It's Hard to Let Our Children Go

Mrs. Haney's first grade class also had butterflies they had raised that were ready to release.  Actually the butterflies were more than ready.  The rainy weather had kept us and them inside.  Now it was time.

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Before we go out, Ms. Flaherty, our naturalist volunteer, asks the kids if they wonder anything about what will happen to the butterflies. The answers come flying in.

"I wonder where their homes will be."

"I wonder if they have sticky feet so they can stay on plants the way they stick on the top of their cage."

"I wonder if they are going to a better place than this classroom."

"Well, they are going to the place they are meant to be--outside," says Ms. Flaherty.

"

"Let's line up," says Ms. Haney.  

And, off we go.

Once we're in the outdoor classroom, Ms. Flaherty unzips the butterflies' home.  Suddenly one flies out and...

  

right onto Ms. Goodman's (our author-in-resident's) hand.  While this Painted Lady is getting ready for its next move, the kids say their goodbyes in the form of wishes.

"I hope you live a happy life."

"I hope God makes you food."

"Thank you, butterfly," Ms. Haney adds, "for allowing us to help you grow. It was a privilege to have you in our classroom."

Then, it flies out into the world!

Finally the only ones left in the cage are the two born with injured wings.  We decide to put them down gently on a flowering bush nearby.

"The injured ones are going to live a harder life," says Ms. Flaherty, "but we'll give them the best change we can."

"I like to think of them as survivors," said Ms. Haney.

Then all the first graders walked to the bush and watch their last two butterflies settle on a place, hopefully to live and thrive.

Goodbye, butterflies.

Inch by Inch

The Garden Song starts with the chorus: 
"Inch by inch, row by row,
Gonna make this garden grow."

Learning works much the same way.  A new idea or lesson or observation builds upon the last, then another and another.  That's how we learn and acquire knowledge.  Ironically the way Ms. Hicks' first grade class applied this type of learning has been with plants and gardens.

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First they explored their senses.  One thing they thought about is how they can use all their senses to learn about something.

Smelling beautiful scents and seeing bright colors is a plus, especially when your next science unit is about plants.  Of course, it's also important to learn how plants get the energy and nutrients they need to grow.

The kids' senses came into play again as their unit moved to learning about water and watched different ways that it moves.  Grownups might think of these processes as the hydrologic cycle and osmosis; those words are fine, too.

Then it was time to put all these ideas and lessons together and into action--a test, an experiment.  The kids put one group of white flowers into a cup of regular water just to see what would happen to the flowers normally (that's called a control group).  They put other white flowers into cups of water tinted by food coloring. WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?

  

THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!

The kids wrote up their observations.  After all, that's what scientists do.    

Plants AND Language Skills Grow in Spring

It's spring and many Perkins kids are studying units about plants, the earth, water and how things grow.  Imagine trying to understand all these new subjects when you have to learn the words that describe them at the same time.  That's what's going on in Ms. Enos's class of English language learners.  Many of these kids are newcomers to our country and to English.  So there's a lot of learning going on.

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Here are some of the new vocabulary words they must learn to even start their units.

 

Sometimes it's easiest to connect a word to a picture.

A simple sentence in English often starts with the subject (I, in this case), follows with a verb or two (can pick), an article (the), and noun (carrot).  It seems simple when you grow up with this pattern.  

Most languages have different forms of every verb and you must learn which one is used with which subject.  Some languages often don't bother with the subject because they just change the verb.  Still other languages think of nouns as feminine or masculine and you must know which they are to put the feminine version of "the" or "an" in front of them.  

Sounds hard, doesn't it?  Any language is hard when you don't know its rules (or its words!).

Luckily the English language learners at the Perkins have plants to look at as they study how things grow.

 

They also have Ms. Enos to help them study English and watch their skills grow.

It's Spring!

Sadly in Boston, you can't always tell it's spring by looking through the window.  Or, by the date on the calendar.  Or, by the jacket you choose to put on.

If you look at the front hall in the Perkins School, however, you can see signs that spring has sprung.

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 First, there's Mrs. B working in the hallway, assembling the belts for Dragon Tail Tag.  

 

There are so many variations to the game.  It could be two or four teams of one color against the others or every dragon for her- or himself, dashing around snatching as many Velcro'ed tails as possible to win.  The important thing is the running, the dashing, the dodging--fun and exercise outside.

 Baseball is another sign of spring.

 

It gave Ms. Harden's class a more exciting way to learn to make diagrams than flowcharts or electrical systems.

If you still had any doubts, here is a plea posted in our hallway--a poem by Valerie, one of our second grade students.

Thank goodness, the weather has finally cooperated.

WOW! IT'S DONE!

How time flies! On the last day before vacation, a few lone workers were sprinkled around the site, finishing up Phase 1 of "New Old Colony." The first family had even moved in.



It was less than 14 months ago, on October 28th, 2010, when we watched the first day of demolition for this part of "Old" Old Colony.






Now it's done.

The new trees and bushes are planted.

















It looks pretty good, doesn't it?













Now we have the new Tierney Center with a computer lab and a big room for presentations and tables outside to enjoy the view on a sunny day.










There's a lawn and a new playground.

Look!

Right across the street from all these brand new homes is the Michael J. Perkins School with the windows where we watched all these changes take place.