Tracking our Visitors: An Adventure in Geography

If you remember, on April 14th, Ms. Meadow's third grade class started a project: The World in Ms. Meadows' Class. They are locating all the different countries that have visited the blog, and learning a little bit about them in the bargain.



Work began just before school vacation. Kids are looking up a country and listing three interesting facts about it. They already know:

*Canada is the second largest country in the world.

*England used to rule Boston!!!

*The famous Eiffel Tower is a landmark in France.

What are they going to find out about Lebanon, Slovenia, and Norway?

Stay tuned!

We're Even More Famous!

Not long ago, we had a post that showed the construction workers putting up this sign right across the street from our school. It was great to see the art work up there every day.


But look's like the art is a traveling exhibit! Now the sign is hanging on the other side of the site--near the rotary. Now runners look as they jog by. Walkers on their cells don't stop talking, but they turn their heads and take it in. And the drivers circling the rotary take a gander too.


Hopefully just a quick peek and then get their eyes back on the road!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!

By the way, this wonderful sign was made by Joshua Curtiss, click on it to see all the fun we'll be having during vacation.

The World in Ms. Meadows' Class

It turns out that our blog is attracting quite an audience. Sure, there are people from the Perkins who are interested, and people from Old Colony and South Boston and the rest of the city. But did you know that we have had visitors from Brazil, France, and Aruba?

The third graders in Ms. Meadows' class have volunteered to track our growing international audience--and, learn some geography in the bargain.


Here they are with their new map. After vacation they will start marking the 23, no, as of today, 24 countries who have visited the PerkinsBlog.

Since people in these countries are learning something about us, the kids in Ms. Meadows' class are going to learn something about their countries too.

We'll keep you up to date on their progress.

We're Famous!

It's still a little too early to plant new gardens on the construction site! So Suffolk, the building company, found another way to pretty it up. They asked us to contribute some art and they made a HUGE sign with it. The sign is 4 feet high and 15 feet wide.

Maybe we should make an MCAS math problem out of that. (Area=length x height. Answer, anyone?)


The kids drew pictures of what they thought this part of Old Colony would look like when it was done. Or what they hoped it would look like.

To get a closer look, click on the picture.



Of course, many of them drew what they saw now. Who doesn't love cranes and front end loaders?


So now we're famous!

It's National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month, but Ms. Leverett-King's first class needs no such excuse to write poems.

They have been experimenting with acrostic poems, which use the letters in a topic word to begin each line. Then all the lines of the poem relate to this topic. Poets can use words like "sun" or "happiness" or "lion."

At the Perkins School, it makes sense that these first graders worked with the word "construct." Sadly, we could just pick a few of their poems to show on the blog. Remember, if you can't read the print, just click on the picture to make it larger.

At Last--We Named That Crane!

If you've been following this story, the kindergarteners were invited to name the crane on the construction site across the street. And in doing so, they learned about voting in a democratic election. Then they had to learn that it can take a while for what you've chosen to actually happen.




In the few weeks between the election and our naming ceremony, the kids still stayed busy. They decorated their corner of the hallway.










They drew pictures of their crane, complete with its new name:

THE BIG GIRAFFE.

Isn't it a beauty?

















Meanwhile, on April 4th, in the construction site, the newly named crane was waiting for them!

THE BIG GIRAFFE!

Isn't it a beauty?









The kids certainly thought so.

They watched the crane slowly swing its boom (or its neck!)around to say hello.

Or to say thanks.

Who knows?






The kids celebrated with a song, including Yasmeen in the pinky-purple jacket. She is the one who first came up with the name, The Big Giraffe.






Then the rain started to come down harder. It was time for the kids to go in for lunch.

It was time for The Big Giraffe to get to work!

Name That Crane Ceremony Postponed Until Monday!

It's storming on our ceremony and that's no April Fools Joke.




Luckily it's supposed to get better and we'll have the ceremony on Monday at 11 a.m.