Hello to Our Friends in Bahrain

We are excited to make new friends in a school far away this year. They live so far away that it is across the world from us! We looked at a globe and talked about how when we are in school, they are sleeping and when we are sleeping, they are awake and at school! The earth is big and round. It’s actually moving but very slow-so slow you can’t feel it moving but it is!

We wanted to call our friends on the phone but then we would wake them up or they would wake us up! So we decided we will try to text them! We also made a video for them- we are learning the song!

Here is the video! You need the secret password to watch it! 🙂

Many Pretty Trees from Heidi Echternacht on Vimeo.

Look What We Can Do!

We want to show our friends who live around the world our tricks! Look what we can do!

JKLook What We Can Do! from Heidi Echternacht on Vimeo.

We Wonder

Someone asked how is it going to be night in India when it’s the day here.

“How do you know its night in India?”

“The sun moves in the night”

“Some places can be dark at the same time and light at the same time.”

“No! It’s because the sun can’t move to two places at once!”

“It’s not big enough to reach around”

“The sun is bigger than the earth”

“It’s so far away, it’s actually bigger”



Protected: World of Eric Carle


Why do leaves fall off trees?

We wonder: “Why do leaves change colors?”

“I know! They fall down to hibernate for the winter!”

“They change color so they can fall off!”

“Temperature. The snow is too cold for them.”

“Older trees don’t change color, young trees do.”

We ask: “Are you sure? Is it definitely true that older trees don’t change color? How do you know that?”

Some of us say there are trees that stay green forever. They are called evergreen. There’s a clue right in the name. So far we think you can tell them from the trees that change colors because they are darker green and they have a different shape.

These two videos tell the science about why leaves change colors:
Click here for the first video! 

We also watched this video and thought about how the roots of trees hold hands under the ground to make them very strong. 

Trees: What do YOU think?


leaf identification








What do YOU think?





YOU are a Reader

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Protected: Fairy Tale Theatre


The Water Cycle

We like these two songs about the Water Cycle! What do you know about the water cycle?


The Water Cycle

Character Study Mindmap



Snow Clothes Challenge

Mrs Cassidy is a first grade teacher in Canada. Canada is the neighbor of the United States. Look how fast our neighbors get ready for the snow- can YOU beat their time?

The long, hot walk to remember Dr. King

Last summer, Ms Echternacht (Ek-ter-knocked) went on an airplane to a teacher meeting in a place called Atlanta, Georgia. It’s hot and steamy there. It’s the place where Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. was born. One afternoon, Ms Echternacht rode the train to go see where Martin Luther King was born.

It was a long train ride. When Ms Echternacht got off the train, she was hot and tired. She looked around for a sign to show how to get to Dr. King’s house, but there were no signs. No one was even around. It was an empty part of town.

So, she started walking and hoping that she would see a sign soon, but there weren’t any. A Mom and her two little boys in bright red matching shorts were walking in front of her and Ms Echternacht heard them ask a man “Where is Dr. King’s house?”. The man she asked didn’t have very many teeth and at first, he did look a little scary, but he said, “This way, I’ll show you!” Ms. Echternacht said to the Mom, “I’m going there too!” So we all walked together.

The Mom and kids were from Chicago visiting their family and they really wanted to see where Dr. King lived. So did Ms Echternacht. We walked past the park and some empty stores. We walked past a big apartment building with lots of people sitting outside. They waved to us and the man with no teeth. It was where he lived. He told us “go left and go right and then a few more blocks and you’re there” and then told us goodbye. We said, ‘Thank you!” and waved back. We were so glad he showed us the way to get there!

We went left and right and then a few more blocks and finally we were there! Only it wasn’t his house yet- it was the church where Martin’s father preached and where Martin preached when he grew up.
IMG_7937            IMG_7899

Ms Echternacht and the Mom and her two boys with bright red shorts all went into the church together to see what it was  like. Everyone sat down very quietly and said prayers.

Ms Echternacht could feel Martin in the church. When she was ready to go, she thought maybe the Mom and her two boys in matching shorts had already gone, but no! they were still there! We all went to the gift shop together. Ms Echternacht got her six year old nephew a bright yellow T-shirt that said “Ebenezer Baptist Church”.

Finally, we were ready to get to Martin’s house. It was just one block away! We were almost there! But when we got there, the house was closed. It had taken us so long to get there that we couldn’t go in! We were just happy to see his house though, and so the boys in the bright red matching shorts sat on the front steps of Dr. King’s house and we all took a picture.

Dr King's house where he was born January 15, 1929

  Dr King’s house where he was born January 15, 1929

We were getting tired, but there was still more to see! The big museum was just across the street and we wanted to see that too. Also the place where he was buried.

When Dr. King died, everyone was crying. Well, most everyone. The boss of Georgia did not want to give Dr King a big funeral. He wanted everyone to go away and forget about Martin. He thought Martin was bad. But everyone knew that Martin was good and everyone remembered him. They came from all over the world to march three and half miles and cry, sing and be very still and quiet for his funeral. People still cry today for Martin and teachers make sure to teach kids about him so no one will ever forget him.

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We were all quiet for a long time. Then we went to the Museum. They had important things there from when Martin was alive.

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Finally, we went across the street to the Dr King National Park.

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A family looks at the mural about Dr King’s life outside of the National Park

After seeing all of this, Ms Echternacht and the Mom and her two boys with the matching red shorts were very tired, but very happy. We were all so glad that no one would ever forget about Dr King. Then we started the long walk back to the train together.

Protected: Eric Carle Museum and Cafe


Welcome fall! Wait, what’s happening out there?!

We were out playing and noticed the leaves were all over the ground! And they were different colors! Ms Echternacht couldn’t believe someone would tear all the leaves off the trees and paint them like that. What’s happened out there?!


Someone said “No, that’s supposed to happen! It’s fall. That’s what happens in the fall.”

Teacher: “But why?! Why now? Why do they fall off?! How is that even possible to change colors? Are trees magic?”

“No! No one painted them! They just change.”

“The wind blows and it makes the colors change”

“No! That doesn’t make sense because it was windy in the summertime too.”

“The colder it gets, the heavier the leaves get and they fall down.”

“The leaves are happy.”

“They change on the first day of fall.”

“Maybe it has to do with water.”

“They don’t fall! They connect down. When it’s not fall, they connect up.”

‘They are hanging there and they just can’t take it anymore and they fall off!”

Then someone noticed that the brown leaves were crinkly and fell apart easily and the green ones were harder to tear. We will continue digging into this science question!


Trees are magic 2

Trees are not magic 10

What do YOU think?

photo (20)

KNooks in BC

Look at their KNooks! Our friends in BC, Canada!