Wisconsin School for the Deaf - The Wisconsin Times Vol. 134 No. 1 Fall 2012 | Page 5

Life Cycle
The 4th grade class read a story called Cactus Hotel,
by Brenda Z. Guiberson. The concept of the unit was
to teach the students about the life cycle. Initially, we
began to read about the start of a saguaro cactus and
noticed all the animals use the cactus during its different
life stages. The students decided to research these desert
animals. Each student picked an animal and filled out
a story web finding answers to what does their animal
eat? Who are their enemies? They turned their answers
into complete sentences and strung those sentences into
a nicely written paragraph. It all pulled together as the
class collaboratively worked on a paper-mache cactus,
as well as making a clay model of their own researched
animal. The students attached the timeline of the cactus
from a seed to its remains with the gradual years and
description of each stage in the life cycle. Their hard
work was displayed for all to see.

Jalila, Ellie, Jaeden, and TJ
excitedly show off their
paper-mache catcus!

Upper Elementary Trip to
Old World Wisconsin
The upper elementary students took a trip back
in time to Old World Wisconsin. Our first stop
was to the German Area Farm Hands where the
students learned about baking, shaving wood,
and quilting. We started in the Schottler Bake
House where each student kneaded dough until
it was formed into a perfect round shape. From
there we headed to the Koepsell Wood Shed to
learn about shaving wood into panels for roof
shingles. They also were able to use a sledge
hammer to make wooden spikes which we
learned were later replaced by modern nails.
Just before lunch, we learned about one more
necessary skill to life, quilting. The students After lunch, we learned about entrepreneurs. Our first stop was
very delicately weaved their needles in