Oh sorry, did you not know that there was such a important holiday as "Static-Electricity Day?" I have this fabulous calendar at school that lets me know of such days and I have decided to let the kids in on the fun as well.
Back when I first started teaching on Monhegan we had a time every morning for a little "morning project" that gave the kids a bit of time to get into the school day, laugh a little, and do something as a big group. As the kids have gotten older and our school has gotten smaller I have moved away from such activities and gotten straight to work when we start our day at school.
Now with Margaret coming in the mornings I feel like it is important to build in this time once again, not just because it is a fun way to start the day but it is a time to work in some classroom community building!
Our morning project usually only lasts about 10 minutes and focuses on whatever random holiday may calendar tells me about! On "Static-Electricity Day" we watched a short little video from Bill Nye - the Science Guy explaining exactly what static-electricity is!
Then it was time for us to try and make our own static-electricity!
Good thing I had a stash of balloons in the back closet!
Time to make some charged ions!
Hey look! It works!
Millie was kind of confused with all the balloon rubbing!
Of course, Quinn was the one who was most into this morning project!
Another holiday we celebrated during morning project was "National Egyptian Pyramid Day!" Who knew!?
After we talked a little bit about what the Egyptian pyramids were we got a chance to try and build our own! We had a little pyramid building contest.
I won most "colorful pyramid".
Quinn got the "most symetrical pyramid" award!
We obviously gave Dalton the "highest pyramid" title.
And Margaret won "most creative pyramid!"
The most random holiday we have "celebrated" was "National Jump in a Puddle and Splash Your Friend Day!" We were a little surprised that this holiday fell in the middle of winter since most of our puddles are now patches of ice! We decided to honor this day by making comics of ourselves jumping in puddles and splashing our friends! Quinn's comic not only involved splashing a friend using a puddle, but also using a super soaker!
I had fun making my comic about splashing Quinn!
In Margaret's comic she splashes her teacher! So cute!
Celebrating these silly holidays have been a super fun way to spend a little extra time as a class and to start the day with a little extra fun on this extra dark and chilly mornings!
Okay, I have a confession, this is not peanut butter... it's almond butter and it has been expired for two years! But when you live on an island and you need to clean out your pantry... two year expired almond butter will just have to do. I don't think the kids or birds will notice!
