Jelly Bean Math

Since we do not have school tomorrow (our usual "Fun Friday"), we decided to have a "Thrilling Thursday" instead.  The girls had a scavenger hunt for eggs with different Word Wall words written on them--they had to find 4 different words and correctly spell them on their sheet.  Here is video of the start of the scavenger hunt.

Kohena writing the words she found.

After we checked the words as a group, the girls sat down at their seats to complete a math packet using the jelly beans inside the eggs as manipulatives.  Here is Blair sorting her jelly beans.

Rakeb is tallying her jelly beans.

Putting the jelly beans in the following patterns:  AB, ABB, ABC, and AAB.

 

We also had a special Mystery Reader today--Peggy Bessent!  The girls loved hearing Thomas' Snowsuit by our Author of the Month, Robert Munsch, and enjoyed our very special visitor :-)

 



Fashion Week for Pre-First

We had a very special visitor drop by our room today--Coco Chanel!!!!  The girls were treated to a lovely presentation from Ms. Chanel, who read a book to the girls about her life and explained how she became a designer.  The girls learned how Coco paved the way for female designers and also changed the way women dressed, forever.  Many thanks to Coco (Blair's mom) for taking time out of her schedule to drop by our classroom!

Coco talking to the girls.

The girls and Coco.

Ms. Chanel brought her famous bags for the girls to take home.

Coco dressing her model.

 

Math Centers

We have been working very hard on tallying and comparing numbers using <, > and =.  Today the girls rotated through 4 centers which focused on these skills.

 

Using a deck of cards and Popsicle sticks to compare numbers.

 

 

Matching tally marks to their corresponding numbers.

 

Counting and sequencing tally marks.

 

Using our class palettes to solve different problems.

Stephanie's Ponytail

Today we read Stephanie's Ponytail by our Author of the Month, Robert Munsch.  The girls have been anxiously awaiting this story and were thrilled when we brought it out.  After we read the book, we talked about how important it is to be true to yourself.  The girls designed their own funky hairstyles and wrote a short piece naming their style and why they like it. 

 

Gertrude & Tea Party

What an amazing way to head into Spring Break!  We had Gertrude Ederle visit our room and the girls loved hearing about how she swam the English Channel, although they were a little disappointed that Michael Phelps has not accomplished the same feat :-)  A huge thank you to Catelyn's mom for bringing Gertrude back to life! 

Our tea party was a huge success--many thanks to Fiona's mom, Blair's mom and Leah's mom for helping to coordinate our fun lunch.  Have a safe and relaxing spring break and we will see you all back here in 10 days!

Cleopatra?!?

We had a VERY special visitor this morning who travelled forward in time from Ancient Egypt to be with us.  Cleopatra her(him)self gave a wonderful presentation on life in Egypt during her lifetime.  The girls marveled at her elaborate costume and even pet the snake that caused her demise.  A special thanks to Catelyn's dad for such a memorable presentation!

New author, tallying & Makeda!

What a busy day in Pre-First!  This morning the girls were introduced to our new author, Robert Munsch.  We actually heard Robert Munsch read his own story,The Paper Bag Princess, and the girls were partnered up to sequence the story in a unique way--on paper bags!  They really enjoyed the book and loved how Robert Munsch used so much emotion while reading his story.

 

 

The girls were introduced to tallying today.  They watched a short movie on Brain Pop Jr, their new favorite app, and then played a partner in Rock, Paper, Scissors.  They had to keep track of how they won or tied, by using tallies.

 

Our next famous female visited our classroom today.  Rakeb's mom was nice enough to give a wonderful presentation on Makeda, the wise queen of Ethiopia.  The girls listened to the story of the bright, young queen and then were given the opportunity to make a crown fit for a queen to take home.

 

 

Many thanks to Rakeb's mom, Tigist, for coming in to teach the girls about this amazing queen!

 

 

Helen Keller

Today, we had our first famous female visitor!  Helen Keller (better known as Sophia's mom) came to our room and taught the girls all about this wonderful woman.  Some of the favorite facts learned were that Helen won an Oscar, graduated from college and also was known to throw a tantrum--or 2--when she was younger.  Many thanks to Sophia's mom for taking time out of her day to enrich our girls' learning.

 

Listening to Helen and Annie's amazing journey.

 

A taste of being blind:  the girls had to identify the object in their bag by touch...no peeking!

 

A group picture with Helen.