10/30/17

In science today, the class learned that all things are made of matter, and matter is made up of atoms.  They learned about the three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas.   They discussed the different states of matter and completed a sorting activity.  Then, the group learned that atoms are squished together and move slowly when they are in a solid state, but they move a little faster and spread apart a little more when they are in a liquid state.  Then, the class got to shake and wiggle as they became atoms in a gas! 

After science, the class listened to the next chapter in their story, “Thanksgiving on Thursday”.  This has been a perfect fit as we wrap up our Native American unit in social studies!  

In grammar, the classes reviewed nouns, pronouns, and adjectives.  Each and every student was able to recite the pronoun list, so everyone was able to get a pick from the prize box today!  The class reviewed the definition of a verb, and we talked about action verbs.  Then, the group learned something brand new!  They learned about boring little state of being verbs.  These little verbs just simply show that something exists.  We talked through some sentences using state of being verbs, and then each student was given a new grammar card.  The card lists the state of being verbs that we will be learning in class.  The list is read like a chant, with claps in certain places to make it easy to remember!

Handwriting practice is going well!  I can tell that the kids are working hard when they are working in the book, but today I challenged them to take an extra step.  I tried to encourage them to focus on their handwriting when they write in their journals or in an other subject.  Creating good habits are hard, but it is easier when they are able to correct them early!

For art, Ms. Gina taught the class a little about the Japanese art of origami.  We talked about Japan, its location, and its foods.  The class did a wonderful job following directions and making little Halloween pumpkins!  They used chalk pastels to create nighttime scenes for their origami pumpkins.  At the end of class, Ms. Gina even gave each student some Japanese candies to take home.

We wrapped up our Native American unit with a review of the importance of buffalo to the Native Americans on the plains.  We spent the end of the day outdoors building a tipi, making arrows, and playing with cornhusk dolls that were graciously brought in!  The class sat around our pretend campfire and read the Native American symbol-inspired stories that they wrote in their journals.   Next week, we will begin our study of Colonial America!

10/23/17

Today, Ms. Gina taught the class about oxidation as they worked their way through an experiment with apples.  The group used different liquids to test whether they are good for preserving, or if they cause the apples to brown.  They practiced stepping through the scientific method, recording the results on their lab sheet.  As they work through different experiments and activities, they are learning how to hypothesize, how to make careful observations, and how to be patient and wait for results.  As they waited for the results today, the class worked on a scientific method poster.
 

After a review of nouns and pronouns, the class was given a new grammar card: verbs!  The definition that they will be learning for ‘verb’ is a long one, but this is why we add a part of speech each week instead of piling them on at once.  Although many of the children were familiar with action verbs, they had not heard of helping verbs, linking verbs, or state-of-being verbs.  They will be mastering all of these in the next few weeks! 

Today, we focused on action verbs.  The students looked through magazines and found pictures of people (or animals) who were doing an action.  They cut them out, glued them down, and labeled each one.  At home, the class will be working with verbs, but they will also be reviewing the past cards.  Most of them have memorized the pronoun list, but a few are still working on it!  We will have prizes next week for anyone who can say it from memory!

Thank goodness, the sun came out at lunch!  We were able to go outside and see Tootsie’s new baby!  She was born yesterday, and is healthy and perfect!  By next week, she should be ready to come in and visit the class. 

Ms. Gina integrated our Native American studies into story time today.  The students learned that tribes would share their stories verbally, and would use symbols to represent different words.  Each of them were given a sheet of symbols, and they were able to write a symbol on the smooth surface of a rock.  The class could draw some rocks and use the words to create stories to share with the class!  

We reviewed our last few lessons on the Seminole, Iroquois, and Cherokee tribes.  They read the stories that they wrote at home, and they did such an amazing job!  Some wrote fictional tales of the day in the life of an Iroquois or Seminole child.  Some wrote non-fiction essays about things they had learned.  I loved the stories, but I also really enjoyed the enthusiasm they had for sharing them!   Next, the class learned about the Sioux.  The Sioux Nation lived on the North American plains.  They were nomadic, and carried their tipis with them as they followed the buffalo.  In class, the students created their booklets on the Sioux.  We talked about the importance of the buffalo to the tribes and how important it was for them to use every possible part of the animal.  Next week, we will make our own tipis, but today, we created bead and arrowhead necklaces.

10/16/17

Today's class began with a science experiment!  The class used their knowledge about the scientific method to work through experiments involving water displacement and cohesion.  The students are getting more comfortable with forming their prediction, hypotheses, and coming up with their conclusions, which is just fantastic!  They loved adding drops of water to the tops of pennies to see how cohesion keeps the liquid from falling off the edge!  For water displacement, the class was shocked to see how the number of pennies needed to raise the water in the container changed drastically when only a little added to the experiment.  We have a group of little scientists!

In grammar, the class reviewed common and proper nouns.  Then, we discussed how pronouns are used to improve sentences.  If we kept using the same nouns over and over again, it would sound awful!  The class has been working at home (hopefully!) to memorize the first two sections of the pronoun list.  This week, they will add the final pronoun card to their grammar cards!  They will be memorizing the entire list and can get a prize as soon as they can show me in class!  To help them remember the words, the group became pronoun investigators.  They each chose a book from the bookcase and found as many pronouns as they could.  They wrote the pronouns on their dry erase boards, and we did a little math to find out how many pronouns the entire class found altogether.

The group did an amazing job with their poem, The Caterpillar.  I will be finished editing their videos very soon!  Because we are learning about Native Americans, our next poem is written by a Native American poet.  They will be working on this one at home, and we will do something fun with it once we have it committed to memory.

In art, the class completed their lesson on realism.  Last week, Ms. Gina helped the class work on a still life sketch.  It was interesting to see how tricky it was for children to rein in their wild imaginations and focus on the details in front of them.  It was also very tricky to help them to only draw from their own perspective at the table.  Today, they took their sketches and added paint!  They tried to mix the paint to create different shades for the leaves, pumpkins, and gourds.

For our math enrichment today, the class quickly reviewed the ways to make 10.  As I mentioned before, I believe it is very important to help our children thoroughly master arithmetic problems at this age, not just understand how they work.  We have been trying to memorize the ways to make 10 (5 and 5, 7 and 3, 8 and 2...) so that they can recall them without thinking.  Today, we played a card game!  The kids played a game similar to "war", but where each student drew two cards.  They had to add up their two cards and see which person had the highest sum.  The player with the highest sum took the opponent's cards and added it to their pile.  In the end, those with the most cards won!  This was awesome to watch, as the kids helped each other add their numbers and talked, on their own, about how to quickly add them.  I helped them understand some mental math strategies to help them play the game more smoothly next time.  For example, when adding 8 and 6, I helped them think of how many 8 would need to take from the 6 to make the 8 a 10.  The class quickly told me that 2 would help the 8 become a 10.  They could picture that helping the 8 become a 10 would leave 10 + 4 instead of 8 + 6, which is far easier to do in your head.  This strategy is just a tool for them to add to their Mental Math Toolbox!  Because they were learning the strategies to help them play the game instead of learning them just to learn, they were eager to listen and apply it! 

The class followed along on Ipad books during our story time today.  We will keep reading our Thanksgiving story each week!

During history time, the class learned about the Seminole tribe.  We created a Seminoles booklet that the kids will read at home.  They were very interested to hear about how some Seminoles lived in the Everglades, hunting crocodiles and living in open air homes on stilts, called chickees.  Next week, we will be continuing our Native American unit with a new tribe and some fun outdoor activities!

The duck eggs hatched, so we spent some time locing on some sweet baby ducks! 

10/9/17

Science-  In science today, the class learned about the scientific method.  They worked through the method as they tested the reactions of raisins in different liquids: regular water, sparkling water, and Sprite.  They were all surprised to see that the raisins danced in the Sprite but sunk in the regular water!  Ms. Gina helped the kids record the findings and understand the steps in the process.

Grammar- The class reviewed the parts of speech that they have learned so far.  We went over nouns and pronouns, and discussed the first two parts of the pronoun list.  At home, the kids will be continuing to study their grammar cards at home.  This way, we are able to maximize our in-class lessons!  The students have learned how to use commas in an address, but today they learned how to use a comma in writing the date.  They also learned that commas are very important for listing things in a sentence.  To help them remember this, they broke up into pairs and worked on a fun activity using different verbs, common nouns, and proper nouns.  I began a sentence, and the students completed the sentence by adding a series of words with commas and the conjunction “and”.  We will review this next week, and learn more ways to use commas.

Commas!

The class did an awesome job with their poetry memorization!  We recorded the audio for their project, and the kids worked on illustrations.  I will be compiling these into videos for each child, and we will begin a new poem next week!

During story time, Ms. Gina finished up the story, “Mercy Watson to the Rescue”.  The kids really enjoyed reading along as Ms. Gina read aloud.   Later in the day, each child was able to read their own stories that they wrote about Ms. Kitty, the miniature horse.  I love the enthusiasm that they all have with sharing their writing!

Since it was wet and rainy, we had a little dance party to "get our wiggles out"!

History- The class began the unit on Native Americas.  We talked about the different tribes of Native Americans that were present long before settlers came to North America.  We zeroed in on the Iroquois Tribe today that lived in the Northeast.  The class learned about the clothing the tribe wore, the longhouses that they lived in, and the food that they ate.  We also talked about the toys that the Iroquois children played with.  The kids put together booklets of information that they can review at home.  

Art- In art class, Ms. Gina taught the class about sketching a still life.  At first, the students had a hard time understanding that, although they were all looking at the same items, they were looking at them from different perspectives.  This meant each sketch would be a little different from the others!  We talked about how some lessons in our class are lessons in listening or following directions, but this was a lesson in paying attention to details.  Next week, the kids will paint their sketches!

Our duck eggs began to hatch today, so I helped each student get a good look at the new babies!  They were able to see the other eggs beginning to hatch, as well.  Hopefully, we will have some cute babies to touch and feel next week!

Rainy Day Recess!