Technology: iMotion HD

Today the girls worked with a new app that allowed them to create animated videos. We first discussed what animation is and where they have seen it before ("Frozen" was one good example). They then learned that they needed to patiently take pictures as they slowly moved animals in their hibernation dioramas. Below is an example I made using the app. The girls created some very impressive videos and they loved getting to see their classmates' work at the end.

Women in History

We began our latest social studies unit today with a bang!  The girls will be learning about famous women in history for the next several weeks and they got their first taste this morning by meeting Amelia Earhart.  Our special guest had to fly a long way to tell the girls her life story and the girls especially loved learning the mystery of her disappearance.  Here are a few moments from her visit.

The girls were also introduced to our last digraph, "wh". We brainstormed some wh words as a class, then the girls went back to their seats to write several wh words on their own.  We will continue to focus on all the digraphs we have learned (wh, th, sh, ch) in our word study period.

Last of Our Presentations

Today we heard our last 3 friends present their dioramas.  The girls are extremely proud of their research and enjoyed hearing about each others animals.  They got the biggest kick out of learning if their friend's animal would eat their own animal.

More Hibernation Presentations

We continued with our presentations this afternoon.  The girls loved hearing about their animals.  We are almost done with our presentations, only 3 more to go!

100th Day

We celebrated our 100th day of school!  The girls walked into our room this morning through streamers, with "Celebrate" by Kool & the Gang as their soundtrack.  Our day was filled with different activities, all centered around the number 100.  Take a look below to see how Pre-First celebrated.

We took a picture of the girls and used the app Aging Booth to fast forward time and get an image of what the girls will look like when they are 100.  The girls--and their teachers--got a huge kick out of seeing each other as 100 year old ladies.  They then wrote about what they will look like, what they will be doing and where they will live when they turn 100.  This was, by far, their favorite activity of the day.

Here are some of the center activities the girls completed:  

• 100 Chart--the girls had to color in certain numbers on their 100 chart to create a picture.  Make sure you ask them what it was!  
• 100 Exercises--the girls did 6 different exercises, each exercise was a 100 count.  Some of the exercises were jumping jacks, twists and hops.  Needless to say, there were a lot of water breaks taken during this center.
• 100 Dots--the girls used 10 different paint colors to make groupings of 10 Q-tip dots.
• 100 Cup Structure--the girls were given 100 cups and had to build a structure out of them.  This was one of their favorite centers.  Make sure you ask your daughter what her structure looked like!

We also had time for three hibernation presentations.  Celia, Olivia and Violet all knocked it out of the park.  We are very proud of their research and creative dioramas.

  Celia

Olivia

Violet

Picture graphs and a presentation

We continued with our graphing unit in math today by teaching the girls how to analyze a picture graph.  For the past few days, the girls have been reading and working with simple bar graphs.  Today, however, the girls learned a different way to gather information--by using a picture graph.  Many thanks to all parents who sent in pictures of pets (and to those who did not have a chance, do not worry, your daughter sketched her pets).  We used these pictures to create our own class graph titled, "What Pets We Own."  Our new graph is hanging on our classroom door, so please feel free to come by and check out what pets are famous in Pre-First.

A classmate also presented her diorama of a snail hibernating to the class.  She was extremely animated and got all of her friends excited about snails.  Well done!

More presentations...

We continued with our hibernation presentations today.  The girls are continuing to do a great job!  We apologize for the sound quality, but we assure you that the girls are very proud of their research.

Hibernation Diorama Presentations

After spending the last few art periods perfecting their animals, the girls finally started presenting their hibernation dioramas today.  We are so proud of the girls for doing an outstanding job of informing their friends about their animals.

February 18th, Valentine's Day??

Welcome back from an unexpected winter break!  As the girls filed into our classroom this morning, we could tell from the volume of their voices that their 5 days off were certainly exciting.  Add on the postponed Valentine's Day party and we had a classroom full of of enthusiastic 6 year olds!

We began our day with a language arts lesson that focused on the "sh" digraph.  As a class, the girls read a book that focused on this sound.  As we read the book together, the girls highlighted all the "sh" words that they could find.

After we read the story, we brainstormed more "sh" words.  Then the girls returned to their tables and made a large "sh" out of seashells.  They wrote some of the words we brainstormed onto shells and glued them around the "sh".

We concluded our day with the much anticipated Valentine's Day party.  While the girls delivered their valentines to each other, we loved hearing their squeals of excitement as they opened these special letters.  These girls truly love one another and it's so wonderful to see their mutual affection for each other.  Many thanks to all of the parents who sent in special treats for the girls and special thanks to Georgia's mom, Marti, and Emma's mom, Amy, for coming in to help with the party!

French: Qui hiberne?

In conjunction with the girls' hibernation unit in Science, we have been learning about animals and discussing which animals hibernate. This week, the girls used my iPad to help me create the Kidspiration document pictured below. The girls first orally responded to questions such as "Est-ce que la coccinelle hiberne?" ("Oui") and "Est-ce que le poussin hiberne?" ("Non).  They then moved the appropriate animal to the appropriate section of the diagram.

Personal Narratives

The girls decided they were ready to be timed on reading all the words on our Word Wall.  They did a great job and turned in a time of 35 seconds.  They will be re-timed again tomorrow to see if they can beat this time.  After we read the Word Wall, the girls were put into pairs to play the game Word Slap--a game where cards with our Word Wall words are spread on the floor between the two girls.  The teacher reads a word aloud and the first girl to slap the word card, keeps it. The girls LOVE this game and it always brings out the competitive side in them.

During our Writer's Workshop period, the girls were put into pairs to buddy read their personal narratives. Our mini-lesson today focused on listening to a friend's story, then giving her an idea to add to her story or suggesting a way to change the story.  The girls were excellent listeners and discovered that their friends could be wonderful editors!

Candy Heart Graphing

Getting into the Valentine's Day spirit, we worked on our graphing skills during math.  The girls were each given a candy heart and then had to sort themselves according to color.  After they had sorted themselves, we reviewed the correct way to create and analyze a graph.

The girls were then given a handful of candy hearts and sent back to their seats to sort and create their own graphs.

Values

In the Pre-First room, the girls learned about the Value of Courage.
They learned that we are all afraid of something( even adults!), but if we face our fears,
and believe in ourselves, we can overcome them. Together we read
about Howard B. Wigglebottom, an adorable bunny, who with the
help from a  friendly bird,  learned to be courageous. Each girl drew their
own bird, named the bird, and spoke about the courage they show in
their everyday lives.

Frozen food

We have started our new unit in science on hibernation.  Each girl was assigned an animal to research and they are VERY excited to create and present their dioramas.  Today, we did an experiment on reasons why some animals hibernate in the winter.  The girls were given fresh pieces of pineapple and were given the green light to go ahead and eat them.  We talked about how the pineapple smelled, what it tasted like and how easy it was to bite into and eat it.  Then they were given pineapple that had been frozen in an ice cube.  They had to attempt to get to the pineapple and eat it--the girls discovered that this was not an easy task.  As they were gnawing their way through the ice, we talked about how difficult it was to actually get the food out and how hard it must be for animals to find food in the winter.  The girls realized, at the end of the experiment, that one reason some animals hibernate in the winter was the difficulty to find and eat food; it is not easy to smell, find or eat!  Your girls had a ton of fun discovering this:-)