January 27th, 2017

This week, we continued investigating weather.

Fortunately, there was a lot of it for us to observe outside.

Starting with thunderstorms, we created our own interpretation of a stormy night.

We also learned about the water cycle.  Imitating the earth's warm bodies of water evaporating into the cold atmosphere, we made it "rain" in a jar.

Then, we wrote in our science journals.

Another huge project we worked on this week was our 1-10 counting book.

We also closely examined the letter Nn...

...and the IT word family.

For those who work closely with me, it's well established that my teaching methods are carefully delivered with the utmost of integrity.  Therefore, when I create my learning tools, I use an uncompromising combination of precision and seriousness.

By Friday, we took advantage of the wind.  We carefully tested various objects to see if the wind would blow them around.  We never had so much fun with a coffee filter before!

Or a latex glove.

And, since American Beauty, no one has received this much enjoyment out of watching a grocery bag dance in the wind.

The gourd, however, was super boring.

Afterwards, we recorded our data.

We tested the objects on the scale and came to the conclusion that heavier objects couldn't be moved by the wind.

It's been a wonderful week!

January 20th, 2017

This week, we examined weather (and tornadoes).

Coming back from our long weekend, we read Sometimes it Looked Like Spilt Milk together, where clouds sometimes assume the shape of other things.

Then, we made our own cloud art.

"Sometimes my cloud looks like swirling stars."

"Sometimes my cloud looks like a spaceship!"

"I don't know!  My cloud just looks like a big blob!"

We also started on our __ET word family, swapping the first letter to spell the words bet, get, let, jet, net, pet, set and wet.

We worked on our new take-home book, Have You Met My Pet Yet?...

...and with pocket chart activities.

For math this week, we focused on practicing the written numbers 1-10.

And worked together a lot.

Examining tornadoes, we designed our tornado bottles...

...and wrote about them in our science journals.

We squeezed in some scissor practice and cut along lightning bolts.

We also read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and dictated our own predictions.

"I predict it will be cloudy with a chance of  cake!"

It's been a good week!

Next week is thunder storms!

January 13th, 2017

This week, we learned all about the arctic!

But first, we learned how to read.

Starting with the __AT word family, we carefully figured out bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, sat, rat, and pat.  It was astounding to witness how well the kids did!

They worked on their take-home books...

...worked with the pocket chart...

...and worked together as a whole group. 

They were phenomenal!

This week, we also learned about the arctic.  Starting with Aurora Borealis, the children had an opportunity to examine many photos of the northern lights, noting their colors and patterns.  Then, they did their best to recreate it with paint.

Soon, we moved on to igloo construction.  After watching some experts, we decided we could do it, too.

So we did.

One significant obstacle my students have to overcome each year is how to construct the ceiling.  I'm proud to say that my 2016-17 class has outshined every other set of students with their ingenious plan to create sturdy beams, laying them across the igloo frame...

...and then piling cubes on top of the beams.  The plan was shockingly clever!

The finished product.

Afterwards, we reflected on what we learned about the Arctic for our science journals.

Towards the end of the week, we devoted time to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It can be difficult to know what to teach preschoolers on the subject and, for this age group, we mainly focus on his messages and examples of equality and kindness.

We made one more take-home book this week

...and, using an opportunity to finger-paint, we also made lots of handprints for our handprint wreath.

Then, we reflected on what we could do to make the world a gentler and kinder place.

High-five, team!  We mastered the arctic, reading, and world peace all in one week.  

No big deal.