Thanksgiving craft projects

I found this post languishing in the "draft" stage.  Only 4 months late!


During November, the Bunch learned a great deal about the first Thanksgiving as well as beginning their Native American studies (part of our handwriting program called "Draw Write Now").  We used dried beans to create maize and we also had some blue maize corn chips and dried cranberries as a snack!  One of our craft projects was to read "Gracias, the Thanksgiving Turkey" and practice summarizing the beginning, middle and end.  To help us do that we created headbands--so cute.
Hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving!

"Partner" reading!

Solo reading!

The patterning on these maize projects turned out amazing!  And they felt so neat!

Klamath Fish Hatchery trip to release our Rainbow Trout fry!

Hi families!   Blogging has returned, but will be intermittent, due to my missing camera.  I am borrowing Mr. Bailey's camera occasionally.  So sad!

We had an amazing experience thanks to the ODF.  We raised 200 rainbow trout eggs from hatch to fry stage, and then we brought the fry to the Klamath Fish Hatchery to release them.  We learned a great deal about the life cycle of salmon and trout species, building our understanding of life science.  We also learned a great deal about how important our hatcheries are to us in Oregon, especially when a salmon may lay 2,500 eggs, but out of those 2500, only 2-4 may live to the breeding stage to replenish the species! 

Thank you parents, for coming with us!  What an amazing day out in the rain in beautiful Oregon, on the Wood River.

Baby fry holding tanks!

Fry in a cup!

Releasing our fry into a safe holding tank!

Learning about picking out mortalities

Our biologist, Greg, teaching us more about our trout

Feeling the yearling trout!

Kids' FAVORITE part--feeding the 2-year trout

Biologists don't just love fish!

Fall Nature Walk

Our reading theme during October was "Nature Walk," so one beautiful fall day we took an urban nature walk and collected leaves.  Later, we sorted the leaves by their attributes and then created leaf art.  So much fun!

Swimming Lessons @ the YMCA

It's a good time to be a 2nd grader in the Basin!  The Y is hosting FREE swimming lessons for all 2nd graders this year, and we were lucky to be one of the first groups to participate.  The bunch not only had a fabulous time, but learned valuable lessons in swimming & breathing techniques and survival skills.  Thank you, YMCA!

The Bunch!

Each instructor had a group of 3-4 kids, so they got tons of individual attention.

Survival skills!

Relay races!

They had some free play on our last day :)

1-2-3-JUMP!