Cone Heads

No, this is not a Saturday Night Live skit.  We have been studying 3D shapes in math and today our focus was on the cone.  The girls are able to give characteristics of cones as well as real-life examples.  The girls made cone hats today and decorated them.

Many thanks to Lauren Colton for being our Mystery Reader today!

Tech Time

This month the girls have been working on searching for seasons, spring, and rainforest videos within BrainPop Jr.  Using the information from the video, we have created two collages using the app PicCollage.  This week we will use an app called Skitch to create a diagram of the layers of the rainforest.

Symmetry, Jelly Bean Math and Green Thumbs!

We have been incredibly busy these past few weeks; the girls have been graphing and working on their "how-to" books.  Many thanks to all of the parents who took time out of their busy schedules to come in and teach the girls about famous women in history--the girls LOVED every visitor!

Mihoko Kai taught the girls about Rosalind Franklin who was responsible for much of the research and discovery work that led to the understanding of the structure of DNA.

We ended our unit on famous women in history by having a tea party.  The girls were able to sample small sandwiches, fruit, special desserts and--of course--tea.  As the girls we eating their lunches, we got the chance to discuss all of the famous women we learned about and how they paved the way for our young girls today. 

The girls enjoyed learning about the world of chimpanzees from Stephanie Miskiewicz who came in as Jane Goodall.

Many thanks to Phil Gilotte who taught the girls about soccer star Mia Hamm.

We spent a language arts period learning about the different punctation marks that come at the end of a sentence.  We read Punctuation Takes a Vacation, then the girls read silly sentences aloud and had to determine if they should put a question mark, period or exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.  After that, the girls partnered up and completed a packet together.

We had a math lesson that focused on determining if different shapes and objects have a line of symmetry.  The girls were given several different cut out shapes to fold and see if they were symmetric or not.  They then went back to their seats to complete a packet as a class.  After the girls completed their math packets, they worked together to create a "Symmetry City" where every object had to be symmetric.  They enjoyed cooperating and creating this unique city which is hanging in our classroom.

Many thanks to Vivica Ryn who was our Mystery Reader on Wednesday.

Since we did not have school today (our usual "Fun Friday"), we decided to have a "Thrilling Thursday" instead.  The girls had a scavenger hunt for eggs.  Here is video of the start of the scavenger hunt.

How many activities can you do with jelly beans?  Plenty!  To get ready for our long weekend, the girls completed a math packet using jelly beans as manipulatives.  They sorted, tallied, graphed and patterned jelly beans...and of course got to eat some in the process.  

Your girls are all about to grow green thumbs.  The girls were introduced to their newest science unit which will focus on seeds and plants.  We read From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons and each student was given a plain flower pot to paint and make completely "theirs."   Yesterday, we filled the pots with soil and planted sunflower seeds.  Over the next few weeks we will be observing our plants as we feed them water and let them grow in the sun.

French: Les filles de Pre-First sont très à la mode !

The girls have been learning all about clothing vocabulary in French. This week, they put their knowledge to the test when they had to tell me what clothes they would like to wear for our défilé de mode (fashion show). Each girl then struck a pose in her new outfit. Enjoy the pages from our fashion magazine below. We have some future mannequins (models) on our hands!