Thanksgiving Extravaganza

We had a great day today, starting with a visit from our grandparents and special friends.  The girls put on their first Thanksgiving play, completed a Venn diagram comparing the first Thanksgiving to the one that they celebrate today, and finally put their knowledge of the french language on display.

Here is the link to their Thanksgiving play!  Enjoy!

A HUGE thank you to the parent committee--Claudia, Jawana, Mohamed, Kari, Tami, and Alycia--who organized our Thanksgiving feast.  The girls loaded up their plates with foods from all the food groups and enjoyed their Thanksgiving fare.  Many thanks to all of the parents who contributed wonderful dishes to our feast.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving and we will see you all next week!

Publishing Party

The girls celebrated writing their first book by having a Publishing Party with the first grade.  We visited both Mrs. Bradley and Ms. Lacy's rooms and shared our stories with our first grade friends.

Many thanks to Brent Hilpert for being our Mystery Reader today.  The girls loved hearing all about outer space!

Thanksgiving and Nutrition

In preparation for our Thanksgiving extravaganza, the girls made a placemat for our feast.  A turkey was the main focus of the placemat, but in place of feathers, the girls used leaves.  It was a gorgeous morning for a leaf walk!

We got back inside and assembled our turkeys. 

The final product.  

In math, the girls played Addition Sentence True or False. They were able to use a number line in order to check their answers.

We continued our work with the food groups today.  First we reviewed the different food groups.

Then we displayed different foods found in the grocery store.

The girls had to choose a food, place it in the correct food group, and give one fact about that food group.

Your daughters are food group rock stars!

At the end of the lesson, the girls completed a food sort with a partner.

Dairy Time

Mooooove over, protein.  Today we read Dairy Products and talked about the dairy food group.  The girls learned that anything made from milk is considered a dairy product.  Then we decided to take a leap of faith and make butter with our girls.  After informing the girls (several times) that we have never done this before and they were the first (which got them extremely excited), we got started.

First we showed them our ingredients/supplies.

Then we poured the whipping cream into a mason jar and added two marbles (to help agitate the cream) and the girls got shaking.  And shaking.  And shaking.

And shaking.

And shaking.

Finally, we have ourselves some butter.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

The girls have been LOVING our social studies unit about the First Thanksgiving.  They have been working hard with the Scribble Press app on their iPads, creating interesting journal entries depicting different events that the pilgrims experienced.

As you know, we are getting ready for our Grandparents' Day play.  Here they are painting the setting of our play.

Many thanks to Monika Dhillon for being our Mystery Reader on Monday.

Our pilgrim women hard at work on their pilgrim journals.

Today the girls compared and contrasted the fruits and protein food groups as they filled in their first Venn Diagram.

Word Slap and Vegetables

The girls learned a new game today.  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.  Needless to say, there were many giggles during this game.

We also learned about the vegetable food group today.  We read Rah, Rah, Radishes and discussed the different vegetables mentioned in the book.  Afterwards, the girls created pictures of vegetable gardens or stands using vegetables as stamps.

New Floor in the Music Room!

Ask your daughter about our brand new marley floor!
This vinyl floor covering makes the floor safer for all
of the dancing and moving that the girls do during music class.

Number Lines and Grains

Many thanks to Alycia Steinberg for being our Mystery Reader last week.  The girls loved hearing all of the different stories!

For the past few days, the girls have been working in math centers, all based on solving addition sentences.  

Using number lines

Sequencing numbers 

Playing Cover Up with a friend

Using the Mystery Number app on our iPad

Playing dice addition

Then the girls learned about the grains food group in our science lesson today.  They listened to a non-fiction book, then discussed different grains that they eat.  We then put out five grains on different tables: oatmeal, bulgar, barley, bread, and rice.  The girls conducted a "sensory" test where they had to walk around, feel the grains, and decide which table held which grain.  Make sure you ask your daughter if she got any of her guesses correct!

Nutrition

Today we began our new science unit on nutrition.  We watched a short video from Sid the Science Kid and discussed how different foods impact our bodies and minds.  The girls brainstormed a list of foods that were both "good choices" and "sometimes foods" for their bodies and collaborated together to determine how to sort each food.  

Here are the girls discussing what would happen if all they ate were the "sometimes foods."

We had a special Mystery Reader--Anne Broadus!  Anne created a paper story for the girls.  Make sure you ask your daughter what was the moral of the story.

Here they are being shy bunnies (from the story).

And being proud bunnies...

Then we played BINGO using our words from the Word Wall.

Short o sound

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.  First, the girls matched short o words with corresponding pictures.  Then the girls brainstormed more short o words and finally created their octopuses.

Writer's Workshop

The girls are moving along with their drafts and many have published, or are close to publishing, their first stories.  They are working independently and applying all of the concepts they have learned in our mini-lessons, including finger spacing between words and adding detail to sentences.  When all the girls have completed their stories we will have a Publishing Party.

Today in word study the girls sorted and drew six of their words.

It was so beautiful out today that we decided to have a picnic outside.  Here are the girls enjoying their lunch al fresco!

Halloween Shenanigans

Many thanks to Tom Prevas who was our Mystery Reader two weeks ago--he brought in some wonderful Halloween stories for the girls to enjoy.

The girls had fun last week in language arts learning the "oo" (spooky, broom) sound.  We read Room on the Broom and brainstormed different words containing "oo".  The girls then copied these words--or thought of more on their own-- onto spider legs.  After the girls copied their words, they made "oo" spider eyes with pasta mini wheels. 

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. 

Then the girls rolled up their sleeves and got a bit messy.  It was finally time to estimate how many seeds were inside our pumpkin.  Make sure you ask your daughter what was the final count!

How can you make learning about number lines fun?  By adding a frog that hops along, of course!  The girls worked with number lines today to help them with addition sentences and develop their number sense.  We will continue to work with the number line this week. 

Here's a fun way to reinforce this concept at home:  grab a fun cookie cutter and cut 20 shapes out of Model Magic.  Number them 1-20 and let them dry.  Have your daughter put them in order and give her simple addition problems to solve.  Keep your unique number line in a safe place for a snow day :-)