WOWZIE...can you say SCHEMA!

Yesterday we started talking about schema.  What in the world?  Such a crazy word for a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds!  Since we are talking about our community in social studies...what better way to introduce schema as well!

We started with our "defining in context" circle map! I asked the students to tell me all the things they might find in their community!  LOOK what we came up with.  I asked them how they knew these places and things were in our community...WE know because we have visited them, or see them....But we are not at Kroger right now.  I don't see a stop sign or the Little Elm Beach!  I kind of got some blank stares!!! Finally, we came up with we REMEMBER those things in our BRAIN!!! So, we talked about our brain being a BIG OLE filing cabinet...and our community is just ONE file stored in there. Once we open that file and start using our memory and making connections it is called SCHEMA!  

Not everyone has the same schema we found out!  Mr. Blankenship had mentioned Dubai in his presentation earlier in the morning.  Because of that we all knew that the tallest building in the world was there...but that was about it! Ms. Woodard and Ms. Guy knew a little bit more about it. So our schema was different from the rest of the class! After reviewing a little it was TEST time!  And listen to this...

College Week

(or we could call it furthering education week)

Today we recognized Lone Star High School with our silver and blue!  So...I dug out my MAROON AND ORANGE!!! I attended William Byrd High School in Vinton, VA...
GO TERRIERS! 

 Mr. Blankenship
The Chemist

He talked to us about making cement! We all thought that cement was what we walked on outside! Guess what we were wrong! That is called concrete.  We found out...that when cement and water are mixed there is a chemical reaction that happens and causes the cement to get hard!

Mr. Blankenship showed us this picture of  the "elements"! He compared it to Legos...But I think I got lost about here because I don't remember much else except that some of our necklaces are made of the element gold!  (Sorry...good thing I didn't want to try and be a Chemist that first year at HPU!)

Sam's dad also brought in samples of the different materials used in making cement.  I think everyone was surprised that rock could be melted!

The model bulldozer was a HUGE hit!  We found out that the one they use us as tall as our school and weighs more than some of our dads (as your children were quick to point out)!

We had a BUNCH of good listeners! We really enjoyed looking at all of the materials 

Mr. Blankenship brought in to share with us!  

Thank You