Slipper DEAR party

Celebrating our last day together in 2012, we decided that our Pre-First girls should have a DEAR slipper party.  After our morning meeting, the girls got into their cozy slippers or socks, grabbed their books, a cup of hot cocoa, and a plate of popcorn, and settled into a nook in our classroom.  We played mellow holiday music and enjoyed quiet reading. 

Thanks to all who contributed to the parent gift.  We greatly appreciate it and have already spent it on our children :-)  Please have a safe and happy holiday and a wonderful new year.  We will see you all in 2013!

Gingerbread decorating

We ended our gingerbread unit today, and what better way to celebrate then with lots and lots of sugar and icing! Over the past few weeks, we have read many different versions of the Gingerbread Man--from the classic to contemporary stories, such as The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers.  The girls have used Venn diagrams to compare the different stories and have also sequenced some of the stories as well.  It was a fun unit and decorating the gingerbread people was a great way to to culminate the unit and head into winter break.

Penguin enemies

Killer whales, skuas and leopard seals...oh my!  The girls learned that these 3 animals are the penguin's biggest--and scariest--predators.  We looked at some pictures from online and also got a lot of information from some stories in our classroom library.  The girls are working on torn paper scenes, depicting the penguin in a perilous situation with a feared predator!

Make noise words

For the past 2 days, the girls have been learning about words that "make noise" (aka words that make a sound).  Today, we read Night Noises by our Author of the Month, Mem Fox.  We brainstormed all of the different "make noise" words she used in her book.

 

After we brainstormed the words she used, we also came up with a few on our own.  The girls put 5 of those words into a step book and illustrated different ways to make the sound.

 

After they completed their book, we put them into pairs so they could share their work.

 

Next week we will start a new book during our Writer's Workshop period where the girls will have to use their new found knowledge of "make noise" words in their writing piece.

Penguin blubber

The girls had a blast in science today as they learned where penguins live in the world and how they stay warm in less than ideal temperatures.  We used the Google Earth app to get a better idea of the penguin's homes and the girls used highlighters to identify the corresponding places on their own personal maps.  They were shocked to hear that penguins do not live in the North Pole!

To make the concept of blubber more appealing to the girls, we brought out the big guns--an ice cold bucket of water.  The girls were challenged to keep their hands in the ice cold water for as long as they could (we set the limit at 30 seconds, we are not THAT mean).  We discussed how their hands felt and if they wanted to go swimming in a pool that temperature--of course we had some bold girls who said they would "definitely" take a dip :-)

 

 

Using a glove, shortening as a "blubber" substitute, and plastic wrap the girls dipped their hands back into the ice cold water.  They were amazed to find that their hands were not nearly as cold as before.  The girls realized that by having blubber, the penguins are able to survive in the harsh climate of Antarctica. 

Penguin parents

Today the girls learned about how penguin parents care for their young in the unforgiving climate of Antarctica.  We read a book and watched 2 short movies about what penguin parents have to go through to ensure their chick's safety.  Afterwards, we pretended to be penguins and had to learn how to waddle with an egg on our feet and transfer the egg to our partner.

After we practiced, the girls did a penguin race, where they had to waddle over to their partner and transfer the egg before it hit the "ice".  The girls loved this activity and realized how difficult it can be for penguins in Antarctica.

Upper School activity

Yesterday, the girls got a big treat.  The Upper School girls came down to have a discussion and complete an activity on philanthropy. Together, they watched a video and which helped our Pre-First girls better understand what philanthropy is and how they can be active in their community.  After the video, the girls used Sharpies to create a scene on a towel that described philanthropy.  The towels will be donated to several different elderly communities around Baltimore.  The girls LOVED working with the older girls and some even took pictures of their partners on their iPads.

It's wintertime....

November is (almost) officially over and winter is right around the corner.  To get into the spirit, we read a fun winter story and decorated our bulletin board with one of our favorite winter things...mugs of hot chocolate!  The girls adorned their mugs with snowy images and sparkly glitter then described, in two sentences, why they like winter.  Their own little cup of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows helped inspire their creative juices.

 

 

We also completed our nutrition unit today with a blindfold taste test.  The girls tasted foods ranging from apples to beans to string cheese and decided which food group they belonged.

Hand in the cookie jar

We started our subtraction unit today and thought, is there a better way to learn subtraction then by using cookies?  The answer is, "NO!"  We read the girls a funny book called The Duckling Gets a Cookie, by Mo Willems, to get them excited about working with cookies.  We then worked together as a class to solve different subtraction stories using a huge cookie jar.

 

After we solved several problems together, we sent the girls back to their seats to solve some problems on their own, using their personal cookie jars and cookies.  

 

The girls completed a worksheet to end our lesson, again putting their cookie jars to good use.

Addition Math Centers

The girls had a wonderful first day back from Thanksgiving break--we loved hearing about their adventures and the fun times they spent with their families.  We eased them back into our school routine today with some fun math centers, focusing on the different addition strategies we have been teaching them. 

 

Center 1--Dice Addition (they had to flip over their paper dice, write the addition sentence and solve the problem)

Center 2--iPad (we introduced the girls to a new app, Hungry Fish)

Center 3--Number line addition (the girls were given problems and had to solve using a number line)

Indians helping Pilgrims

We have been learning so much about the First Thanksgiving in our room, and much of our learning has been pilgrim-based.  Today, the girls learned all about how the Indians helped the pilgrims survive in Plymouth.  We read 2 stories ... If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 and Squanto's Journey.  We broke the girls into pairs and one was designated the sculptor and other was the statue.  The sculptor "molded" the statue into a pose that showed a way the Indians had helped the Pilgrims.  We had hunters, fishermen and berry collectors.  They then worked in pairs to illustrate the ways the Pilgrims partnered with the Indians to learn to farm and hunt in their new home.

The sculptors at work.

Molding an Pilgrim into a hunter.

Teaching the Pilgrims to pick berries.

The girl's illustration.

Working together!

Number Lines

We introduced the number line to the girls today during our math period.  We watched a cute video then talked about how the number line is another tool to help them when they add or subtract.  The girls then used the number line to help them solve addition problems.  We will continue to work with the number line over the next few weeks.

Johns Hopkins Children Hospital

In the spirit of the upcoming election day, last Friday's Lower School Assembly was dedicated to a Lower School community service project.  The girls voted at recess Tuesday and overwhelmingly chose to support the Johns Hopkins Children Center.  Each class engaged in a project to benefit the patients.  In our classroom, the girls made friendship bracelets for a patient at Hopkins and a matching one for themselves.  They then wrote a note to accompany the bracelet with a special note.  Each girl was so proud of her gifts for her "friend" in the hospital.  The first graders will deliver these special tokens next week.

Our latest Mystery Readers

Here are some pictures of Pre-First's latest Mystery Readers!!!!

 

Kohena's mom, Debita

 

Catelyn's dad, Jim (aka Pinkalicious)

 

Rakeb's mom, Tigist

 

Blair's dad, Bobby

5 Days till Halloween!

Staying with our Halloween theme, the girls wrote fabulous stories using a carved out pumpkin as a stage set.  Together as a class, we voted on the characters, setting and props.  The girls chose a cheetah and pig, the rainforest and a skateboard, french fries and birthday cake.

 

The girls used their iPads to take pictures of the scene.

 

They went back to their seats and wrote their short stories on pumpkin-themed paper.  They turned out fabulous and we are planning on turning them into a class book!

 

During our math time, the girls had to estimate how many popcorn kernels it would take to cover Casper, our friendly ghost.  They wrote their estimates on post-it notes.

 

Together, with a partner, they counted the kernels in sets of 10 and recorded it on the board.

 

Then they went over to Casper and glued on their kernels.

 

Here is Casper, all dressed up and ready to go!

 

The final count for Casper was 370 and the closest we came was 3 girls who guessed 100!