Happy New Year to all of you!!! It's been a crazy first week back with the two snow days but we've managed to squeeze a lot of learning into just three days. You could possibly blame us for the two snow days because we learned a new song on Monday called Snow Day and every time we sang it this week we ended up with a snow day the next day:) Here is a snapshot of what we've been learning about this week. In Word Study, we have been learning about the hunk-and-chunks /ew/ and /ui/. I've also reassessed each child on consonant and vowel patterns and have reconfigured our word study teams. Each week, your child will be bringing home work with his/her words so that you know what your child is working on. We work on that group of words for nine days before being assessed on that particular pattern. In Writing Workshop, we have begun a study of persuasive writing. I'm reading lots of books to demonstrate how powerful our words can be to change a mind or to even change the world. So far, the children did an on-demand writing just so that I could see what they could do on their own before instruction. I then showed them how to write a letter and they've begun choosing people to write to to persuade them on something of interest to them. Today we brainstormed a list of suggestions for possible topics in which to write. In Science, we are learning about the lives of penguins. We've watched and excursion to Antarctica on YouTube where people were able to get up close with Emperor penguins. We paid close attention to their habitat and painted beautiful pictures of their habitats today. While painting, we learned about the horizon line and how to draw 3-dimensionally to show a hole in the ice. This study will continue for the entire month of January ending with a visit from a real penguin from the Columbus Zoo!! We can't wait and are learning all we can before this visit! In Math, we are working with tens and ones. I have found that the children have no trouble counting by tens but when they have to go from counting by tens to counting by ones for the ones left over things get tricky. Any extra help at home, would be great. An idea is to give your child a handful of small objects such as buttons, marshmallows, Legos, etc. and have your child put them in groups of tens with possible leftover ones. Have them practice counting the group. In Readers Workshop, we have started the year talking about how we make meaning by making connections with what we are reading. I put this idea into concrete form for the children by giving each one a puzzle in a baggy. I asked them if they understood the secret message on their puzzle by just looking at the bag. Of course, they said NO! They had to put the pieces together in order to be able to make meaning. To take this a step further, I asked them to talk about how their secret message made them feel. We will be working on making meaningful connections for the next month or so.
THERE IS NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY AS IT IS A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY FOR TEACHERS.
Here is our schedule for next week: Monday - No school Tuesday - P.E. Wednesday - Art Thursday - Music Friday - Library
I just wanted to give you a heads-up that our second round of conferences will begin in February. If you don't feel a need to meet with me that is perfectly fine. If you do feel a need to meet with me, please let me know and we will schedule a time.
We were building blocks at indoor recess for a teddybear park. What you're seeing is not only a tower. We are building obstacle courses.
This girl is holding up an envelope that she made for Mrs. McNeal. Mrs. McNeal loved it very much!!!
They are doing yoga during recess for a brain break. A brain break is a favorite kid's kind of video on GoNoodle. A brain break is to rest your brain.
These girls are coloring for the teacher and some of them are coloring for themselves or for their moms.
This boy is on a laptop. We can use laptops at recess and at Daily Five. One of the boys was on PebbleGo and he was looking at blizzards. This is what he learned. On December 21st in South Dakota 100 schools and offices had to close.
The girl with the blue shirt on is photo-bombing. She was making a letter for another girl in this class.
This boy is painting a penguin and the penguin's habitat. The farther the penguin lives from the south pole, the smaller they get. Penguins do not live in the North Pole.
The penguins that are the biggest ones live on the bottom of the world. This is Antarctica. The girls at table two put fish in the hole in picture saying "hi."
The smallest penguins live in warm places like the Fairy penguins. Penguins slide on their tummies.
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