Seining and Similies

Now that benchmarks, other end of quarter assessments, and report cards are done I feel like I can relax a moment.  Anymore, it seems as if I test / assess my students to death, never mind teach them!  Does anyone else ever feel that way?

We did have a nice respite yesterday since the chickadees went on a field trip.  Since we live near the water we were able to go Seining in a lagoon.

Teachers, students and parents love this hands on field trip.  If you are not familiar with seining, seining is the catching of ocean creatures (that live in the see grass beds) using a net (similar to volleyball net) that you drag along the ground at an angle.  We put our "catches" in a bucket and professionals explain to us what they are and characteristics of them.  Finally our "catches" are released.

Some of our catches!!  There is a comb jellyfish in the upper right hand corner of this photo, and that spongy looking thing below it, is a hairy sponge (that ejects a purplish liquid when stressed).  A crab is towards the bottom.

This week also found my chickadees learning about similes.  I thought they would have a hard time understanding what 2 things were being compared (and why) in a simile, but they caught on pretty quick.  Especially because this skill was reinforced through writing about themselves.  Egomaniacs anyone!!???

Students had to draw and label a self portrait and then write about their self portrait using similes.

Since I am now hungry as a wolf, I am off to cook dinner.  Have a Happy Easter !!