Enriched

On Fridays at Jaybird's school, the first and second grade classes have "Enrichment Days". On these days, the parents teach. Every Mom is required to teach three times a year, and Dads are required to teach (or assist) twice a year. There is always two parents team teaching together. On these days, the entire day is devoted to a science unit. (Science is not taught throughout the week, as first and second grade is only a half day. They teach the basics, plus art, art studies, nature studies, and usually a literature unit during the other school days.)

For the past two Fridays, as well as this Friday, my husband and I are the teachers. We signed up for the animal lessons. We have had great fun doing art projects, teaching facts, reading books, playing games, eating snacks, and even enjoying a speaker who brought in real animals. Jaybird's class has 7 children, and they are immensely excited about learning and self-controlled. What a joy! My husband majored in wildlife biology and loves to talk about animals with kids, or any one who is willing to listen. One of the funny highlights of our lessons was when he taught about the products we enjoy that are made from animals...belts, food, etc. He threw in a little lesson on animal poop and all of its many values in farming. The kids loved that information, of course. Here are a few pictures of our class with the other first and second graders enjoying the speaker and her animals.