Aalva Class 2015-2016: Wrapping Up Volcanoes

We have had an exciting week in the Aalva class! Even though it was a short week it was busy and full of exploration. We have wrapped up our volcano exploration this week and I am impressed by how much everyone has learned! We have become a class of volcanologists.

We started off the week by adding more volcano books to our library. Ms. Rachael went to the local library and picked up TONS of volcano books for us to read! We spent one morning reading some of the library books, looking at the pictures, searching for new facts, and learning how to take care of books from the library. While reading one of our library books we discovered that there are over 500 active volcanoes in the world! The book showed a map of the entire world and each volcano location was labeled on the map. It was really cool to see where all of the volcanoes were located. As we looked at these locations we decided to dive deeper and explore some of the volcanoes on the list. We talked about Mount Vesuvius in Italy, Mount St. Helens in Washington State, Yellowstone Caldera in Wyoming, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, and Sakurajima in Japan.

As we talked more about volcanoes we thought it would be cool for each child to make their very own volcano and name it. It took some trial and error to figure out the best way to make our volcanoes. At first we tried to use toilet paper rolls, but we decided that they made a very weak base for the volcano. After much discussion we decided to use clay because it can harden and become like rock. As we morphed our clay into small volcanoes we discussed the characteristics of the volcanoes. I reminded the kids that each volcano has a hole for the lava to spray out of, but it didn’t take long for someone to correct me and say that some volcanoes have two holes J. I was so amazed to see the student’s reactions as they remembered that each volcano is different. Some volcanoes have wide holes, some have small holes, and yes some do have two holes! I hope you enjoy looking at their creations outside of our classroom for the next couple of weeks.

On the final day of our volcano exploration we decided to go out with a bang! I mean who can study volcanoes without reconstructing their very own eruption?! We talked about the fact that volcanoes have lava inside them and, with pressure and a lot of chemical reactions; the lava is forced out of the top. In order to create our very own explosion we used soda and mentos. We watched as the chemicals reacted to one another and hypothesized about how we thought the “lava” would come out. You should have seen their reactions. There was so much excitement and laughter in the room! I am certain it was the highlight of the entire week. It was amazing!

Volcanoes weren’t the only thing we did this week. Like I mentioned before, we had a busy week! Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish holiday that begins this weekend. We spent a lot of time with Morah Sarit learning all about this holiday and the things we do during this celebration of the New Year. We sang songs, read books, wrote cards for our loved ones, baked round challah, ate apples and honey, blew the shofar, and gave extra tzedakah. I am sure you have heard all about the wonderful things we did. If you have any question about the Jewish holidays, Ms. Rachael and I would be happy to answer your questions as best we can. Since we enjoyed learning about Rosh Hashanah this week we have decided to push back our next expert project and really focus on the Jewish holidays that occur throughout the rest of September. These holidays include Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah. I cannot wait to dive into these holidays and learn more about them with the children!

The next few weeks of September will have many holidays and due to these holidays Ms. Rachael and I have decided to only write one newsletter for every two weeks of school since each week with be short. We will write you again in two weeks and tell you more about our Yom Kippur and Sukkot studies. Until then, Shana Tova. (Happy New Year!)

Ms. Michelle

Vocabulary words:

During our volcano exploration we learned lots of new words. Here is a list of the vocabulary words along with definitions by some of the children.

Lava- “It’s when magma comes out of the volcano.” Ethan

Volcano- “A mountain that blows out lava, ash and smoke.” James

Eruption- “It explodes from the volcano and lava goes all over.” Taliah

Volcanologist- “They study volcanoes.” Van

Magma- “Melted rock in the volcano.” Sally

Approaching to Learning:

Demonstrate eagerness and interest as a learner by questions and adding ideas.
Demonstrate delight or satisfaction when completing a task, solving a problem, or making a discovery.
Understand a task can be accomplished through several steps

Social & Emotional:

Respond respectfully to positive and negative feedback from adults most of the time.
Demonstrate with adult guidance simple techniques to solve social problems.
Express fears and concerns to familiar adults.

Language & Literacy:

Incorporate favorite parts of literary texts into play activities.
Begin to ask questions about the causes of events they observe or hear about in books.
Begin asking "how and why" questions when looking at texts.
Incorporate information from informational texts into play activities.
See information by looking at texts, signs, and photographs in the classroom.

Mathematics:

Begin to show an awareness of numbers in the environment.
Show one-to-one correspondence through ten when counting real objects.
Represent simple joining and separating situations through 4.
Shows awareness that money is used to buy things and that coins differ in value.

Making our awesome volcanoes!