Chief Nate and Pollinators

Chief Nate sharing some of his Native American artifacts

Chief Nate sharing his knowledge of Native American culture

Exploring the parts of the bee

Closer inspection of bees

Direct observation of a pollinator hard at work (with it's loaded pollen baskets)!

Tending to the Pollinator Garden

Honoring Mrs. Driscoll's years of dedication and care of the Pollinator Garden
(and to so many students)!!

Bee Bot Balloon Pop Challenge

Our final technology project was a Bee Bot Ballon Pop Challenge! 

Our Last Visit to the Hood Museum

This visit was all about recycled art from different cultural groups.

         
This sculpture was made by a Native American artist.  It reminded us of a  giraffe.                    We noticed some parts were recycled, other parts were new.

                             We had to guess what this piece was made from-                               motherboards from electronic devices.

This piece was impressive in its size and composition. For our pre-visit lesson we saw a video of this artist, El Anatsui from Nigeria, Africa. We saw how he worked with many others to make this art from bottle caps.

 

                     Back at the studio we enjoyed making art out of recycled materials.

       Hood Museum

              **No charge for admission

                      Hours and Location

                               Wednesday, 11:00 am–5:00 pm

                               Thursday–Friday, 11:00 am–8:00 pm

                               Saturday–Sunday, 11:00 am–5:00 pm

                               Closed Monday and Tuesday

A Visit from the Montshire

Marble Rollways

Amy Vanderkooi, a science educator from the Montshire, came to our class last week with foam ramps.  She challenged us to make a  rollway where the marble has to travel all the way from top to bottom.  The students rose to this challenge.  Every group was successful!  It was great to see scientific discovery and cooperative behaviors.

Two groups made a loop-de-do work...

and place the marble in a bucket!

               

Later, during a rainy indoor recess, kids explored with other ramp and roll-way toys.

Journey North Tulips & Kids Heart Challenge

                 
We were excited to see our tulips in full bloom last Monday.  We are registered with the Journey North website and recorded that our tulips bloomed. Use my Web Links to view us on the map of tulips bloomed. 

We observed and drew the stages of our tulips growth three times this spring...

and we studied the science of plant parts. 

Westshire raised $1,896!

Thanks to all the donors and participants! 

Emily skillfully represented our class in the jump rope competition.

Second grade tied for first place as class who raised the most money.
Our prize was new jump ropes for recess!

The Kindness Rocks Project

“One message at just the right moment can change someone’s entire day, outlook, life!”-from The Kindness Rocks Project

Ms.Tolbert joins the second grade every Wednesday to practice social skills. We've been learning about what kindness is through group discussion, videos, and role playing. We looked at many kindness projects and decided to do a Kindness Rock project. Last week we painting rocks with kind messages on them and put them all around the school, inside and out. The rocks are available for students, family members and staff to read if they feel they need an extra reminder to have a good day, to smile, etc.
Please come and see our Kindness Rocks collection in front of the school. You may feel inspired!

Hood Museum Family Day

Hood Museum Family Day

Calling all families! Whether you have been to the new Hood already or are visiting for the first time, this event is for you. Family Day: Circles, Circles Everywhere! is all about CIRCLES! Explore how artists use circles in their art in many different ways and make your own art made up of circles. From 12-5 pm on Sunday, April 28, we will have activities throughout the galleries, a circle hunt through the museum, making activities in the museum’s atrium, and a collage and paint project next door in the HOP Garage. You can even see performer Jason Tardy juggle circles at 2 pm in the atrium!

This event is for children ages 4 to 12 with adult companions. The event is FREE, and no registration is required.

For more information, call (603) 646-1469.

Our trip to The Mountain School Sugar House

Hiking to the sugar house.

A rest break turned into rolling down the hill!

A bucket-lined walk down to the sugar house.

  

At the sugar house we broke into three groups:

1. Sam explains the process of turning sap into syrup.

It involves lots of evaporation!

2. We helped collect sap from the buckets.

3. We made observations and drawing of the sugarbush.

All that work made us hungry for lunch.
A big thanks to The Mountain School for hosting us.

The NEW Hood Museum

We're sugaring at Westshire School!

                          Sam from The Mountain School showed us the equipment                               needed for gathering sap from maple trees.

Tapping the tree.

Tasting the sap.

Hanging the buckets.

Maggie  brought stethoscopes for us to listen for the sound of sap rising.
Some of us thought we heard some movement.

Checking the buckets.

In less than two days we gathered about ten gallons of sap! We sent the sap to The Mountain School where we will see how it is boiled and turned to maple syrup.

                               A Big Thanks to Sam and Maggie who have helped us on                          every step of our sugaring adventure!