2/26/18

Science – Last week, the class learned all about the sun.  Today, they began their planet study!  They focused on Mercury and Venus today, discussing the characteristics of the planets.  The class worked on the Mercury page for their Planet Notebook.  To create the rocky planet, they used beans!  Ms. Gina has been working with the class on writing skills, as well.  They added information about Mercury to the sheet, and they will compile the book at the end of the unit.

Grammar - Today we began with a little review.  The class broke up into pairs and quizzed each other over their grammar cards.  Next, we went over the preposition song... and it is going extremely well!  They'll have it down in no time!  To help review and understand prepositions, we played a little game.  First, each student drew a card.  On the card was a single preposition.  They had to come up with sentences using the word correctly.  This actually led to a great lesson!  Someone used the word "over" in the sentence "The game was over."  I explained that these prepositions can sometimes be used in other ways!  In order for "over" to be a preposition, it has to be used to show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word in the sentence. 

Next, we worked on some writing skills.  The card game continued, but this time the students wrote their sentences on the whiteboards.  We worked on capitalization, punctuation, handwriting, and spelling.  At home, parents are working on skills like these every day.  We only have one day per week, so I try to integrate and maximize learning!

The class read their journal entries, and they were excellent!  Last week's entry was all about prepositions.  For prepositions, there is no better topic to write about than baby goats and mischievous farm animals!  The kids shared stories about goats jumping on things, turkeys going under the schoolhouse, and all sorts of wonderful preposition examples.  Well done!

We continued to read in our book, "A Mouse Called Wolf" today. Each student followed along in their books... but I could tell that some were having a difficult time keeping up or focusing.  I recognized that some children simply see a large amount of words on a page and "shut down".  I stopped mid-chapter and gave each child a notecard.  I explained that it helps to flip the notecard so that the blank side (no lines) is facing up, and so that it covers the page except for the line that is being read.  (The lines can just add to the visual distraction and give the "feeling" of still being "busy" even when the words are covered.)  I could tell that this did help!  We will keep working on focus and reading skills throughout the remainder of the year.

In art, the class worked on the beginnings of a large project!  They used a combination of paint and glue to create random, 3D lines across a board.  Once they are dry, they will be working on the next step!

The class has been studying the beginning of the American Revolution.  I wanted them to spend the week with a preview of what is to come, as it sometimes helps kids retain and absorb!  Today, we discussed the French and Indian War.  They learned about the war, why it was fought, and who was involved.  After a little reading and a lot of discussion, we got up on our feet and acted it out!  I think they just might remember this one!   Afterward, I touched on the expense of the war and how the king of Great Britain was taxing the colonies.  Next week will kick off with a super exciting lesson on taxation without representation!