During this month's visit from Art Farm, Gabby taught us about turtles and tortoises. We learned that turtles live in the water, whereas tortoises live on land, The first animal we met was Hank the 20 year old box turtle. Box turtles are omnivores with strong beaks. They close up like a box when they are scared or want protection. The next animal was Boris the 30 year old Russian tortoise. Russian tortoises are herbivores that hibernate for nine months out of the year (wouldn't that be nice!) and the females grow bigger than the males. Lastly, we met Curly the red-eared slide turtle. This was the biggest turtle and she is a carnivore.
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The Clouds took a field trip to The People's Improv Theater ("PIT"). The trip started out with the students watching a puppet show that helped to explain what improv is. Improv is when the actors do not plan ahead of time what they are going to say. We also learned that working together and cheering each other on is key! After the video, we met three actors who demonstrated two improv exercises. Then we played different improv games with each of the actors! During one game, called "Kitty Cat Careers," each student had to act out a career... but as a cat! Another game included working as a team to tell a story, but each person could only say one word at a time. Through out the day, the students acted as zombies, 100 year old people, babies, super heroes, "cool teenagers," and robots. The Clouds were so creative and brave! The trip ended with have a group lunch in the restaurant area of the theater. One student shared the following joke and wants it published on our blog: "What do you call a cloud that's feeling sick?" "A cloud that's under the weather." (hahaha!) The Clouds have started a new sport at Asphalt Green, Martial Arts! Many of the Clouds were very excited to start Martial Arts again as they either practice it outside of school or had seen it performed in tv shows and movies. Each month the coaches have a word of the month, this month the word is determination. Throughout warm-up and instruction, the Clouds practice being determined and not giving up. They have learned how to do guard stance, jab- cross punches and front kicks! Maybe they can show you some of their new moves at home (as long as they promise to be safe and not do them to other people :) ) . The Clouds are excited to learn even more self defense moves throughout the rest of the year. The Clouds started off 2017 with a field trip! We visited the Cooper Hewitt museum to learn more about architecture and design. In Art class, the students are studying building design and working to create their own buildings. On this field trip we were able to see designs from all over the country. The Clouds first saw a culticycle. Ask your Cloud if they remember what this is! (answer: it's a combination of a tractor and bicycle that farmers, with a small amount of land, use to plant their seeds.) Then, they observed a model of a building that's being built right now in California. We noticed that it was very small but also detailed! Lastly, the Clouds checked out an awesome, tiny car that was made out of tin and could only fit one driver. This car was a prototype and runs on electricity. After our tour, the Clouds went to a studio in the museum, broke up into teams, and created subway cars from the future! Some of the subways could fly while others had self-cleaning robots on them. The Clouds had a great time on their field trip! This week Gillen Brewer had a lot of exciting things to celebrate! Thanks to the families and friends of GBS students, the school reached their fundraising goal, so the students celebrated with a winter solstice celebration! During the celebration the students participated in a variety of activities such as making fake snow, coloring winter posters and frames, making snowflake sandart, watching the movie Frozen, and they even had a snow ball fight! (with paper snow balls of course!) The students had a blast celebrating the first day of winter with such fun activities. The Gillen Brewer students also reached their Rockin' Readers' goal of reading 75,000 minutes and to celebrate we had an indoor snow day where everyone wore pajamas or comfy clothes. Each class enjoyed a read aloud with a special snack. The Clouds loved spending the day in their pajamas! It was a fun week of celebrations thanks to those who donated money and to all the students who have been reading and filling out their reading logs! The Clouds had another visit with Gabby from Art Farm. This time she brought different types of amphibians. The students learned that amphibians usually have slimy skin, go through metamorphosis, and live on both land and water. Taco, the ornate horn frog, was the first animal we met. The Clouds learned that his camouflage helps him hide in the rain forest and his name reflects the shape of his eyelids. Next up was Leo the leopard frog. Leopard frogs can jump six feet in the air and live in New York City. They hibernate in winter and camouflage well with their surroundings. Humphrey, the marine toad, has bumpy, dry skin and can weigh up to nine pounds! The last amphibian we met was Sally the salamander. Stay tuned for our next Art Farm visit. In Art Farm this month Gabby taught us about different types of birds. The students learned that all birds have feathers, beaks, and wings. They explored turkey feathers and egg replicas by feeling them and learning about the different parts. The first bird they met was Princess the dove. She is 15 years old and part of the pigeon family. The next bird was Polly the Bantum Chicken. Bantum Chickens have golden laced feathers and at just 8 months, Polly was already full grown! Lastly, the Clouds met Pumpkin the 10-year-old Conure Parrot. The students were very gentle with the animals and enjoyed meeting them! The clouds celebrated Thanksgiving in school last week with the annual GBS Thanksgiving Feast. In preparation for the feast, they created floral centerpieces with sentences about what they're thankful for. Once the guests arrived, everyone sat down to eat. They feasted on turkey, fruit, macaroni and cheese, apple pie, and apple juice! The students and their guests gathered around a large table filled with Thanksgiving décor and enjoyed their feast and conversation with one another. After the eating was done, the students made turkey ornaments. We are so thankful for the Clouds and their families! In Social Studies, the Clouds have been learning about the President of the U.S. and his/her responsibilities such as Commander in Chief, Head of State, and Director of Foreign Policy. As part of the Social Studies unit they also learned the requirements to be president and a little about this year's candidates. On Election Day, the Clouds took a walk to a nearby polling site where they were able to see people standing in line to vote and people exiting the polling site with their "I voted" stickers. The students also had a chance to interview people who were leaving the polling site on why they think it is important to vote. All the clouds were extremely responsible and respectful when interviewing different people! In class, we discussed some of the issues that the candidates talk about when making speeches, such as health care, education, and the environment. Then, the students each made up their own presidential campaign speeches on what they would do if they were the President of the U.S. and presented them to the class. Who knows maybe one of the Clouds could become President in 2044? Halloween was far from scary here at Gillen Brewer! Unfortunately due to the weather, Fall Family Fun Day was cancelled, but no fear- we brought the fall fun here! The students were able to choose from eight different activities. These included decorating pumpkins, decorating masks, creating slime, decorating with pumpkin stickers, applying tattoos, a ring toss, a dance party, and even a Halloween movie. The students really enjoyed this special activity! |
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May 2017
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