Thanksgiving Extravaganza

We had a great day today, starting with a visit from our grandparents and special friends.  The girls put on their First Thanksgiving play, completed a Venn diagram comparing the first Thanksgiving to the one that they celebrate today, explained how they use a number line to solve addition problems, and finally put their knowledge of the french language on display.

Here are 2 links to their play.

Thanksgiving 1
http://vimeo.com/80380888
The password is Thanksgiving1

Thanksgiving 2
http://vimeo.com/80380887
The password is Thanksgiving2

A HUGE thank you to the parent committee--Roxanne, Yvonne, Brenda and Marti--who organized our Thanksgiving feast.  The girls loaded up their plates with foods from all the food groups and enjoyed their Thanksgiving fare.  Many thanks to all of the parents who contributed wonderful dishes to our feast.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving and we will see you all in December!

French: Les Fruits

In French class, the girls have been learning fruit vocabulary. They have enjoyed feeding our French puppet Lulu and making her fruit salads. We have played games such as "L'Ananas Chaud" (a version of hot potato) and telephone. In the picture below, they are demonstrating their oral comprehension of the vocabulary. I gave them names of fruits and they drew them on their iPads. If you look closely, you can see "une pêche" and "une banane" on some of the screens!

Taste Test

The girls are loving our unit on nutrition and are learning to identify the different food groups.  We have learned all 5 food groups and the foods that are found in each group.  Today, the girls participated in a taste test and had to determine which food groups were represented.

We also had a Mystery Reader yesterday.  Aunt Brenda brought in a fabulous Thanksgiving book and the girls all loved meeting their classmate's special aunt.  And we got to meet her grandmother as well!

Art: Masks can...

The girls finished their masks by painting big and small shapes to make patterns and adding decorative elements like beads, buttons, and feathers.  They considered how their mask could transform them and told their story using the video feature on their iPad. Next they will wear their masks and present them to their classmates.

Addition Math Facts: True or False Game

8 + 1 = 9.  True or false?  Today in math, the girls played a board game where they used mental math to solve addition problems.  They pulled a card with an addition sentence on it, then had to decide if the sentence was true or false.  They checked themselves using a number line.  If they were correct, they moved a space ahead.  If they were incorrect, they stayed put.  Without realizing it, your daughters have established a great understanding of their basic math facts.  We are so proud of them!

Our new STAR, STReed, did a wonderful job of presenting her box.  The girls were so excited to hear more about our STAR's favorite things and people!

Making Hardtack

To get a taste of what the pilgrims experienced on their 65 day trip to America, the girls made hardtack today.  They combined flour, water, and salt, rolled out the dough, and cut it into squares.  We baked the "tasty" treats at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.  The girls swore it tasted "delicious"...feel free to try at home and serve with Friday night dinner!

A Hard Winter for the Pilgrims

Our class of 14 was reduced in size due to illness :-(. We missed all of our friends who had to stay home today.  However, we discovered that our class shared a similarity to the pilgrims' first winter--sickness! Today the girls learned about the pilgrims finally landing in the new world and their immense difficulty to survive their first winter in Plymouth.  The girls created a mural depicting the months after the landing and how the Native Americans (who were called "Indians" by the Pilgrims) taught them to live off the land.

We also had a Mystery Reader.  Many thanks to Robin for coming in and surprising our girls!