Halloween Week

Happy Halloween!

This week, the girls have enjoyed learning with a Halloween twist!  In language arts, our vocabulary words have included SpOoKy and HaUnTeD.  We read Room on the Broom and the girls made "oo" word spiders.

In Math, we have been working with a pumpkin!  The girls learned how to estimate various measurements of the pumpkin (weight, circumference, number of seeds) and had to guess if the pumpkin would sink or float. 

Happy Birthday to our new 6 year old!  Some special guests (her parents) came in to read a story in celebration of her big day!  

This week, as always, the girls loved receiving clues and trying to guess who was going to walk through the door Wednesday afternoon as our Mystery Reader! 

In Writer's Workshop this week, the girls have been working on their Halloween personal narratives.  The girls are becoming comfortable with the writing process and are adding more details to their pictures and sentences. 

In science, the girls are learning all about the human skeleton!  The girls are able to name the major bones and the function of each.  Ask your daughter what she would look like if she did not have a skeleton and how she created her name skeleton, shown below. 

Computer Programming

This month the girls began an introduction to computer programming by learning about Ada Lovelace.  In 1843, Ada Lovelace became known as the first computer programmer and predicted the future of technology.  During Ada Week, October 13-17th, we watched various short video clips and read articles about her life.  The girls then created a page in Scribble Press about Ada.   Now we are learning more about computer programming using an app called Kodable.

Fun Friday!

We celebrated the girls writing their first book by having a Publishing Party with the kindergarten class.  The girls explained the writing process to the kindergartners and read their book aloud with several friends.  We are so proud of their hard work!

During science we reviewed some facts about skeletons (be sure to ask your daughters how many bones a baby has and how many bones an adult has) and the girls had to match the fact with the picture.

After the matching, we read aloud Dem Bones.

Next, the girls were broken into two groups.  Each group created their own skeleton out of pizza dough.  The girls had to work together and make the six major bones in the body (skull, spine, arms, legs, rib cage and pelvis).

During our math time the girls learned about the word "estimation" and each made estimates on how many popcorn kernels would fit on Casper the ghost.  Be sure to ask your daughter how many kernels it took!

After our skeleton bread cooled down from cooking in the oven, the girls used the app Educreations to take a picture and label the main bones of the skeleton.

Finally, we had another Mystery Reader this week.  The girls LOVE this time of the day!

Short U and the Spine

The girls reviewed the short u sound today during language arts.  We watched a short Starfall video and then matched up short u words with pictures.

The girls returned to their seats to create suns with beams of short u words streaming out of them.

We continued learning about the skeleton today during science and we focused on the spine.  The girls took a straw and thread a pipe cleaner through it.  They tried to bend the pipe cleaner and found that it was difficult to make the straw move.  We then took the straw and cut it into several pieces and re-thread the pipe cleaner back through it.  The girls discovered that the pipe cleaner now could easily bend, just as the vertebrae allow our backs to bend.

Verbs and Integrity

The girls learned about verbs today during language arts.  We watched a video and brainstormed different action words.  As they brainstormed the verbs, the girls acted each one out.  One of their verbs gave everyone the giggles for quite some time--check out the white board in the picture and guess which one it was.  We then read Move by Sally Jenkins and Robin Page and pulled out the verbs from the book.

Next, we showed last year's Pre-First Class Book about verbs.  The girls chose their own action verbs to illustrate for this year's book to put in our classroom library.

Finally, after they illustrated their action word, the girls got to put on their acting shoes and perform their verb for the camera.

Here is the link to our verb video:  http://vimeo.com/109242576

The password is prefirst2014

We also learned a new core value today, integrity.  The girls were put into groups and had to act out a skit.  The audience members had to determine who was showing integrity and which friends were not.

French: Les Monstres!!

Today the girls kicked off our new body parts unit with a spooky activity. They picked out les yeux, les nez, les bouches, and les oreilles to transform their teachers into...les monstres!!! You can see their handiwork below. Don't we look belles? There will be more where that came from in the coming weeks as we carve jack-o-lanterns (on the iPad), dance to the Hoogie Boogie (the Hokey Pokey), and draw space creatures. 

 

Word Wall and Writer's Workshop

The girls learned a new Word Wall game called Word Slap.  They partnered up with a friend and had to slap the word wall word as their teacher said it aloud.  Needless to say, there were many giggles during this activity.

 

We have very exciting news....almost all of the girls have published their first stories and we will be holding our first publishing party next week to celebrate their hard work. Our mini lesson today focused on what strategies the girls can use when they are struggling with spelling.  As the girls returned to their seats to continue editing their stories, we didn't hear one student say,"how do you spell ____?"

We had another Mystery Reader today!  The girls are loving this time in our schedule.

Addition Sentences

On this dreary Monday--especially after the heartbreaking losses of our Orioles--the girls walked into our room with huge smiles on their faces.  The rainy day blues quickly washed away as they sat down to journal about their weekends.  We are so impressed with their ability to put their thoughts into written words and how excited they are to share their experiences with us.

In math, the girls continue to work on their addition strategies by writing addition sentences.  Today, the girls were partnered up and played the card game War against each other.  

Please remember that tomorrow is Spirit Day and the girls are encouraged to dress out of uniform in green, yellow and white.

Core Value: Cooperation

The girls added a fifth core value petal to their daisy people today.  As we read Anasi the Spider, the girls learned how important cooperation is when working in a group setting.  After the story, the girls participated in an activity where they had to work together to help one friend move around the room in a special way.  Be sure to ask your daughters if they were successful.

We also celebrated our fall birthdays!  Happy birthday to our friends who celebrated a birthday in September, October and November.

Catching up with Pre-First

We have been extremely busy in Pre-First over the past three days.  In Reader's Workshop, the girls traveled around the room in centers while we started reading groups.  During language arts, we focused on the short o sound and the girls made mini-octopuses that had eight legs all containing short o words. 

In math, we started addition and have embraced the upcoming holiday by using different manipulatives to add together.   

Here we are, adding candy corns on Monday.

Today, we added pumpkin teeth.

Founder's Day is Friday and to help your daughters better understand the meaning of the day, we have started explaining why Bryn Mawr was founded and who the amazing five women were who started our school.

Pre-First on the Founder's Bench

During Writer's Workshop, the girls have been working on publishing their personal stories.  Today we created a rubric to help the girls determine if their stories were "ready for publishing."

We had our Mystery Reader today!  The girls got a kick out of A Giraffe and a Half.

Two gentle reminders: 

1.  We have a dress down day tomorrow to celebrate the Orioles--please send your daughters to school in orange and black. 

2.  The girls will be able to check books out of our library, please make sure you check their backpack when they get home.

Art: Imaginary Worlds

The girls looked at the work of Paul Klee and noticed the shapes in his buildings, castles, and cities looked like building blocks. They built a little world with table blocks, photographed it, and then drew the shapes on the paper.  They colored each shape in with colored pencils and outlined the perimeter around the the building.  This is a lot of work with geometric shapes! Finally, they created little characters and made up a story about their little world (inspired by Dr. Seuss) that they recorded on their iPads.  

The girls have had a great time in PE so far this year.  We recently completed our parachute unit.  The girls LOVED the parachute!  With the parachute, the girls worked on upper body strength, cooperation, spatial awareness, and following directions.

French: Les Fournitures Scolaires

The girls have been learning all about school supplies in French class. This week, they walked into the classroom to discover a desk for each of them covered with real fournitures scolaires. First, I would say a vocabulary word and they would present the corresponding object. You can see them showing me des règles in the pictures below. Then, they listened to my step-by-step instructions in French and created an art project. The project included a picture of Edgar Dégas' La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans which we had talked about earlier. They did a great job listening carefully and understanding my instructions. The projects were fantastiques!