Blog

Preprimary students love to dig for earthworms. To increase the learning content of this basic activity, they are collaborating to tally the number of worms found in a single class period. 

Yesterday's class found 14 worms. Today's found 38! Why the big difference?

Sunchokes tend to produce feelings of sublimity in the first-time user. 

Preprimary students are our chief carrot farmers. Here they sow the tiny seeds a few days before spring break. The carrots will be ready for harvest in late summer. 

First- and second-grade students did excellent work during our winter inquiry into aquarium ecosystems, so we celebrated by toasting some marshmallows. 

Next up: Our return to Sand Ridge Nature Center for Ancona in the Woods!

A breezy day and some diy windmills are all it takes to illustrate the free, abundant power of wind. 

Every spring one lucky group of students gets to cut back the ornamental grasses in front of the school building--with craft scissors, of course.

The job brings out the barber/stylist in every child. 

It's easy to order a generic erosion barrier. But we learn much more crafting our own from burlap and hand-carved pegs. 

Preprimary students love to build their own versions of bird nests, with rocks or soccer balls standing in for eggs. What they lack in avian instinct, they make for with passion and energy. 

Many common birds are territorial. They have a defined home range in which they feed and nest. 

This week, preprimary students transformed into cardinals and chased away an intruding teacher with wings and song.

First- and second-grade students have been growing algae in their classrooms and at home to explore the mysterious role of this life form at the base of the food chain. 

What does algae need to grow? Is it a friend or foe to other creatures? 

Answers to be revealed!

Ancona parent and nutritionist extraordinaire Dr. Nefertiti Hemphill spoke to students about basic nutrients and how to read nutrition labels--lessons they'll use for the rest of their lives. 

Afterward, student comments afterward:

"I learned that carbs are good for you."

"I learned that diabetes in not always genetic."

"I learned what the % on the back of the food means." 

"I learned that I need food for energy." 

This week third and fourth graders literally got their hands dirty as they explored soil textures, which offer important clues about soil composition.

Two downy woodpeckers have been spending time on campus, attracted by feeders set-up by students. 

Students are simulating the birds' foraging behavior on a classroom "tree."

What happens when you pump a planet's atmosphere full of CO₂?

In this classic experiment, mason jars stand in for Earth and a halogen lamp serves as the Sun. A burst of carbon dioxide is funneled off from Alka-Seltzer. Thermometers tell the story, as seen in the second photo.

Hibernation is a miracle of nature, and preprimary students explore a handful of animals that do it.

Here, they're bears denning beneath a picnic table. 

They'll awake in April when warm weather returns. 

Preprimary students have been making bird feeders from pinecones. A layer of Crisco gets slathered on, then a topping of black-oil sunflower seeds. 

They've proved popular with chickadees and woodpeckers. 

In fall, preprimary students gather garden flowers and put them into our big flower press. 

Come January, we're able to revisit warmer days by using those same flowers, now dry, to make cards for loved ones.

One of the big answers to this question is, By the weathering of rock into small particles.

In nature, this happens slowly. In our laboratory demos, it happens fast--through the violent shaking of jars that quickly produces rock dust, for instance.

The violent shaking was provided by eager third and fourth graders. Whole lot of shaking going on. 

Chicago's lakefront trail offers a peerless setting for exercise, and winter weather only improves it--rendering it quieter and starker. 

A small but dauntless group of Ancona students is running along the lake every Friday afternoon this winter. The students choose to run; it's an elective class.

As the second photo shows, they're not afraid to do a little work on their core and upper bodies, either.