Lessons from a tree

At the Redwoods we learned that if you touch a banana slug it dies.We learned that if you rub your hand on a burnt tree it's called "Evidence of Fire".One thing that we learned that the Mother of the forest is "329"feet tall.A tree fell down a long time ago.At the end we all got to climb on a tree that fell down in 1980's.There is a tree with a crack as big as me.
By:Madison Keno

October Update

The fourth graders at Empire Elementary are planning a fall trip to Big Basin State Park to see some of the oldest living things on our planet. Our trip is sponsored by the Save the Redwoods League, who know how important it is to truly experience these giants of California.

To prepare for our trip we are learning about Redwood Ecology through the California State Parks program PORTS. We are taking a virtual field trip next Tuesday to Humboldt State Park to learn about the producers, consumers, and decomposers that make the redwood ecosystem their home.

Calaveras Big Trees

Trees Inspire Poetry

Redwood Art 2010

Lasting Impressions

The last few weeks are filled with state testing and district testing. One of the components of our district testing is a personal narrative writing prompt. Several students used their redwood experience as their topic. The prompt asks students to write about a memorable experience. You would be amazed at the amount of detail the students remembered.

Post Cards to Obama or Art in the Dark

This past week we can thank the workers who are putting in new sewer and drainage lines in Empire for my students being able to participate in this Save-the-Redwoods contest. Our power went out somewhere around 11:30 when they clipped an electrical line and sent a live wire down to the kindergarten playground. This put the entire school in the dark until 3:00 in the afternoon when all the students had gone home.

Being in the dark...not enough good light to read in due to a rain storm we were able to do what I now affectionately call "Art in the Dark" students were taught how to use watercolors and they proceeded to paint a small postcard size picture of what inspires them about redwoods. The only glitch was my 5 students who either weren't able to go on the trip or weren't at our school at the time. Luckily I had my MacBook charged up so they could at least see what the rest of the class saw when we made our October trek to Big Basin State Park.