Bell Crew

Watch the Winter 2012 Kindergarten final product film: The Strength of a Bear

News from the Pond!          The kindergarteners are hopping with excitement about our pond expedition! Case Study #2 --Frog and Toad-- is underway. Our classroom pond is overflowing with life and has made for many wonderful, scientific observations. The children tumble into our room each day to look for new egg sacks, to gauge changes [...]

News from the Pond!  Over the past couple of weeks, the Bell Crew has really been able to dive into ponds! We have been singing pond songs, reading pond poems and writing down our observations about our new classroom pond. If you haven’t seen it yet, come check it out! Additionally, we visited the Glenshire [...]

POND-erings Today we launched our spring expedition, Down by the Banks!  The children came into school eager to share their predictions as to what our expedition topic might be.  "P" was their only clue, and their guesses ran the gamut from "penguins" to "pencils!"  After brainstorming the "P"ossibilities, the students passed around a Mystery Jar, [...]

Expedition News   The Bell Crew has been hard at work, becoming experts on black bears!  Throughout the first case study, the kindergarteners have been enthusiastically reading and writing about hibernation, black bears’ physical features and their functions, and all about their diets.  The classroom has transformed into a black bear habitat, including a creative [...]

Bear-y Important News Happy 2012! Your kindergartners have hit the ground running with their new expedition, The Strength of a Bear.  This expedition explores bears from two angles.  In our first case study, "Bear Necessities," students will dive into the structure and functions of black bears.  They will examine how these creatures are built, their [...]

Expedition News: Building Blocks As the year 2011 comes to an end, so does the Kindergartners' first expedition, “Building Community”.  They have come a tremendous way with...mastering carpentry skills and creating a supportive learning community in the Bell Crew.  Additionally, they have gained understanding of the importance of giving to their school community. Throughout the expedition, your children [...]

Building Blocks   The kindergartners have been busy “On the Job!” with our second case study.  Fueled by the field work two weeks ago to the Hardware Department at Home Depot, they have been honing their building skills under the careful guidance of two experts-- Brent (Ethan’s dad) and Jaimie (Cheyanne’s mom).  The kindergartners sanded [...]

Building Blocks (Expedition News)   The Bell Crew is having a fantastic time on our current case study, geared towards gaining knowledge about tools and their purposes. Charlie Stein’s grandfather generously built and donated a realistic, yet child-sized, workbench that the students use regularly.  Thank you, Grandpa Bob!  Our “Construction Zone” is a popular center [...]

Building Blocks (Expedition News)   The Bell Crew had a wonderful Adventure Hike last week!  The fall weather was glorious, and the kindergartners were thrilled to be out in the field using some of their newly-honed "good-crew-member" skills.  Our day focused on teamwork and trust-building activities.  Kindergartners worked together seamlessly in small groups to find [...]