A special trip, Pumpkin Math and Skeletons

Unfortunately, it's that time of year for colds, coughs and fevers but despite our ever changing attendance in Pre First this week, the show must go on! On Monday we got to pay a special visit to Headmistress Maureen Walsh and tell her all about what we've been doing in class so far this year. Each girl got to decide what she wanted to bring to show Mrs. Walsh and we were told that she really enjoyed our visit to mix up her usual morning schedule :)





Since Halloween is right around the corner, we have decided to embrace the craziness and incorporate it into our learning. The girls were given a Pumpkin Math packet, filled with different activities all based around pumpkins. They have been estimating, observing and having fun all at the same time!  



On our first day of Pumpkin Math we discussed the differences of the inside of a pumpkin versus the outside and made a list as a class of the characteristics of each.



On our second day of Pumpkin Math we talked about what it means to make an "estimation" and then the girls had to estimate the height and width of our pumpkin and then decide whether it would sink or float in water. Be sure to ask your daughters about the results and whether or not our pumpkin could swim ;)



Then in science we have been learning more about our skeletal system.  We read Dem Bones and learned a song about how our bones are connected. After that we reviewed the different facts that we've learned so far about our own bones. Then the girls matched facts with the correct bone. After that, the girls grabbed their skeletons they made last week from their tubs and labeled the major bones of the body.

Writers Workshop, M&M Addition, Skeletons

The girls have been plugging away on their Writer's Workshop project, a personal narrative. Together as a class, we created a rubric for the girls to use when assessing their own writing.  As the girls prepare to publish their work, they can confidently review their work with us. Once each girl has a story ready to be published, we will have our first Publishing Party!

In math we put a fun twist on practicing addition sentences: M&M addition! The girls got a handful of M&M's then they had to sort them by color and then add the colors together on their worksheet. Of course we had a few to snack on after we finished :) 

Our latest science unit is skeletons! The girls are loving this unit and can't get enough information about their bones. Today, we read Bones: Skeletons and How They Work by Steve Jenkins and then the girls put together their own skeletons. We will be labeling the different bones of these skeletons next week.

Short o and Fall Birthdays

During language arts, we focused on the short o sound and the girls made mini-octopuses that had five legs all containing short o words.  First, the girls matched short o words with corresponding pictures as a class. Then the girls brainstormed more short o words and finally created their octopuses.

Be sure to ask your daughter which short o words she decided to put on her octopuses legs!

Special thanks to our parent volunteers for the treats that we enjoyed this afternoon for our Fall Birthdays celebration. It was a great way to end our busy day!

Pumpkin Teeth Addition and a Mystery Reader

Today we worked on our addition skills and number sentences by adding pumpkin teeth.  The girls had to roll the dice 2 times and place the number of teeth on the top and bottom of their pumpkins mouth.  Then they had to count the teeth and write the addition sentence.  Can you tell we are inching closer to Halloween?

Instead of Game Time today, the girls decided that we should decorate our bibs for Baby McMahon since we ran out of time during the surprise party on Friday. Big thanks The Herb Family for suppling the bibs, puffy paint and fabric markers so we could create our (of course I made one too:)) masterpieces!

Special thanks to our Mystery Reader, Barbra Penhallegon, for visiting us in pre first today and sharing some of our favorite Halloween themed books! 

Meghann's Surprise Baby Shower!

The most exciting part about our Fun Friday last week was the surprise shower for Baby McMahon. I think it's safe to say that we got her good! Despite the girls' unending giggles throughout the day and the almost unbearable desire to "spill the beans", Meghann had no idea that we all had planned such a nice afternoon for her and Baby McMahon. I can't thank you all enough for your help and great ideas for this, it really was a fun afternoon!

Present time! She loved all of the books she received. Baby McMahon already has one of the best libraries that I've ever seen!

The class book was the top secret project that your daughters worked so hard on and they could not wait to give it to Meghann and because of how cute it came out, I included a picture of each page so you all could see the finished product----it's priceless!

Snack time! Because a party isn't a party without treats :)

The class book by your 2016-2017 Pre-Firsters:

Babe the Big Blue Ox Engineering

Our Fun Friday was a very exciting day that started off with our final engineering project based on the tall tale of Paul Bunyan and his trusty sidekick Babe The Big Blue Ox. The girls were challenged to make a freestanding pen for Babe using only toothpicks and/or popsicle sticks and duct tape. They also had to figure out a way to make a card-stock cutout of Babe stand on its on inside the pen. We knew that despite the fact that this last challenge had two tricky parts, the girls were ready to use everything they've learned with the engineering unit so far to succeed at this project just like have with all the others. 

After picking partners and gathering their materials, the girls worked together to come up with a plan and sketch how they were going to try and build their pens for Babe. The cooperation and willingness to try something else when their original plans didn't work was a wonderful thing to see. We are very proud of how well your daughters have done with their first engineering unit!

We think it is safe to say that Babe will stay put in the pens the girls built for him!

French: La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans

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 and des gommes 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 talked about earlier in the class. They did a great job listening carefully and understanding my instructions. The projects were fantastiques!

Paul Bunyan, Butterflies and Addition

In order to get ready for our last engineering project tomorrow, we read a Paul Bunyan book and reviewed the characteristics of a "tall tale".

Then after our snack & recess time we went and visited our Kindergarten friends for a short science review on butterflies. This was fitting since they had TWO butterflies come out of their chrysalis' while we were away yesterday! 

Today in math we began our new math unit--addition--with a bang by having the girls play candy corn addition.  The girls are also working on reading and solving addition sentences, using the plus and equal sign.

Creating a Book Cover

Many thanks to Gina Puckett who was our Mystery Reader this week.

During our Writer's Workshop period, we are inching closer and closer to publishing our first story.  Today we discussed what components make a good book cover.  After perusing several different book covers, the girls decided that every cover should have a title, byline, and it should be interesting.  The girls were partnered up and shared their ideas for their story covers.  

As always, we had time for one of our authors to share their story in our Author's Chair.