Wildlife Expo Field Trip

Heading out to the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie to experience the Wildlife Expo is definitely a worthwhile adventure for our fourth graders. This is a first-class act sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and is the biggest event of its kind in the nation. And did mention that it is FREE? Yes, we enjoyed kayaking, shooting, making native american crafts, sawing, mountain biking, a bird show, and fishing to name some of the highlights. There were cool reptiles to touch, insect collections and displays about habitats. The experts were on hand at each booth to demonstrate and answer our numerous questions. We ate buffalo meat, turkey jerky and venison stew. Some yummy chocolate cake was made in a dutch oven too.

What makes this field trip such a favorite for me is that is covers many of our science, history, reading and Bible topics covered in our grade throughout the year. It also is a rare opportunity to be outdoors all day in a beautiful setting nestled in Guthrie, Oklahoma. It doesn't surprise me to hear that many students convinced their families to return again the next to experience MORE of this fabulous expo.

This kayak was outfitted with EVERYHING you could ever imagine!!

The Bigger Picture

Yes, more photos from our wonderful first day with our Book Buddies ! I couldn't help but think about the "bigger picture" today as I posted this blog. Yes, the students are having a great time, and, yes, these minutes together do provide great reading practice on both ends. BUT, the best part is that my fourth graders have an opportunity to show leadership, to step out of their comfort zone, to extend love and care, and, bottom line, they can model Jesus to these first graders. It is putting hands and feet to their faith. It is taking time to encourage, honor, and give preference to another. I pray today will be just the beginning of countless opportunities for our class to show Jesus this year.

Meeting Our Book Buddies

Book buddies is an awesome way to connect our older and younger students. Our class has paired up with two first grade classes. Today was our first time together. I was so proud of my fourth graders as they introduced themselves to their book buddies and took them to a corner of our classroom to share a book or two. In some cases, the first graders read out loud, and, in other cases, they enjoyed being read to by a fourth grader. There were tons of smiles and hugs and the precious sound of words on a page coming to life.







The proud teachers watching our students engaged in learning!

Bug-Eyed About the Bug Fair

Friday was our Bug Fair. This translates into anticipation, excitement and plenty of adjectives as fourth graders moved from desk to desk and room to room to view all the bug collections on display. There were "ooohs and aaahhs"; comments such as "cool", "amazing", "ugh", and "yucky" and plenty of stories about how they caught various insects, used tweezers to put them in baggies, and gingerly put them in the freezer at home where life quickly concluded for those creatures. The students had to follow directions for mounting the insects with pins or glue and labeling them. The end result was a wonderful Bug Fair for our fourth graders.

We are obviously proud of our efforts!!!!



Isn't this a fine speciman below?


We all agreed that finding insects in Oklahoma isn't too terribly difficult. It seems we have an abundance EVEN during the record-breaking temperatures of this past summer.

Bug Designers

Our current science unit is insects and spiders. This is always a BIG hit with our boys but may often contain a little less enthusiasm from our girls :). After all, bugs can be rather "yucky" or "scary", according to our female population. Since everyone, however, enjoys using their imagination, we took some time to design our own bugs. We made certain each creation contained characteristics common to insects including: eyes, antennae, mouth, head, thorax, abdomen, and six legs. They all came up with their own name for their insect. I am sure you will agree that we came up with some amazing critters.

Seriously! Hot Enough To Fry An Egg

To say that it has been EXTREMELY HOT in Oklahoma this summer is somewhat of an understatement. Record breaking temperatures over 100 for all of June, July AND August. Last week when third grade teacher, Mrs. Van Curen and I were doing recess duty each day from 11:30 until 12:00, we decided it might be fun to try to literally fry an egg outside on the playground. With the temperature about 105F, a cement playground, and no shade in sight, we tried it out.

A black frying pan sitting in the middle of a playground started to gather some attention.
We drew a crowd of spectators who were so hot, they were happy for this little diversion. The majority weren't too sure what to think...... I only know they did not want to be asked to eat that egg under any circumstances. We watched it begin to form tiny bubbles around the perimeter.
Then recess ended. We all went inside for class, but two hours later on our way to Technology class, this is what we found. Yes, seriously, it was hot enough in Edmond, Oklahoma to fry an egg!!!!

Brick Making 101

Trying to get our minds around life in Egypt back in 1500BC can be tough and imagining the nation of Israel at 2,ooo,ooo strong as slaves to that nation can be a bit mind-boggling, to say the least. Pharoah was relentless in treatment of the Israelites, even with all those plagues that fell upon Egypt. He just made the Jewish slaves work harder, especially in the area of brick making. We studied the process of making bricks in that period in history and decided to try it ourselves.

We gathered some good old Oklahoma clay, mixed in some water, added some straw, and toiled away.

We decided this task was not for the faint of heart. Just lifting the bucket full of moist clay was

quite the workout!
We know that the Israelites had to endure so much as slaves in Egypt. Did God know how hard it was? Certainly! Did God care? Absolutely. God was there working and revealing Himself time after time.
We completed our bricks and left them to dry in the sun. We can appreciate a bit more now about the art of brick making and we definitely were reminded that God is with us and has a plan and purpose for us ----even when our situation seems hopeless! We can trust Him ALWAYS!

Making Philippians 2:9-11 Our Own

Discussing our ideas for our illustrations.

Illustrations coming together.

Our final product

At the beginning of each new school year, we introduce a theme verse in the elementary school. Our chapels revolve around this theme too. This year we are focusing on the names of Jesus and using Philippians 2:9-11 :

"Therefore God exalted him the the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven an on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

To personalize this verse, our class divided into groups and had the assignment of illustrating the theme verse in any way that they felt communicated Jesus as supreme over all. Did I mention this had to be completed in 20 minutes? The end result was a beautiful cross with some extremely moving perspectives. I look forward to seeing how God will make this verse more meaningful to us in the coming months. Stop by and see our finished product displayed in hallway outside of our classroom.

Here We Are !!!

Let me introduce you to our fabulous group! We are "even" this year which means an equal number of boys and girls totaling 18 in all. This is the smallest class I have ever had at OCS and I am VERY excited to see what God has in store for this amazing group. Sixteen are returning OCS'ers and two are new to our school family. I love watching a new group bond together! The "old timers" are doing a great job of including our newbies.

We recognize that our sovereign God has appointed this time in each of our lives to be together for fourth grade. What could be better than that!!