Hour of Code

This week, your daughter participated in the Hour of Code.  “The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries” (hourofcode.com).  We use this as an introduction to the programming your daughter will be doing throughout the year.  Learning the basics of programming reinforces problem solving and logic skills.

In Pre-First, we learned how to use basic directions (forward, turn left, turn right, jump, and light) to control Light Bot.  Next, we will learn how to use the Kodable app to learn more about programming and in the spring, we will use path to control the Dash robots!

If you would like your daughter to explore more at home, use this link.  Please note, different activities run on different devices and are appropriate for various ages.

Spanish: Fruits

The girls have been learning how to name fruits in Spanish.  Here they are playing a partner game where they have to find the fruit their partner names.

From the Library

Pre-first started off the year in library with an old favorite Good as New by Barbara Douglass, a story in which the wise, resourceful and patient grandparent helps skeptical young Grady fix his teddy bear after a run-in with a young cousin. In fact, Grady thinks the bear ends up better than new. Next up was Leslie Muir's C.R. Mudgeon, the story of a hedgehog who is a sensible creature of habit and his new neighbor, Paprika, who spices things up. We then read Kevin Henkes' Penny series. The third installment, Penny and her Marble, sparked an interesting discussion about finding, keeping and giving.

Next we read a couple of books in which part of the story is told in one half of the book, and then the reader flips the book over to get the rest of the story. Pre-first girls called these flip books. Crescent Dragonwagon's And then it Rained, tells the story of how all the inhabitants of an apartment building adjust to very hot weather, at first enjoying it and then wishing for rain and cooler weather. "To find out what happens next", we read half way through the book, "turn the book over". There we find And then the Sun Came Out, in which the same neighbors enjoy and then grow tired of the rain and wish for the sun to return. At the end of this section, we are again instructed to turn the book over to find out what happens next...

We followed this with Aliki's Marianthe's Story One: Painted Words. Marianthe moves to a new country and a new school with new children and a different language. She tells her story and her feelings through painting. When we turn the book over we find Story Two: Spoken Memories, in which Mari has learned a lot about her new world and can tell her life stories to her classmates in words.

The girls are now checking books out (they love to swipe the bar codes themselves) and taking them home. They agree to read to their goldfish, siblings, grandparents and friends. We've talked about how to take care of library books, how to remember to bring them back to school after they've read the book a few times. Thank you for encouraging your daughters to read.

Night at the Far, Spirit Day and Pecos Bill

This week we read another story by Donald Crews, our author of the month, and discussed the setting element of a story.  As they listened to Night at the Fair, the girls had to identify the setting of the story. I then paired the girls up and told them that they would be making setting dioramas based on Night at the Fair.  The girls were given a shoebox and a table full of supplies (sequins, mini pom-poms, construction paper, foam shapes, craft glue, etc.) and told to recreate a scene from the book. They were AMAZING--without specific directions, the girls used their creativity and own initiative to work cohesively to create their own setting. I was so impressed with their cooperation and imagination! Be sure to ask your daughters which setting they chose to recreate.

In Language Arts earlier this week the girls reviewed the short i sound.  As a group, we matched words with corresponding pictures. The girls then drew a pig (very similar to our beloved Wilbur in our current class read aloud, Charlotte's Web) and wrote 5 short i words inside of their pigs.

We'd like to send a big Pre First "THANK YOU!" to our Mystery Reader that came in on Wednesday! One PF girl was especially happy to see her :)

During Spirit Day yesterday we spent some time stenciling and decorating pumpkins to add to our Fall bulletin board. Please stop into the classroom if you can to check out the finishing touches!

We had a GREAT time welcoming the Morgan State University Band to campus for the Spirit Day Parade and I think it is safe to say that this was the highlight of yesterdays festivities! GO BRYN MAWR!

In math this week we have been discussing ordinal numbers and the difference between ordinal numbers and cardinal numbers. The girls are becoming very comfortable using the correct ordinal numbers for 1-10. Today the girls made daisies with ordinal numbers as the petals to practice what they've learned.

This week's 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. Then your daughters 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, I emphasized the importance of planning ahead and working together. Once they developed a plan as a group, they got right to work.

The end result consisted of plenty of lasso-ing! We've got some serious cowgirls on our hands!

Finally, please be sure to ask your daughters about our awesome assembly today with Uno, Dos, Tres Andres! Even Ms. Brooks got to be apart of the singing, dancing and Spanish speaking good time. I encourage you all to visit his Youtube channel so that your daughters can share all of the songs we learned today :)

123 Andres Visits Bryn Mawr

Happy Friday!  We started today with a fabulous assembly by 123 Andres, last year's winner of the Latin Grammy for Best Children's Album.  His albums are bilingual with songs in both English and Spanish and today the girls had a blast singing, dancing, and playing instruments with this dynamic performer.  We have already learned several of his songs in Spanish class and the girls love singing along.  If your daughter wants to see more of his videos, you can find them here. 

Short "e", Math Centers, Engineering and Founder's 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 worked with a partner to sort "silly" vs "real" words with the short e sound.

In math, the girls worked in math centers that focused on reviewing and improving number sense, with a fall theme of course :) One was matching numbers, number words, and corresponding shapes. In another the girls had to match a pumpkin number, number word and corresponding ten frame. The third center was playing candy corn memory, where the girls had to find a number and number word matching set.  

We also had our first Engineering Challenge this week! The tall tale we focused on was Johnny Appleseed. Throughout the week I read several books aloud to the girls to give them some background knowledge on the history of Johnny Appleseed. Then, yesterday the girls became engineers! I gave them a problem: construct a raft using sticks, yarn and duck tape that can hold the weight of an apple without sinking.  The girls worked in groups 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. I 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 I encouraged them to try and solve this problem at home over the weekend. 

Finally, we might have just had the best Fun Friday in the history of Pre-First. This morning we got to watch the 5th grade girls work the catwalk in the annual French Fashion Show. After that, we walked up the hill to our Founders' Day celebration.  After the celebration, we attended the all-school picnic. The girls enjoyed either their own lunches or hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and the obligatory cupcake.  Our in-house faculty band, Edith Jamilton, provided an amazing after lunch concert that the girls danced along to. It was a fabulous day to be a Mawrtian!

Predictions, Math Centers, and Mrs. Sadler's Installation!

It has been a busy week in Pre First. For Author's Study, the girls became fortune tellers today as they learned about making predictions. We read Shortcut by Donald Crews and discussed why predicting what happens next in a story is important to overall understanding. I 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, I turned off our lights and they held a flashlight to the bottom of their "crystal balls" while they shared their predictions.

During math this week, the girls rotated around three different centers, all based on what we have been working on--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.

A big happening in our classroom is the start of our Engineering unit based on tall tales. We first discussed the characteristics of a tall tale, then to really bring the unit to life, we wrote our own tall tale as a class! Each girl added her own part to the story and they are really proud of the final product. I hope you all enjoy it!

One of the most exciting parts of the week was the installation of our 10th Head of School, Sue Sadler. The weather was beautiful and for lunch everyone got cupcakes! It doesn't get much better than that!

Finally a big THANK YOU to our second Mystery of the week, Mimi for coming in and sharing some of her favorite books with us. 

Fall is.....

With the change in the weather, comes a change in bulletin boards :-) To celebrate the season of fall, we read the story It's Fall, which gives wonderful examples of the changing colors and textures of the new season. 

Then the girls brainstormed different phrases and words that reminded them of fall. After that, the girls copied the phrases we brainstormed--or came up with ideas on their own--and wrote them onto apple sheets. We have one more fall craft to complete and then our Fall bulletin board will be complete!

We talk a lot about the seven core values in Pre First and each time we learn about a new value, we add a petal to our "core value daisy people". I think one of your daughters' favorite activities that we've done so far was after we learned about what it means to be 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.

We recently started Writer's Workshop, where the girls are plugging away at their first stories, a personal narrative. First we discussed what a personal narrative is and each girl shared a story about herself with the class. I also emphasized that writing is a process and that we will be taking many steps to complete their first stories. 

This week the girls continued to work on their personal narratives and we discussed the importance of labeling. We looked at some examples as a class, then I got some help labeling my personal narrative. Finally, the girls went back to their seats to label items in their illustrations. 

Finally, a big thank you to our recent Mystery Readers for coming in and sharing some of our favorite books! 

Working Collaboratively in Computer Science

Pre-Firsters have started the STEAM unit.  Each week we have a group of "teachers" and a group of "students".  The teachers learn a new iPad skill then teach it to their student.  Once both teacher and student have completed the task, they are given a badge.  These badges will be used to create kinetic sculptures as part of an art and computer science project! The girls have learned how to take a picture and change the background of the iPad as well as explored the app, Faces iMake.  

Art_Individual & Collaborative Paintings

We started off the year painting "something you do not know and cannot name". Then we arranged these paintings into a class array and connected them with a continuous line.  We talked about self expression and the times we make choices because we are members of a group. See if you can follow the line that connects all the students together. There's a chart to figure out which painting is your daughter's!

Art_What do you do with an idea?

The art theme for Pre-First is imagination, appropriately so!  The girls all started a painting with one circle that represented "an idea". And, as you would expect, they are all amazingly different.  They are learning watercolor skills and experimental color mixing. They are naming their new colors after experiences they've had before like rose red, coral green, coral peach, grape purple, jungle brown, orange carrot, royal red, purple blue, hurricane blue and so on. 

 

We read "What Do You Do With An Idea?" and learned:

Maxine - You don't give up on your idea.

Grace - You take care of your idea.

Aria - Never give up on your dream or your idea.

Jade - You can protect it even though people will be mean.

Mary Frances - You should make your idea into a bigger one.

Zoya - When you feed it, your idea grows.

Paulena - You feed it.

Sofia - You can always find out where the idea wants you to go.

Anelie - You change the world.

Priya - You should always be your idea's friend

Emilia - You share it with others.

Kaylee - You listen to it. 

First Few Days of School

These past few days with your daughters have been a lot of fun. I'm having a blast getting to know them and they are doing a wonderful job learning all of the Pre First routines. A few of the highlights that your daughters have enjoyed so far are our "Fun Friday" dance parties, using fun manipulatives in math, getting their iPads, doing our first Monday Morning Journal, Quiet Time and our first Mystery Reader. Be sure to ask your daughter what she's enjoyed about school so far. Below are a few snapshots of some of the things we've done throughout the first 10 days!

Outside enjoying the beautiful weather!

Math time working with unifix cubes to make and write numbers and doing a partner sorting activity.

Showing off our beautiful pictures of the different things that dots (or mini oreos :)) can be after reading 10 Black Dots by Donald Crews, our first Author of the Month.

Finally, a special THANK YOU to our first Mystery Reader, Jen Ventimiglia! What a great start to our first full week of Pre First.

First Day of School

The first day of pre-first was full of learning, read-alouds, making new friends, and FUN!  We started the day with an all school Opening Convocation where your daughters (a.k.a the Class of 2030) got a nice shout out from the seniors as they begin their journey through Bryn Mawr. Later, we read First Day Jitters, which is a cute story about a girl who is extremely nervous about her first day at a new school.  Please make sure you ask your daughters who the new girl was in the story.  Later, your daughters made sunglasses depicting what they did on their summer vacations and we also had our first Music, Spanish and P.E. classes of the year.  It was a fun-filled and active day as I saw quite a bit of yawns by 2:45.  I love having your girls in my room and I am so excited to see what this year will bring!

Finishing Up Measurement and Tasting the Rain Forest

In our latest rain forest lesson, the girls learned about the different foods that the rain forests provide.  We watched a short video on how chocolate was made many years ago by the indigenous tribes.  After the video, the girls participated in a taste test of different spices that come from the rain forest.  The following spices were used:  Allspice, Cocoa, Black Pepper, Cinnamon, and Vanilla.  Only one spice really threw your daughters....make sure you ask her which one!

We completed our measurement unit last week and one of those days we focused on measuring weight, rather than length.  We talked a lot about heavy verses light and gave a bunch of examples of things that fit into each category.  The girls were introduced to a balance scale and had to estimate which groups of manipulatives would be heavier (example 3 dice vs. 4 unifix cubes).  After we estimated, the girls were broken into groups of 2 or 3 where they actually measured the manipulatives using their balance scales.  There was even a challenge where they had to find a perfect balance between bears and cubes.

One of our final measurement lessons was on capacity.  We discussed how capacity is the measurement of what something can hold.  The girls were shown a bucket and had to estimate how many times it would take to be filled with the different containers: a yogurt cup, measuring cup, water glass and coffee mug.  After they estimated, they were put into groups of two and used water to complete the actual measurement.  The girls discovered while filling the bucket with water, it took many more times to fill it with a smaller container than a larger one.

We began fractions last week and started with halves.  This week we will move onto larger fractions.

We had another mystery reader today...only one more left!