School Projects

In March, both Kanyon and Ammon had some school projects that required a little bit of extra time and help at home.

Kanyon's 1st grade class had a Museum in their classroom in mid-March. They went on a walking field trip to visit the local Museum as an introduction to the class project. He really liked going to the museum, and told me and Josh about all the things he saw there. Then all the kids brought something from their past to the classroom, did a presentation about it, and all the items from the class were on display just like they saw in the local museum.

Kanyon chose to bring items from Cousins Camp. He brought the two photo books, and an item of clothing that he wore to the camps. The first camp was in 2010, and we made and decorated our own shirts, so he brought that shirt. The second camp was in 2013, and we went swimming, so he brought the swimming suit that he'd recently gotten and worn at it.

He wrote about these items, and memorized his description, and presented his oral explanation to his class during the day, and to me after school when they had their open house. Here's a link to YouTube to see that presentation: Kanyon's Museum Presentation

In addition to this segment of the museum, they also had other historical sections in their classroom. There was a "History of 1st grade" wall. Each child interviewed one person and learned about that person's 1st grade experience. Then they wrote about what they learned, and had a picture of the person interviewed on display. Kanyon interviewed me, and here he is standing by a photo of me when I was in 1st grade:

 This is what his paper said about my 1st grade experience: "My mom Kala was a first grader in Spokane, Washington in 1985. She played kickball outside. She didn't have a lunchroom. She had a lunch cart in the hall. Then she ate her food at her desk. She walked to school. She had a big soccer field to walk across."

Kala in 1st grade in 1985

The last section of the museum in his classroom was about "Candles and Cabins". They learned about candles, and they made their own candles by dipping a string in hot wax. Kanyon really enjoyed that activity. His candle is the middle one on the right side: 

 

Do you see that insect-looking picture to the right of his candle? That's his picture of Abraham Lincoln. They learned about him, and the size of his cabin, and taped off the same size on the floor of the classroom to understand how small it was. The students all drew a picture of Abraham Lincoln, and wrote a report about him. I loved Kanyon's drawing! The way he outlined the legs and arms, and how the body is so round and the neck so long, it truly looks like an insect man to me!!

Ammon had a science fair project due in mid-March. We've really lucked out with the science fairs: He didn't have one in 5th, 6th, OR 7th grade. When he was in 6th grade, the 5th grade teachers decided to do one. Then when he was in 7th grade, the 6th grade teachers decided to join the 5th grade for a science fair. It wasn't until this year, that the older grades had to do one too. He wasn't really enthused with the idea, since science is his least favorite subject (it was mine, too). He chose to do a boring project, which demonstrates how unenthusiastic he was: "Mechanical Pencil vs. #2 Pencil: How does the type of pencil affect writing fatigue?" When he first told me that's what he picked, I was like "Really? That's the best you could come up with?" Thankfully, he did all of the work required for this project on his own. The only thing he needed help with was creating the display board:

And he scored an 83 on the project, which he was fine with. He was just happy to be done!