Spring is a busy season for ACS in our great outdoor classroom.  It’s a time when the OE team finds themselves looking forward to summer while at the same time wishing it could hold off a while because there is some much to do.  The weather is inviting us back outside after months of cold.  New life is bursting forth all around in a way that can remind us of Christ’s resurrection.  The gardens are ready to be worked and we have baby animals on the farm.  On top of all this is grand friends day, Earth day, field trips and so much more.  But it is hard to complain about being busy when there is so much good stuff happening outside at ACS.  

Kindergarten 

Over the two months kindergarten enjoyed a couple visits to the chicks to see them as they grew.  They also were able to visit the baby goats later in the spring after they were born.  Kindergarten students also enjoyed eating salads from lettuce they started from seed.  They planted, transplanted and ate their own lettuce.  Spring was the other big theme in Kindergarten OE.  We searched for signs of spring, hunted for various bugs, and practiced some letters while exploring all over ACS.

1st 

One major theme of first grade in the spring is sound.  We search for sound and explore how it is used outside.  Then we spend time exploring different materials that we can use to make sound and music outside.  The class then spent time using sound to hunt for a camouflaged Mr. Sportel hiding in the woods.  We wrapped up sound by playing a few games that help us explore animals and sound.  In addition, first grade explored the beauty outside by looking for pieces of nature to add to their tape bracelet.  First graders also had a chance to help out at school by removing invasive species.  I was blown away when they filled enough trash bags of garlic mustard to fill the bed of our pickup truck!  They were great workers helping to restore God’s Creation!

2nd

Second grade spends a lot of time on the theme of rocks. We first collected nice pieces of gravel and added them to a polisher to see the process of weathering in fast forward. Then we took time to observe sediments from around the world under a microscope to see the variety of colors and textures from the tiny rock bits. We also learned about panning for gold and had a chance to practice our own skills at school. Second graders also made bug catchers (called pooters) and had a bug hunt.  Lastly they spend time preparing and planting for the three sisters garden.  They will harvest the same garden next fall when they are learning about Native Amreicans. 

3rd

3rd grade had a blast over the last 2 months making hanging baskets for mothers/grandfriends day, delivering over 600 Violas to the community on earth day, and diving deep into bird identification. They used a free app called Merlin to help them identify what birds migrate back to Michigan in the spring. We enjoyed comparing the data we took against our data from the winter. We also played OE Jeopardy to take a look back on all the neat things we learned over the year. The grade’s favorite activity by far seemed to be enjoying fresh baby goat and chick cuddles.

4th

Our fourth graders spent a lot of time learning about erosion. After the big rain on spring break we were able to explore evidence of erosion and consider what makes a place more vulnerable to erosion. Later we used that same knowledge to create erosion resistant mounds in the sand. The mounds needed to withstand the force of water from a garden watering can and the force of wind from a backpack leaf blower. It was fun to see the results. When erosion was not the topic, fourth grade spent time doing some important work in the garden and helping with mulch around school. Fourth grade is one of the most helpful grades at getting hard work done!

5th 

The baby goats arrived! We dove head first into understanding goat anatomy specifically digestion this month. We also talked a bit more about birth and how that process works with the goats. We worked on a big dream project of how to expand and enrich our goat area. We researched why goats need to be able to climb, balance, jump, and scratch. Then drew up some blueprints of how we could make their environment even better. Of course, we made sure to get lots of baby goat and chick cuddles. In addition to our regular OE time we had a great time at spring camp with all sorts of great outdoor activities and learning.  What a fun way to wrap up the year!

6th

The chicks hatched! 6th grade learned all about the life cycle of chickens and got to experience the babies hatching. We learned about how to care for the chicks, how much space they need, and even how to identify sex at an early life. We spent lots of time cuddling the chicks and goats and we finished out the year learning about breeds. We identified all of the breeds of chickens that Got Yolk has. Each student submitted a fact sheet about a breed and its purpose!

7th 

In preparation for salmon release day we spent time learning about water quality, primarily by studying the macroinvertebrates that live in our pond. Later we also took out the microscopes to take a close look at the tiny organisms floating around at the bottom of the food chain in our pond. Seventh graders also spent time working on their organism project. They studied one species of woodland organism, created a sign for the organism in art class to display in our woods, and wrote a first person narrative about it in LA. The signs are up and soon will have a QR code attached that links to the narrative they wrote.

8th 

Our 8th had a variety of different schedules so for some of them it seemed like we hardly even met. When we did meet though, we worked on the legacy project. The 8th graders chose to work on adding challenges to the team challenge course for their project. We began our time by planning which challenges would be a part of the project. We ended up creating a few options.  One involves laying a series of planks on edge from stump to stump that the team would need to travel across.  Another challenge utilized a few platforms that have two goals. First seeing how many could fit on two platforms and second using planks to cross a gap between the platforms (but the planks are not long enough on their own). Students also added stumps for a future meeting location where classes can sit and discuss the results of the team challenges. Lastly, students began the work on a wire tightrope between trees that teams need to work together to get across. The 8th grade class did great work in the various tasks like burying and chiseling stumps, cutting boards to length, setting posts, screwing boards to the platform, moving stumps and much more. We really appreciate all the good work from the students as this project will have a great impact on classes as we use it for fun and teaching skills for working together.  

To the ACS 8th grade class of 2023, THANK YOU!!