Category: Hoot Owls

Owls on the Move

To wrap up their transportation unit, the Saklan Owls turned their sights skyward, learning about airplanes and helicopters. They incorporated math learning and built fine motor skills by cutting and assembling different shapes like a puzzle to make a helicopter.

They also tapped into their inner artists by doing marble painting on airplane shapes, creating unique lines and patterns. The tracks that the marbles made across the paper were reminiscent of the condensation trails planes make when they move across the sky!

The Owls closed out their transportation unit with a fun celebration! Each student brought in their own method of transportation from home, and had a blast zooming around the parking lot on their bikes and scooters!

#SaklanHandsOn

Hoot Owl Scientists

The Hoot Owls have been busy becoming scientists! The Hoot Owls already knew a lot about what a scientist does. When asked, “What is a scientist?”  their answers included:


“Scientists make science.”

“Scientists can make Coronavirus go away.”

“Scientists check out things.”

“Scientists do art.”

“A scientist experiments stuff.”

“A scientist is an archeologist.”

After sharing their prior knowledge about scientists, the Hoot Owls furthered their understanding of the job of a scientist through several hands-on activities. The students learned that a scientist measures, writes, draws, counts, asks questions, notices details, sorts, tests predictions, uses their senses, keeps trying and has fun! 

Check out the pictures of the Hoot Owls taking on the role of being scientists through hands-on experiences below.

The scientists used a scale to measure weight.

They made predictions and drew what they saw after combining baking soda and vinegar.

And when the cold weather brought hail to Saklan, the Hoot Owls used their senses to explore it!

#SaklanHandsOn

Studying Modes of Transportation

The Hoot Owls and Owlets in Ms. Jessica’s class have been learning about different types of transportation. First the class took a vote to see what the students were most interested in learning about. The Owls love practicing voting and making their own choices! Cars and space travel tied as the top choices to explore first.

Some unfortunate but serendipitous car troubles for Ms. Jessica kicked off a conversation about tires, how they work, what happens when you get a flat tire, and how tow trucks carry other cars!

The Owls enjoyed some messy collaborative painting with cars and trucks, observing how different tires made different tracks.

The Owls also made their own traffic lights to go along with a song they learned called “Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light,” which they were excited to share at Friday Flag this morning!

#SaklanEmergent

Holiday Traditions Around the World

The Owls in Ms. Jessica’s class enjoyed learning about holiday traditions from different countries and cultures. The children love to look at the globe and map together! During December, they located Russia, Sweden, Norway, Mexico and Africa. With winter growing nearer, the Owls first took a look at the Russian Winter Festival: colorful lights, decorations, costumes, horse-drawn sleighs (called “troikas”), ice skating, and music are just a few of the ways the season is celebrated. After seeing the impressive ice sculpture display at the Moscow festival, the Owls got the opportunity to work hands-on with different shaped ice cubes to try and create their own sculptures! 

Next the Owls learned about St. Lucia Day, a holiday celebrated in Sweden, Norway, and other European countries. One of the traditions is to celebrate light overcoming darkness in the winter season by lighting many candles and singing songs. The class watched a short clip of children dressed as St. Lucia singing together. The Owls then got to make their own woven heart, a traditional holiday decoration from Sweden. It was a little tricky, but with practice everyone was able to make a beautiful heart!

Ms. Jessica’s class then learned about a Christmas tradition originating from Mexico called Las Posadas. It is a nine-day celebration during which families reenact the story of Mary and Joseph searching for a place to stay. Large groups of people, often in costumes and carrying candles, travel throughout their neighborhoods singing carols and knocking on doors looking for las posadas (the inns). On the ninth day everyone comes together to share food and drinks and the children break open a star shaped piñata. Of course the Owls couldn’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate with a piñata of their own!

The final holiday the class learned about was Kwanzaa. The Owls learned that much like Hanukkah, a candle is lit for each of the seven nights of Kwanzaa. For each night, a different principle is celebrated: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. They learned that many of the traditions of Kwanzaa are based on customs from parts of Africa, used to celebrate their heritage.

#SaklanHandsOn

Dinosaur Research

For the Owls in Ms. Jessica’s class, December has been a month of dinosaurs! After seeing how interested the Hoot Owls and Owlets were in dinosaurs the class decided to learn a little more about them. The students learned that dinosaurs are reptiles and hatch from eggs. They did a fun activity using eyedroppers and warm water to free toy dinosaurs from their icy eggs! 

The Owls learned the words carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore and played a game matching dinosaurs with their diets. They also discovered that everyone in our class is an omnivore! The children had some messy fun making dinosaur footprints with paint after finding out that scientists learn a lot about dinosaurs from fossilized footprints.

The Owls have been having a blast researching and pretending to be their favorite dinosaurs, including the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, Spinosaurus, and Pachycephalosaurus! 

#SaklanHandsOn

Hip Hop History

November was Hip Hop History Month so the Hoot Owls learned about the Father of Hip Hop, DJ Kool Herc! The class read When the Beat was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop, by Laban Carrick Hill.

Ms. Traci showed the Hoot Owls a record, and they got to listen to it on a record player. The students then watched some videos of B-Boys and B-Girls (the dancers who performed to DJ Kool Herc’s breakbeats), before trying out our own dance moves! They were definitely working on their gross motor skills and coordination with all their dancing. Most of the Hoot Owls also gave themselves an original hip hop name!

#SaklanCreative

Winter Clothing Drive

Join the Hoot Owls in participating in a winter clothing drive organized by the local non-profit, Hip Hop for Change. The drive benefits unsheltered families and individuals in our neighboring communities. New clothes, gently used clothes and new toiletries will be accepted through January 7th. If you would like to participate, please place your donation in a sealed bag and drop it off in the donation bin outside the Hoot Owl classroom. See below for more guidance.

#SaklanCompassion

Otsaliheliga

Before the Thanksgiving break, the Hoot Owls and Owlets in Ms. Jessica’s class considered some of the things they are grateful for. They read the book We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, by Traci Sorrel. “Otsaliheliga” is the Cherokee word for expressing gratitude. The book taught the students many other Cherokee words, and showed some of the traditions and celebrations that members of the Cherokee Nation experience throughout the year.

After reading the story, the Owls made their own handprint Thanksgiving turkeys while sharing what they are grateful for.

#SaklanGrateful

Marble Tracks

The Hoot Owls and Owlets in Ms. Jessica’s class have been showing a lot of interest in building marble tracks.

This became such a popular classroom toy that they decided to try creating their own marble tracks. Instead of plastic pieces that fit together, the Owls used peg boards, foam tubing, and brass fasteners to create unique paths for their marbles. The class was able to cut the foam tubes into different shapes and lengths to get the exact pieces they wanted. The Owls noticed how fast and far the marbles traveled depending on how they placed their tubes. It was an exciting new way to do one of their favorite activities, and to introduce basic physics concepts!

#SaklanHandsOn

Pumpkin Seed Estimation

The Hoot Owls practiced their early science and math skills by estimating how many seeds were inside a large pumpkin. Their guesses ranged from 4 to 100,000! After determining their estimates, the Hoot Owls needed to collect data, so it was time to start scooping out the insides of the pumpkin. While not all students participated in the messy job of getting the pumpkin seeds out of the pumpkin, all the Hoot Owls helped in the data collection by counting out at least 10 pumpkin seeds into muffin tins.

Once all the seeds were sorted by tens, the class worked together to count by tens all the way to 367! After all the seeds were counted, Ms. Traci roasted the pumpkin seeds, which the Hoot Owls enjoyed tasting during their Halloween celebration.

#SaklanHandsOn