What a busy day we had! We started off our morning reviewing about the countries that we have learned about so far, and looked for them on the map of the world. We also finished our word study for the week, and glued our sorts into our notebooks.
We traveled to Colombia to learn about Three Kings Day, and learned about some of the traditions that they celebrate, including putting straw into their shoes for the camels that the three kings travel on. We were VERY excited when the Three Kings DID visit us, and left some fun treats for us also! We also learned about the musical traditions and parades that they have in honor of Three Kings Day, which is celebrated on January 6th. We learned about the Santos carvings of the three wise kings, and some of our friends in our room have these small statues in their houses during the holidays! After lunch, we enjoyed some tasty Rosca bread, and learned about the tradition of hiding the little doll inside of the bread, and the child who received the doll inside of their slice became the king or queen for the day. We were very excited to have THREE queens in our class--Mackenzie, Elliana S. and Sarah V, who got to wear their crowns as well. After that, we did our read aloud about Peru, and continue to learn more about the beautiful Andes Mountains, and the highest point, called Macchu Picchu. We finished off our day with Math, where the Red Rhinos played "What Number is Missing?" with the Hundreds board, and the green gators had their assessment for the unit, along with choice time betweeen Collect 12, and Grab and Count: Comparing. What a busy day of learning, even with the storm outside! (We even saw CAMEL prints in the snow outside our rooms!!)
Friday, December 19, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Thursday, December 18th 2008
Today was another busy day. Today, we traveled to Israel, where they celebrate Hanukkah. We found Israel on our world map, and looked at all of the places we have traveled so far. We learned that the menorah and the shammash are special decorations that they use to celebrate this holiday. We also learned how to play the dreidel game, and enjoyed using popsicle sticks to play the game. We also enjoyed trying apple sauce and potato latkes with sour cream. SOme of our friends thought the latkes were very tasty. We also made our own paper dreidels that we will keep in our suitcases until our travels are completed. We also continued our read aloud about Peru, and are excited to learn more about the Art and Culture of Peru tomorrow. We were also busy making a special surprise for our parents that we can't wait to give you next week. Please ask your child what they learned about the countries we have visited so far.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
Today was a busy day! We traveled to Ecuador, and learned about Ano Viejo, and how they celebrate their New Year with fireworks and a parade of their paper machie dolls. We also learned how they write down a list of all of their "bad deeds", and then stuff them inside their dolls, and watch them burn as their bad deeds "disappear" in the smoke. We then made paper puppets and listened to directions from Senorita Wesley in Spanish to make interesting faces on our puppets, depending on the family members that we have in our family (abuelo, abuela, hermano, hermana).
In word study today, the green gators did cut and paste and were looking for words that started with F and H. The Red rhinos did their speed sort and no-peek write.
After lunch, we went to the multi-purpose room to get some of our "extra" energy out, and played relay races. After that, we came back to the room and did handwriting, where the green gators practiced the letter Z, and the red rhinos practiced the letter y. During math, the green gators did a partner activity comparing towers of cubes and determining which group was more, while the red rhinos used the Hundreds Chart, and worked on writing as many numbers as they could up to 100. We are excited to continue our travels around the world learning about the different holidays celebrated around the world, so please ask your child where they traveled today!
In word study today, the green gators did cut and paste and were looking for words that started with F and H. The Red rhinos did their speed sort and no-peek write.
After lunch, we went to the multi-purpose room to get some of our "extra" energy out, and played relay races. After that, we came back to the room and did handwriting, where the green gators practiced the letter Z, and the red rhinos practiced the letter y. During math, the green gators did a partner activity comparing towers of cubes and determining which group was more, while the red rhinos used the Hundreds Chart, and worked on writing as many numbers as they could up to 100. We are excited to continue our travels around the world learning about the different holidays celebrated around the world, so please ask your child where they traveled today!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Monday, December 15th 2008
Today was a busy day. We started off our day by practicing for our performance tomorrow singing Feliz Navidad. We did a great job, and are looking forward to sharing our song with the Seniors at their luncheon tomorrow.
After our performance, we did our Poem of the week, which in English was More and More Snowflakes. Our Spanish poem was Los pollitos dicen. During Reader's workshop, we practiced read to self and read to someone, and learned our word study sorts for the week. After lunch, we did a read aloud about Peru, and learned about the geography of Peru, including the mountains called the Andes mountains, and the Amazon River, which is in the rain forest.
We also started our trip around the world, and got our plane tickets, suitcases, and passports ready for our visits to Africa, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Israel, and Mexico. After arriving in Africa, we got our passports stamped, and learned about Christmas in Africa when we read our book "Christmas in Africa". We learned that they wear sunglasses to church, and eat fried chicken and chin-chin cookies during this special holiday. We also learned that as part of their celebration, they make Mmo masks, which we enjoyed decorating this afternoon as well. We also enjoyed tasty chin-chin cookies that Brynn's mom was so gracious enough to make for us--they were really yummy!
After our performance, we did our Poem of the week, which in English was More and More Snowflakes. Our Spanish poem was Los pollitos dicen. During Reader's workshop, we practiced read to self and read to someone, and learned our word study sorts for the week. After lunch, we did a read aloud about Peru, and learned about the geography of Peru, including the mountains called the Andes mountains, and the Amazon River, which is in the rain forest.
We also started our trip around the world, and got our plane tickets, suitcases, and passports ready for our visits to Africa, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Israel, and Mexico. After arriving in Africa, we got our passports stamped, and learned about Christmas in Africa when we read our book "Christmas in Africa". We learned that they wear sunglasses to church, and eat fried chicken and chin-chin cookies during this special holiday. We also learned that as part of their celebration, they make Mmo masks, which we enjoyed decorating this afternoon as well. We also enjoyed tasty chin-chin cookies that Brynn's mom was so gracious enough to make for us--they were really yummy!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Tuesday, December 9th
C-7 and C-8 students started their day with a practice for our performance that will take place on December 16th at the Senior Luncheon. The students will be performing the song Feliz Navidad in in English and in Spanish. The students practiced singing, dancing, and using sign langauage. This morning during writing the green gators again practiced recording thier pictures in their stories using quick "sketches." The red rhinos worked on finishing their small moments stories, as we prepare to publish our best pieces. We ended our morning with Reading Workshop. OUr minilesson was on an important concept...schema. Ask your child if they can tell you what schema is. We will be using our schema to help us to better undertsand the books that we read. During handwriting, the red rhinos practiced the letter L, using both lower and uppercase. The green gators practiced writing the letter E. During math today, the green gators compared their names, and used the terms "igual", mas corto, and mas largo, to tell which names were longer, shorter, or equal to their names. The red rhinos played Double Compare and On/Off during math time, and played quick images with dots.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Monday, December 8th
We are so glad we will finally have a full week of school together. This morning our question of the day was "Do you have a computer in your house?" We found out that 39 people in our class have a computer in their house and one person does not have a computer in their house. We also learned that more people in our class have a computer and less people do not have a computer in their house. During writing workshop, the green gators learned that writer's sketch their pictures to get their ideas down on paper and then go back and add detail to their drawings after they write their words. We were amazed at how much writing we were actually able to accomplish when we used this strategy. The red rhinos practiced stretching out our stories and telling part by part. The morning was also busy with our daily 5 routines. Some students read the poem into the mitten and other students read Mi Cara Redondita (My Round Face).
In the afternoon, we read the story "Clifford's Family." The students were excited to see many of the key vocabulary that they have been learning in Social Studies in this story. Ask your child what Spanish terms they remember from this story. We also spent some time practicing our handwriting. After warming-up up our hands and our fingers, the green gators reviewed and practiced making capital D and the red rhinos practiced writing words and sentences using the letters d, s, g, and e. After handwriting we started math. The red rhinos continued their quest to find out how math mathematicians use numbers efficiently. We again looked at one of Greg Tang's drawings and tried to determine how many things were all together by using an efficient strategy. We then practiced using efficient strategies when playing the game double compare. Ask your child to share with you what they learned about add numbers to 10. The green gators counted the number of letters that we have in our names, and made our names using a cube for each letter. We also learned the words for bigger than and smaller than in Spanish. In science, we are preparing to teach the next group of how to balance a shape. We decided we would teach them how to balance a circle. Ask your child how they got their circle to balance. In Social Studies we looked at a Venn Diagram, and practiced comparing ourselves and our families to another students' family. We will be finishing our Venn diagrams tomorrow.
In the afternoon, we read the story "Clifford's Family." The students were excited to see many of the key vocabulary that they have been learning in Social Studies in this story. Ask your child what Spanish terms they remember from this story. We also spent some time practicing our handwriting. After warming-up up our hands and our fingers, the green gators reviewed and practiced making capital D and the red rhinos practiced writing words and sentences using the letters d, s, g, and e. After handwriting we started math. The red rhinos continued their quest to find out how math mathematicians use numbers efficiently. We again looked at one of Greg Tang's drawings and tried to determine how many things were all together by using an efficient strategy. We then practiced using efficient strategies when playing the game double compare. Ask your child to share with you what they learned about add numbers to 10. The green gators counted the number of letters that we have in our names, and made our names using a cube for each letter. We also learned the words for bigger than and smaller than in Spanish. In science, we are preparing to teach the next group of how to balance a shape. We decided we would teach them how to balance a circle. Ask your child how they got their circle to balance. In Social Studies we looked at a Venn Diagram, and practiced comparing ourselves and our families to another students' family. We will be finishing our Venn diagrams tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tuesday, December 2nd 2008
Today we were very busy! Our question of the day was: Are you wearing a blue shirt. We learned that more of our friends did not have on a blue shirt. During our morning meeting, we learned a new song, Los Meses del Ano, which helps us learn the months of the year in Spanish.
In math today, the red rhinos took an assessment to see how much we have learned so far in our Building Number Sense unit. The green gators practiced using drawings to show different numbers like 5, 6, and 8, and talked about different number combinations for these numbers.
We did a read aloud today called the Alphabet Mystery, and also read our story Oso cafe, Oso cafe, que ves ahi?
During reading workshop, we reviewed our rules for listening to reading as well as what the procedures are for using our listening centers appropriately.
During handwriting, the green gators practiced the letter y, and the red rhinos practiced writing words with the letter i, and the letter E, both uppercase and lowercase.
During writing workshop, the green gators practiced using space men to help them with spaces in between their words. The red rhinos practiced taking the most important part of their stories and telling that bit-by-bit.
In math today, the red rhinos took an assessment to see how much we have learned so far in our Building Number Sense unit. The green gators practiced using drawings to show different numbers like 5, 6, and 8, and talked about different number combinations for these numbers.
We did a read aloud today called the Alphabet Mystery, and also read our story Oso cafe, Oso cafe, que ves ahi?
During reading workshop, we reviewed our rules for listening to reading as well as what the procedures are for using our listening centers appropriately.
During handwriting, the green gators practiced the letter y, and the red rhinos practiced writing words with the letter i, and the letter E, both uppercase and lowercase.
During writing workshop, the green gators practiced using space men to help them with spaces in between their words. The red rhinos practiced taking the most important part of their stories and telling that bit-by-bit.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Monday, December 1st
We had a busy first day back from our Thanksgiving break. We got right to work on our response journals, and most of our friends had a lot to share with Mrs. Helfer and Senorita Wesley about what they did over the break. During Writer's Workshop, the Red Rhinos worked on asking our friends, What is the most important part of my story? We then worked on how we could tell our story focusing on that one important part. The green gators worked on taking a small moment and telling all of the parts of our small moments. During our Reading Workshop time, we read our new poems about Snow Balls and Winter, and drew illustrations in our poetry notebooks to go along with our poems. We are continuing to work on reading to someone and listening to reading, and what that looks like and sounds like during Reader's Workshop. This afternoon, we did a Spanish read aloud Oso cafe Oso cafe, que ves ahi, and practiced the different animals and colors in spanish. We learned two new animals: fish (pez) and sheep (oveja) in Spanish. During math, the green gators practiced using the number 5, and used different amounts of cats and dogs to show the number 5. The red rhinos tried to create number sentences and number combinations up to ten. We also learned that when we use number sentences, one addend was bigger and one addend was smaller. In science, the green apples worked on getting their mobiles to balance, while the red apples drew pictures of things that our families do and wrote a sentence about what our families do together.
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