Catching Up in Pre-First and Spirit Day

Hen, pet, men, peg...what do these words have in common?  They all contain the short e vowel sound.  This week we focused on this sound during our language arts period.  The girls were introduced to the sound by a fun video on the Starfall website--if you have a chance, check it out as it has a ton of great games, books, and videos that reinforce the different sounds and word families we will work on in our classroom.  After the video, we matched short e words with pictures and then the girls played a game in small groups called "Scrub the Decks".  Make sure you ask them about it!  

The girls had to work in pairs to sort short e words into "real" or "silly" categories.

We also added the fifth petal to our daisy people--cooperation.  The girls watched a clever short video and we had a class discussion about what it looks like when a group of people cooperate. After that, we gave the girls a cup, paperclips, a gummy worm named Sam, and a gummy lifesaver.  The girls had to cooperate and "save" Sam (flip the cup over, put the lifesaver on Sam, and put him in the cup) without touching anything except the paperclips.

We have been focusing on number words this week during math.  Today, the girls rotated through three centers which focused on this skill: candy corn memory, pumpkin number word matching, and an iPad math app.

And we can't leave out Spirit Day! The rain didn't hold us back from celebrating with a parade in the Elementary Center!

French: Les Madeleines

In French class, the Pre-First girls have been learning all about the little French cakes (not cookies!) called madeleines. The girls heard the legend of how they got their name from a servant girl named Madeleine. We discussed how the cakes look like seashells or les coquilles. The girls identified the ingredients in madeleines and learned how to say them in French: le beurre, le lait, la farine, le sucre, le citron, and les oeufs. On Monday, we had a special, surprise French class where we made real madeleines. The batter needs to rest so I kept it in the fridge overnight and baked the cakes right before class on Tuesday. We had a fun-filled and tasty week in French!

If you would like to try your hand at baking madeleines at home with your daughter, here is the recipe we used: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/daniel-bouluds-madeleines. Bon appétit!

Art_Teaching & Learning Partners

Wow! These girls have learned a lot in art already and they have taught themselves! Each class they have a teaching/learning partner. The "teachers" learn a new skill and then teach the "learners". They all demonstrate their new skill and earn "badges" which are really tools and materials for the first big project: Kinetic Sculptures. 

Here they are in action using watercolors. Ask them what they tricks they know about that material!

Predictions

The girls became fortune tellers today as they learned about prediction during our author's study. We read Shortcut by Donald Crews and discussed why predicting what happens next in a story is important to overall understanding.  We stopped reading the book halfway through and gave the girls "crystal balls."  The girls had to draw what they predicted would happen next in the story.

When they were done, we turned off our lights and held a flashlight to the bottom of their "crystal balls" while they shared their predictions.

Pecos Bill Engineering

Today's Fun Friday engineering project was based on the tall tale of Pecos Bill.  The girls read several versions of his story this week, including this Steven Kellogg  book.  The girls were challenged to make a lasso out of 5 plastic bags.  Once they created their lasso, they had to rope a "steer" (i.e. chair with an attached yard stick).  Again, we emphasized the importance of planning ahead and working together.

Here are the girls planning and designing their lassos.

Then they brought their creations to life.

The final product--we have some serious cowgirls on our hands.

Labeling and Math Centers

In Writer's Workshop, the girls continued to work on their personal narratives and today we taught them the importance of labeling.  The girls studied a Richard Scarry book and learned that labeling is meant giving an object a name.  Then the girls went back to their seats to label items in their illustrations.

During our math period, the girls rotated around three different centers, all based on what we have been working on in math this week--sequencing and writing numbers.  One center had the girls sequencing foam shapes with different numbers written on them, then recording their order.  At another center, the girls learned a new app called Line 'Em Up, which focuses on putting numbers in order.  At the third and final center, the girls had to cut and glue numbers in sequential order.

Many thanks to Corina Fratila for being our Mystery Reader today.

Fall Is .....

Tomorrow is the first day of fall.  To celebrate our upcoming season, we read the story It's Fall, which gives wonderful examples of the changing colors and textures of the new season. 

The girls brainstormed different phrases and words that reminded them of fall.  Then the girls copied the phrases we brainstormed--or came up with ideas on their own--and wrote them onto apple sheets.

Afterwards, the girls stenciled and decorated pumpkins to make our room more festive.  The girls gave their scariest face for our picture :-)

Short A and Rules

We started reviewing the short vowel sounds this week and today we focused on the short a sound.  We watched a short Starfall video on the short a sound and then did a class sort where the girls matched short a words with pictures. 

We also discussed our hopes and dreams for our year and published our class rules.  The girls worked for several days, having great conversations about what will help them learn and be safe in our room. As a class, we decided on four rules that would accomplish those goals.  The girls signed our rules and also illustrated their hopes and dreams.

Word Study

We started our word study this week.  Every Monday the girls will get a new group of words focusing on a certain feature.  This week our feature was beginning consonants (b, r, s, m). Each day the girls will be completing a different activity with their words:

Monday--introduction to the focused feature and cut and sort words

Tuesday--sort and draw 6 of their words

Wednesday--sort and read words to a friend

Thursday--sort and write words

Friday--sort and glue words

Johnny Appleseed Engineering Challenge

This week, we started a new STEM unit based on various tall tales.  The first tall tale we focused on was Johnny Appleseed.  We read several books aloud to the girls to give them some background knowledge on the history of Johnny Appleseed and what makes a story a tall tale.  Today, the girls became engineers.  We gave them a problem: construct a raft using sticks and duck tape that can hold the weight of an apple without sinking.  The girls worked in pairs to solve this problem.  Their first step was to plan and design a raft on paper.

After that, they gathered their materials and started constructing their rafts.  We emphasized that problems often do not become resolved in the first attempt and it may take many improvements and tries before one finds a solution.  

The girls thoroughly enjoyed their first day as engineers and we encouraged them to try and solve this problem at home over the weekend.

Vowels, Swimmy, and Game Time

In language arts, we reviewed vowels and learned that every word must contain at least one vowel. To help them distinguish the different vowel sounds, we taught the girls actions that they can make.  Afterwards, they cut out and sorted various pictures according to the vowel sound.  Make sure you ask your daughter what the actions are for a, e i, o, and u.

The girls added another petal to their daisy people today--resilient.  We read Swimmy by Leo Lionni and had a great discussion about when they've had to be resilient in their lives. The girls then drew their favorite scene in crayon from the book where Swimmy had to show resiliency. After that, they painted over their scene in blue paint, creating a wonderful underwater picture.

This year, we instituted "game time," a period where the girls can play a variety of different board games.  All of these games work on different skills--sight words, problem solving, and cooperation.  Be sure to ask your daughter which game she played today!

We had our first Mystery Reader today.  The girls were incredibly excited to meet our first mystery guest!

Author's Chair

We introduced Writer's Workshop today and the girls' first step was learning how to illustrate a beginning, middle, and end of an event that personally happened to them.  We also had our first Author's Chair today.  The girls will get a chance to share and celebrate their work with their peers after every Writer's Workshop.

Ending Sounds

In language arts, we focused on ending sounds.  The girls pulled a secret object out of a bag and had to say the name out loud.  The girls sitting in the audience had to write the letter of the ending sound on their iPads using Doodle Buddy.

We then completed a chart sort using pictures that had the ending sounds t, l, and n.

In math, we have been working with the girls on sequencing numbers as well as sorting objects by what they have in common.  First, the girls worked in pairs to sequence number cards in ascending order.

Then, they moved onto a sorting activity with their partner. This was both a math review lesson as well as a "secret" lesson to prepare them for their word sorts, which will start next week.  

Afterwards, the girls worked on writing their numbers while they completed a worksheet where they had to fill in various missing numbers, from 1-50.

Donald Crews and Ten Black Dots

The girls were introduced to their first author of the month--Donald Crews.  We gave the girls some background on Mr. Crews and showed them many of his books, including Night at the Fair, Parade and Harbor.  Their favorite fact was that he called his beloved grandmother "Bigmama"!  

After the girls explored some of his books, we read 10 Black Dots. Donald Crews incorporates black dots in funny and creative ways throughout his book.  After we read the story, the girls had to create their own picture using mini Oreos as their black dots.  The girls had a great time creating their own unique pictures.