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!
