particular type of food with their tool. Would they gather enough food to thrive? To squeak by and survive? Or would they starve?

The kids were given 30 seconds to see how much food they could gather using their tool. Only one tool at each table really "fit" the food there. Another tool would possibly gather enough food to get by (as some of our switch-hitter birds do when they cannot get their preferred food). Most tools though would be of little use and that little birdie would end up with no food.  The groups traveled from table to table where many tools remained the same, but a new food source would be presented which required a different tool. Some kids got wise to this and as they rotated to different tables tried to rush to the tool they predicted would be the most successful.

At one table were narrow necked bottles filled with water simulating nectar that a hummingbird would drink. The winning tool there was the straw. Those handling the other tools like tongs, chopsticks, and nutcrackers were able to get no sustenance.

Another table had lego blocks in water, resembling fish and small water animals that a pelican or flamingo would be after. At this table, a beak like a sieve or strainer was your best bet for getting food though those with pliers or tongs might be able to scrape by.

The third table had a chunk of wood with thumbtacks pressed into it to act as fruit as well as a hollowed out thick branch stuffed with seeds to mimc insects. Kids discovered the tools for the job here were pliers to pluck off the thumbtack "fruit" and tweezers to pinch out the tiny seed "insects". Having a straw like beak at this table meant sure starvation!

The last table had a basin of shredded paper with a layer of small beans underneath. This simulated a layer of mud covering juicy worms! You needed a long, prying beak like that of a snipe to get at this nourishment, though tweezers might get you just enough to keep from starving.

By the end, the kids had experienced many different types of tool "beaks" and could see how important it is for a bird to have access to the food it was built to get. We did not include a meat tearing station for testing out our raptors' hooked beaks, but we did discuss these special beaks and how they help the predatory birds who have them.

A take-away they made was a paper wheel of different birds with an inner wheel of beaks that they could spin to try and line up with the correct bird, and see how strange the wrong bill looks when on a different bird.

Enjoy the pictures below of his fun leaning experience!