December is always a fun season for ACS and many great things happen outdoors. It is a time to introduce winter and another change of seasons. It is also a time to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ. We have many ways to celebrate the season in our OE class times and at our Christmas on Campus. Event. This year our Christmas on campus event folded in the 5th and 6th grade SEED market. It is always a joy to see so many come together to celebrate the season here at school. Thanks to all who came out to enjoy the decorations and support our 5th and 6th grade seed markets!
Kindergarten - We began December with a story walk to help us think about animals in winter. We hiked through the woods reading Time to Sleep to learn about animals that hibernate. We also took a break to look close at something and find what is interesting. Students found small items in nature and considered how even the smallest things have beautiful, interesting details. To wrap up December we read the Christmas story in the barn and consider what it was really like at Jesus’ birth.
1st - We began the month considering animals in winter by acting like squirrels. We learned the strategies of squirrels hiding food while doing our best to hide and find corn. The next week we read the book Night Tree in which a family decorates a tree outside with food ornaments for animals. We then made our own ornaments and decorated a tree on campus. The following week we looked at the tree to see what they ate, the tracks left behind and looked at pictures of the visitors on the trail cam.
2nd - With second grade learning about Pioneers and Native Americans this past fall, we spent some time learning about a skill that both groups would have used; tracking. We began by learning a few basic tracks followed by an activity where we made tracks and students had to guess the type of movement. We also took time to make our own plaster casts of tracks, like a scientist studying animals would do. We wrapped the topic up with a search around school for tracks, scat and other signs of animals.
3rd- December has been all about birds for 3rd grade. We kicked off the month by using our Merlin app to identify what birds were still here and who had migrated. The next 2 weeks we worked hard at making edible ornaments for the birds with gelatin and bird seed. Lastly, we practiced an expert birding skill of sitting like a statue. Students had big handfuls of birdseed and tried to sit as still as possible in hopes that a bird would come eat from our hands! Some students got pretty close!
4th- Fourth grade learned about Hydroponics this month. We spent time learning about how plants don’t always need soil to grow, some can thrive with just light, space, water and oxygen. Each student started a plant from seed and created their own hydroponic growing chamber to grow their very own lettuce plant. Additionally, 4th graders learned about the life cycle of a snowflake. Each student learned about how snow crystals from in the sky as it falls to the ground. We did an experiment using pipe cleaners, borax, and water to make our very own snowflakes.
5th- We spent the beginning of December learning the bone structure of a chicken. Students learned how chickens and humans have many of the same bones in their body! We practiced our anatomy with a silly game of “Cha Cha says” to help us remember all the names of the bones we learned about. The end of December we focused on the 5th graders SEED ornaments for the christmas market. We spent a whole day in the Hoop House decorating to share the hard work they did learning about different cultures
6th- The 6th graders rounded out the beginning of the month by finishing the labeling of external goat anatomy. The value of a goat can be determined by their conformation/external anatomy. Students learned how to identify each external body part as well as sections of a goat. Then we spent our last OE of December creating the Christmas market for Christmas on campus. Each student helped set up tables, lights, their products and make it a magical event for our ACS community.
7th - Our focus in 7th grade for the month was on water quality. We looked at our property and considered what happens to water and precipitation on our property emphasizing the importance of water soaking into the ground. Later we made a trip to our retention pond that collects all our runoff to look for insects. We then used the collection as a measure for water quality. Different insects are more or less sensitive to pollution and studying the insects in an area can give us an idea of the quality of habitat.
8th - Our 8th grade wrapped up the initial research stage of their projects and will soon begin working on persuasive presentations in Language Arts class. We also took a chance to reflect on the season during our monthly “sit spots” as we reflected on Advent and what the hope of Christ means to us. We also took some time in the greenhouse to work on our succulent propagation. December is a great time to serve and 8th graders took some of their time in OE to do that as they worked around school to help prepare for the Christmas on Campus event.
