It’s been a long week of testing and by Friday we were ready for a change of pace. Well, what better way to celebrate the end of a test and the beginning of a summer than with a visit to the Botanic Gardens? Better yet, we were able to visit during the “World of Plants” event where guests get to travel around the gardens experiencing cultural tid-bits from places around the world - from Asia to Africa - making a souvenir at each stop. We had a blast (and beautiful weather to make things even better)! See for yourself...

{cooling off in the fountain}

{"strike a pose!”}

{making lotions in Europe}

{making butterflies in South America}

{modeling their pieces of art}

{“dress up” in India}

{hat-making in Asia}

Before we headed back to the bus, I took 1A on a little detour. 

As a kid, my family used to take frequent trips to the Botanic Gardens for picnics - and my personal favorite - feeding the fish. It’s a little known secret that the fish in the Japanese gardens go nuts for bread! (shhh) I brought our class their own loaf, and without telling any of our 1st graders the purpose of all this, had them lay down on their bellies on the dock. On the count of 3 I told them to drop a crumb of bread in the water. I wish you could have seen their faces!!! The fish came out of nowhere and were so thick you could reach down and touch them =)  I can’t begin to describe how exciting it was to able to share one of my favorite childhood experiences with your children... and I have a feeling it’s one they’ll never forget! 

{check out those lips!}

What an adventurous day... And don’t worry, for all 1st graders brave enough to touch the fish, we thoroughly washed those hands upon our return to New Hope! =) 

This week we are spending some time in the mornings on CTP4 testing... time to show what we know! Unfortunately, it’s not much to show in pictures. So I thought that I’d pull together an eclectic mix of photos from our learning over the past few weeks. Here is proof that learning doesn’t always mean a pencil and notebook paper... sometimes it requires Bendables, Post-Its, and marshmallows!

Here is our spelling center in 1B:

 Our language activity in 1C:

{each person got a post-it note with a contraction, then took turns coming up to the board to “break down” their contraction as we sang our contractions jingle =)}

 Here are some 3D shapes that 1B made and wrote about:

 And here are more 3D shapes  - made by 1C:

{I believe the first grade is looking at some future architects!}

I’ve been trying to figure our how to upload my own videos here for a while and think I finally figured it all out... So now, I’m so happy to share with you a video I’ve been really excited about. A parent here at New Hope recognized how much our kids are influenced by the music they listen to and wanted to provide new hope students with an outlet to get their dance on to songs that are full of truth. This translated into a hip-hop dance team that became a HUGE hit within its first few months here. I’m so proud of all their hard work and so happy to see these young ladies filling their minds with music worth dancing to...

And now, the latest performance from New Hope’s very own hip-hop dance team:

{Song: High by Lecrae}

As of this week, the all first grade classes have completed their swimming lessons! We had so much fun and it was truly amazing to watch so many children overcome their fears and become more and more confident in the water as the days went by. Here are pictures of 1A from last week...

{I’m so proud of this sweet girl... she wasn’t so comfortable with the water on day 1, but by the end of the week she braved the 12 foot side of the pool!}

{Practicing their form... by the way, we had some incredible coaches! So impressed by their gentle, patient, encouragement.} 

{Fresh out of the pool and happy as could be!}

We’ve been learning about something a little magical in science lately... Surface Tension! This incredible phenomenon enables certain animals to run, even walk on water! First I’d like to you to meet Mr. Basilisk - a lizard that runs so fast that the surface of water is able to support its body weight...

Up next it Mr. Water Strider... an animal designed so uniquely that it’s able to walk - even stand - on water! You won’t believe it until you see it...

After watching these short clips in the classroom and talking about why such an incredible thing is possible, we recorded all our newly acquired knowledge in our science journals. Here are a few...

{love how this person even included the snake from the video in their illustration... attention to detail!}

{this person wrote: A Water Strider can walk on water. Sometimes it runs too. It might have long legs, it might not. It might be brown. Did you know it can fly too?}

{this person wrote: Water Striders can walk on water. Did you know they are less heavy than the water, that’s why they can walk on water. The reason they can walk on water is because there’s a surface tension on the top of the water.}

{this person wrote: Surface tension is a whole lot of particles real dense and they can only hold up things as light as a tissue.}

{this person wrote: The surface tension is like magic. I really like the Jesus Christ Lizard [he] is like a car speeder and a police will probably give him a ticket. About the surface tension - that is magic.}

{And now, I leave you with a highly impressive, albeit accurate, drawing of the Basilisk from a first grader... love it.}