Penguins and the Magic E

The girls are using all of their new penguin knowledge to write a non-fiction penguin book.  The book, entitled "Penguins," contains a table of contents, information the girls have learned about penguins, as well as illustrations and a penguin diagram.

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

Today the girls worked together to add the magic e to the end of three letter words and then sorted those words into real and nonsense categories.

French: La soupe aux légumes

Merci beaucoup parents for sending in vegetables today! It was a very exciting day in French class. After using plastic vegetables for weeks to learn the vocabulary, it was very fun for the girls to be able to use their French to identify real vegetables.

After we named all of our lovely produce, I pulled out une grande marmite and asked for the vegetable ingredients, one by one (en français, bien sûr). When it was her turn, each girl emptied les petits pois, le maïs, l'aubergine, la tomate, la carotte, or whatever it was that she brought into the pot. We then sang our À la Soupe, Soupe, Soupe song while I added broth and stirred the pot.

The soup simmered for an hour and was ready by lunch time. It was délicieuse and made the whole building smell nice and cosy. We have fourteen budding chefs on our hands!

Oreo Penguins

The Pre-First girls have been learning so much about penguins and they are about to start writing their own non-fiction book about the amazing animal.  For our "Fun Friday" activity, we talked about all of the facts we have learned about penguins.  Then we sent the girls back to their desks to create an Oreo penguin. 

After the girls made their Oreo penguins, the girls had to design a scene using the the app Educreations on their iPads.  They then took a picture of their Oreo penguins and inserted it into their scene.

The final step was to type a factual sentence about penguins and voice record it onto their scene.

The girls had a blast with this activity and have truly loved learning about penguins.  Stay tuned for their non-fiction books!

100 chart & Colors of Us

 In math, we continued our work with the hundred chart and today the girls discovered 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. 

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.  Last week, 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--inside of a bagel, a muffin and syrup are just 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.

Our word of the week is courageous, which is perfect as we introduce your daughters to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Today we read the book Martin's Big Words and had a wonderful discussion about his achievements and how he made the world a better place.  They also watched a short video on him through our BrainPop app.  We encouraged your daughters to talk to you tonight about him and what he accomplished.  

Brush Bot Video

All grades in the Lower School participated in the Brush Bots Winter Olympics.  Here is a compilation video of everyone's hard work.  Enjoy!

Welcome to 2015

Bang! Boom! Buzz!  This week 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 listened to different sounds and had to choose which picture was making that sound. 

 The girls then received their own hundred charts and had to find and shade certain numbers that the teachers called out.  We also looked for patterns on the chart.  The hundred chart will continue to be a very important part of math in first and second grade.  

The girls had a blast in science this week as they learned where penguins live in the world and how they stay warm in less than ideal temperatures.  We used highlighters to identify the 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 plastic baggie, 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. 

Yesterday, 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.

Look who stopped by as our Mystery Reader this week!  The girls loved the books he brought in and enjoyed hearing new and fun stories!