A la soupe, soupe, soupe!

Thanks so much to all of the Pre-First parents for making our soup party a great success!  Every girl had a delicious vegetable to contribute.  They were so excited to make soup that they cheered when I walked into the classroom (it was quite the warm welcome).  I asked each girl for her vegetable in French and we added them one by one into la marmite.  We then added le bouillon and let it simmer.  The soup was ready by lunchtime and each girl was given a bowl.  It looked beautiful and I thought that it tasted very good (not all of the girls agreed with me but the adults seemed to!). 

 

 

Story Planning and Math Centers

The girls have begun to plan out their next Writer's Workshop story.  They were given a beginning, middle and end planning sheet as well as an idea sheet, just in case they had trouble coming up with a story idea on their own.  After the girls chose their idea, they sketched a picture and jotted down some words on a graphic organizer.  The girls did a wonderful job of planning their stories and working independently!  Our next Writer's Workshop period will be devoted to turning these ideas into super sentences.

We also worked in math centers today.  The girls rotated around three centers: iPad, learning palettes, and a file folder game that focused on subtraction.

A Surprise Break

What a wonderful surprise we got, courtesy of Mother Nature!  After a nice 5 day break, the girls came back to school this morning ready to go!  In math, we continued our work with the hundred chart.   The girls were put into pairs and had to find different patterns on the chart.  After sharing their patterns with the class, the girls used the hundred chart and a special "window" to help them fill in missing numbers.

From the Library

Pre-first girls are in the middle of a unit on Kevin Henkes' Penny series. We started with Penny and her Doll  (ask your daughter how Penny found a name for her doll). This week we read Penny and her Song (did Penny's song wake the babies?). Next week we will finish with Penny and her Marble. In this latest book, published in 2013, Penny finds a marble in her neighbor's yard and takes it. Does it then belong to Penny? What will she do? Chances are we will have a lively discussion in library class.

100 Chart

The girls were introduced to the hundred chart today during math.  They watched a short video where a certain sentimental book character (are you curious?) taught them the basic ways to use a hundred chart.  The girls then received their own charts and had to find and shade certain numbers that the teachers called out.  We also looked for patterns on the chart.  The girls ended their lesson by using the "Mystery Numbers" app on their iPads, which is a terrific app that utilizes the 100 chart.  If you have an iPad and are looking for a great math app for your daughter--this is an excellent one!

Art: Playing with Dolls

The girls are learning to draw complicated forms starting with large recognizable shapes. Each girl was given a doll from the collection in the studio.  After sketching the large shapes, they painted them.  Then they worked on medium shapes and small shapes.  They will add detail with colored pencils next class. The doll portraits will be the main subject of a larger work done in the style of Matisse.  

French: La Fête des Rois

January 6th marked the date of the popular French holiday, la Fête des Rois.  The girls learned about the traditional Galette des Rois (King's cake) that is served during this time.  Whoever gets a piece with la fève (the fava bean) in it gets to be the king or the queen!  We had our own pretend cake with a pretend fava bean but decided that everyone was a queen, not just the fève-finder.  To prove it, the girls all made their own crowns to wear! 

Silent e

The girls were introduced to the silent e today during language arts.  We watched a short video from The Electric Company (brings back some memories, doesn't it?) that highlighted how the silent e changes a vowel's sound.  Afterwards we brainstormed some short vowel words then used the silent e to change the word.

Next, together as a class, we read a short story called Snake and Ape.  Then the girls were put into partners and had to search for and highlight as many silent e words as they could find.

Colors of Us

Peanut butter, honey and pizza crust.  What do these three foods have in common?  They are all unique ways of describing a person's skin color.  We have started our new unit in social studies called Celebrating Differences.  Today we read the book The Colors Of Us ,which is a wonderful story of a little girl whose mother teaches her that everyone is different, but in a special way.  We discussed how each person is different and how the world would be incredibly boring if everyone were the same.  The girls came up with their own way to describe their skin color--vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips and caramel are just to name a few.  We then taught the girls how to mix paints to create these colors.  Below are some pictures of your daughters mixing paints to create these special colors.

Make Noise words and Penguin Enemies

Bang! Boom! Buzz!  Today we learned that these 3 words (and many more) are important to authors when they write as they provide more detail to their writing piece.  We call these words Make Noise words.  The girls first listened to different sounds and had to choose which picture was making that sound.  Then, we brainstormed different words that make sounds in writing.

After we brainstormed some words, the girls were given a make noise word and had to illustrate what they thought makes the sound.  Some examples were "pop, boom, and splash."

We also spent some time today discussing the enemies of penguins.  Make sure you ask your daughter which animals pose the biggest threat to penguins.  After we learned some facts, the girls created a torn paper scene depicting the penguin enemy of their choice.

Subtracting Teeth and Penguins

It was wonderful to see your girls today.  We loved hearing about their adventures and fun family time.  We welcomed 2014 in the Pre-First classroom by subtracting teeth--the girls had to roll dice, write the subtraction sentence and solve it by subtracting the teeth.

We also continued our science unit on penguins by diagramming the different parts of the penguin.  The girls used the Educreations app to pull up a penguin picture from the web. Then they labeled the main body parts. For the final step, each girl added a voice recording explaining the function of one of the penguin's body parts.