Exciting News!

I would like to share my exciting news.  I traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive a Presidential award.  It is called the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching or PAEMST.  One K-6 grade science and math teacher was chosen from South Dakota each year and I was in the 2018 group.  I had been nominated, so I decided to try for the award.  I filled out the lengthy application that revolved around a science lesson I prepared about birds.  The current 2nd graders were in my class at that time.  I also had to submit a video of me teaching the children and a resume.  Another part of my application was about how I reach out to others and teach them, which I do with my BirdTeach Facebook page, bird presentations, photos and articles in magazines.  Now you know why I was missing from four days of school.  It was an amazing experience and one I will never forget.

Silly Paper Plate Skeletons

The kindergartners worked hard to create these cool, paper plate skeletons.  They loved decorating them and they were so proud of their creation.

Raising Butterflies

I ordered a cup of five caterpillars from Insect Lore.  We watched the caterpillars continue to grow for nearly a week and then they started to hang upside down from the lid.  Soon they had changed into their chrysalis.  It was another week or so, until the butterfly crawled out of the chrysalis.  One year a boy commented, "That's real?  I thought it was pretend."  That is one reason why I do this activity with the students.  Some "big" words they learned:  caterpillar, metamorphosis, larvae, and chrysalis.  The kind of butterflies we raised are called, Painted Lady Butterflies.  It was really fun!  This year the butterflies did not want to be held and took off right away much to the dismay of the kindergartners.

Painted Butterflies are a bit smaller than
the Monarch Butterfly.

A Book For Each K-kid Each Month

Lea Ymker, who has the very nice country store here in Armour called, Fairway Seeds, has chosen to give each of our kindergartners a $1 book out of our book order each month. The children received their first book today - "If You Give a Mouse a Brownie". She is not only passionate about bird education, but she also wants to get lots of books into the hands of children. That is very kind and generous of her! The kindergartners were very happy! Thank you, Lea!

Homecoming Day

Here are some photos of the homecoming float.  We had a fun time riding on it in the parade.  The kids even had candy to throw out to the crowd.  Thank you to those who donated bags for that.  It was beautiful weather for a parade and we had a fun time!

These two did a great job at coronation!

A Lesson on Seeds

I took a moment to show the kindergartners some different seeds.  I wanted to know that they come in many sizes, shapes and colors.  They need to know that seeds come from the flower or fruit of a plant.  We talked about how people eat some kinds of seeds: popcorn, corn on the cob, sunflower, etc.  I brought a cattail to school and showed them how each tiny piece was a seed.  I explained that conditions have to be just right for a seed to grow.  Those cattail seeds that fell on the playground will not grow there because there isn't enough water for that kind of plant.  They loved watching the cattail seeds fly off in the wind.

57 Birds and Counting!

It was time to see how many birds they knew.  I taught the kindergartners about tally marks and we started going through the bird cards.  They knew 57 species of birds as a group!  That is very good for having only been in school for 27 school days!  I feel like we hardly ever work on bird ID, but the "sponges" picked it up easily.  Way to go kids!