Electricity

May 18, 2012

Our second science topic this week is electricity. Children built two different electric circuits, one where they could turn a light on and off with a switch, and one where they could launch a small fan into the air. (Very exciting!)

We also talked about how electricity is generated, and travels through different parts of the power grid on its way to houses, schools, and other places. If your child is interested, you can take a tour of your own house and look for the parts pictured above.

Electrical wires are generally the highest wires on the utility poles on your street, and are separated from the pole’s crossbar by a round ceramic insulator. Some areas will have two power lines, some will have three.

Each house also has a distribution transformer, which is the gray or white trash-can-shaped object attached to one of the utility poles in front of your house. The lines that serve your house come from this transformer, run across your yard, and enter your house at the gray service head (unless your wires run underground).

The cable from the service head passes through your electric meter and then into the breaker box, where it splits into circuits that feed the outlets in each room. If you have an unfinished basement, you may be able to show your child the wires supplying the outlet box inside the wall.

We also discussed the power plant on Miami’s Western campus. If you’d like a field trip, you can visit the power plant, and even follow the lines to Miami’s electrical substation #1 (on Rt. 73 across from the Miami stables, next to the big parking lot).

Children take great pride in knowing what mysterious objects really do!

Posted in classroom, McGuffey, science

Partners

May 17, 2012

Today we met with our partners. They showed us the worm habitats they’ve been making in science, and explained how and why they were constructed. We then spent some time outside—running, digging, drawing, and having a great time.

We love this time with the big kids!

Posted in McGuffey, partners, science

William Holmes McGuffey

May 16, 2012

As we continue our discussion of Oxford, we spent some time this morning discussing William Holmes McGuffey.

Did you ever wonder why our school is named McGuffey? It is named after William Holmes McGuffey, who was a professor at Miami in the early 1800’s. While at Miami, he authored the McGuffey Readers, a series of primers which sold an estimated 120 million copies between 1836 and 1960. The Readers are regarded as a landmark in the history of education.

We have a copy of one of McGuffey’s Readers in our classroom for children to browse. If you wish to extend your child’s learning, we encourage you to take your child to see the statue in front of McGuffey Hall or even visit the McGuffey Museum. Both are located on Miami’s campus.

Posted in classroom, McGuffey, social studies

Magnets

May 15, 2012

This week’s science topic is magnetism and electricity. Today we experimented with magnets. We talked about the difference between magnetic and non-magnetic objects, and created a temporary magnet from a paper clip. We also compared how strong different magnets were by counting the paper clips each one could hold in a long chain. And we made a round ceramic magnet “float” in the air, demonstrating how strong a force magnetism can be!

Posted in classroom, McGuffey, science

A visit from former Mayor, Prue Dana

May 14, 2012

After our discussion of the United States and Ohio, we’ve narrowed our focus this week to discussing our city—Oxford!

To kick off this discussion, the Pre-Primary and Primary units were visited by former Mayor of Oxford, Prue Dana. She began by discussing what a mayor does, and described the supporting role of City Council.

She ran a mock election, asking our students to first vote on favorite colors of paper—brown, pink, or white. After she took a vote, she asked them then to vote on the same colors, but gave a little more information. Those colors represented the ice cream flavors of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. Not only did we see the vote change, but it was a good reminder to know exactly what you’re voting for. You should gather as much information as possible before you vote!

She told us that City Council meeting are open to the public, and encouraged even the youngest students to attend a meeting, even if just for the beginning, to see how the process works. You can access City Council meeting times and dates on the City of Oxford website.

Before she left, she let each child have a turn banging her gavel, which was pretty exciting (and loud!). We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Prue Dana for spending the morning with us. What a great way to learn about Oxford!

Posted in classroom, guest speaker, social studies

Planting a garden

May 13, 2012

Today, we planted our garden. Each child planted seeds, and then watered them. We are growing three herbs (basil, chives, and oregano) and three vegetables (radishes, lettuce and spinach.

We don’t have much growing time left in the season, but these plants all grow quickly. Everyone is interested to see how big they get by the end of school!

Posted in McGuffey, outdoor classroom, science

Tadpoles and toads

May 10, 2012

We’ve been raising American Toad tadpoles in the classroom for a few weeks now, thanks to Amanda Whinery and Kris Jacobson. They brought us some tadpoles after our usual pond had no toad eggs this year.

Then an adult toad paid us a visit! We think she was a girl, since she was fairly large and had a pale throat. Wendy spotted her in the yard, and we brought her into our classroom for a while so we could watch her. We compared her to the tadpoles, and found that although there were a lot of differences, there were also similarities. Our tadpoles have just gotten their legs, and their new legs are tiny, but the same shape as the big toad’s legs.

After everyone had had a good look and a chance to touch her (and then wash their hands well, since toads secrete a substance that can irritate skin), we found her a good toad habitat. We looked for shade, moisture, hiding places, and plants that would attract insects for her to eat, then let her go. As soon as our tadpoles become toadlets, we will let them go too.

Posted in classroom, McGuffey, outdoor classroom, science

A visit from David Ezra Stein

May 9, 2012

Today McGuffey was visited by Caldecott Honor author and illustrator, David Ezra Stein. His visit was made possible by the Lane Public Library, who brought David to Oxford to visit local schools and libraries. Our Pre-Primary and Primary units spent part of the morning with David.

First he told us a bit about himself, how he loved to draw as a child, and even shared some childhood photos and illustrations. He also talked about his creative process, showing photos of his desk where he works and the couch where he thinks up many of his best ideas!

Then he read two of his books—Leaves and Pouch—leading the children in movements that coordinated with the stories.

Working with the children, he then created a collaborative illustration. Based on the children’s suggestions he drew a picture of the Pre-Primary room with a large spider, who was there for his first day of school. When the joey from his book, Pouch, saw the spider, he got very scared! One of our students helped model what a scared face might look like.

David left us with this one-of-a-kind illustration and several signed copies of his books.

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Lane Public Library and David Ezra Stein for such a great experience—it made for an exceptional day!

Posted in classroom, guest speaker, language, McGuffey

Parents’ Night

May 8, 2012

Tonight was Parents’ Night. It is a special night we have once a year where our children bring their parents to the classroom to show them where they spend their day.

The children decided they should spend some of the morning cleaning the classroom to get it looking its best. In the afternoon we gathered some flowers to put in a vase to make our classroom extra fancy.

By this point in the year, the classroom is like a second home. The children are so excited to share it with their parents and show them what they have learned!

It is this time of year that we are reminded how lucky we are to work each day with these amazing children, and we have their equally-amazing parents to thank for that.

Posted in classroom, McGuffey

Ohio!

May 7, 2012

This week we’re talking about Ohio!

This morning we spent some time talking about the beginnings of Ohio, from the Native Americans, to the French, and then the Pilgrims. We looked at the flag, and noticed its unique shape and the “O”. We counted 17 stars which represent Ohio as the 17th state.

We discussed the symbols of Ohio. Our state bird is the cardinal, our state tree is the buckeye, and our state flower is the carnation.

We also added John Kasich to our shelf of government officials, next to Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Posted in classroom, McGuffey, social studies