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.

January 6th, 2017

Welcome back and Happy New Year!!!

We've had a wonderful week in school.  

Returning from Christmas break, we were ready to work!

We've started a new unit on animals in the winter, focusing on forest animals this week.

We read The Mitten...

...and then we stuffed our own animals onto a mitten.

We examined the concept of hibernating animals this week as well.  Learning especially about bears, we made our snowy caves for them.

We also examined other animals in their dens and burrows.

We didn't have a letter of the week this week, but instead reviewed A-K.

We constructed playdough letters...

...played with our letter tubs...

...practiced writing letters...

...a lot.

And, we used our interactive whiteboard.

For math, we practiced counting...

...matching.

...and helping the bear find his cave.

Eventually, we were ready to write in our science journals.

Coming back after two weeks is hard work!  Sometimes, we needed a little pick-me-up.

It's good to be back!