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.