Let's Go Exploring!

Last year I decided to take a chance and do something a little bit out of my comfort zone...I relinquished some of my structured teaching time to my students so they could go exploring.  From 8:00-8:10 students are encouraged to explore something in the classroom.  Sometimes it is the materials for a science experiment, sometimes it is objects related to an upcoming lesson and sometimes it is technology.

This morning it was our classroom ipads...

As students arrived this morning I let them know they could explore their ipad.  I only gave one direction, "Explore the apps you have on your ipad and see what you can see?"

When Explore Time was over we gathered for our morning meeting.  I asked students to share something they had learned this morning while exploring their ipad.  This is what they shared:

"I learned how to scroll down and get stamps on Doodle Buddies."
"I learned there were a lot of different apps on my ipad."
"I learned how to scroll in on Google Earth."
"I learned how to take pictures and videos using Photo Booth."
"I learned some new countries."
"I learned how to search for different places on Google Earth."
"I learned how to do stamping on Doodle Buddies."
"I learned how to make a slide show with video and pictures on Photo Booth."

Students were teaching each other and me how to do all of these things.  We were learning and discovering together.  I know we will be able to go further with our learning because I give my students this time.  Don't be afraid...try it!  You won't be disappointed.













Side Note: Many of my students arrive between 7:30 and 7:45 so most get more than 10 minutes to explore.

A gardening we will go...

Yesterday was the day to plant the marigold seeds that our pen pals from New Orleans sent us.  We planted rows and rows of them on our school farm! We had to use what we had learned about measurement to help us plant our seeds.  Knowing our measurement vocabulary really helped us!

Mr. Koehn explained that we should plant the marigolds about 5 or 6 inches away from the grass so they would not get run over by the lawnmower this summer.

Brandon and Keller used the width of their hands to space the seeds while planting.

Ava and Madison carefully follow the directions on their seed packets.

Bryce and Quinn work together to plant their marigold seeds.

Jaykob, David and Rachel take a closer look at the marigold seeds their pen pals sent them.

Lexi and Tel cover up the seeds they planted.

Boy! Planting seeds is dirty work!

Really dirty work!

After we finished planting our seeds Mr. Koehn took us to the new greenhouse. We ran wild through it!

I LOVE this place!

A few of us discovered the fan outside.  We felt like we were getting blown away!

Do you have a school farm or garden?  If so, what kinds of plants do you grow?