100th day

Welcome back from an unexpected winter break!  As the girls filed into our classroom this morning, we could tell that their 5 days off were certainly exciting.  

Many thanks to Kate Cogdall who came in as our Mystery Reader last week!

Last Thursday we celebrated our 100th day of school!  The girls walked into our room this morning through streamers, with "Celebrate" by Kool & the Gang as their soundtrack.  Our day was filled with different activities, all centered around the number 100.  Take a look below to see how Pre-First celebrated.

First, the girls listened to 100th Day Worries.  

Then we took a picture of the girls and used the app Aging Booth to fast forward time and get an image of what the girls will look like when they are 100.  The girls--and their teachers--got a huge kick out of seeing each other as 100 year old ladies.  They then wrote about what they will look like, what they will be doing and where they will live when they turn 100.  This was, by far, their favorite activity of the day.

Here are some of the center activities the girls completed:  

• 100 Chart--the girls had to color in certain numbers on their 100 chart to create a picture.  Make sure you ask them what it was!  
• 100 Exercises--the girls did 6 different exercises, each exercise was a 100 count.  Some of the exercises were jumping jacks, twists and hops.  Needless to say, there were a lot of water breaks taken during this center.
• 100 Dots--the girls used 10 different paint colors to make groupings of 10 Q-tip dots.
• 100 Cup Structure--the girls were given 100 cups and had to build a structure out of them.  This was one of their favorite centers.  Make sure you ask your daughter what her structure looked like!

Today, we began our day with a language arts lesson that focused on the "sh" digraph.  The girls watched a funny Electric Company video that highlighted the digraph "sh."

After the video, we brainstormed more "sh" words.  Then the girls returned to their tables and made a large "sh" out of seashells.  They wrote some of the words we brainstormed onto shells and glued them around the "sh".

Here are some more hibernation presentations.

Graphing, Presidents' Day & a Hibernation Presentation

We have spent the last few math periods working with bar graphs.  Earlier this week the girls learned how to gather and sort information, put that information into a graph, and then analyze the data in the graph.

For the past two days, the girls have been learning about Presidents' Day.  Today, we read Let's Celebrate Presidents' Day and discussed why Presidents Washington and Lincoln were two significant presidents.  The girls brainstormed what they would do if they were president and they each made their own American flag.  

After spending the last few art periods perfecting their animals, today the girls started presenting their hibernation dioramas.  We are proud of the girls for doing an outstanding job of informing their friends about their animals.  Here's our first presentation!

Transition Words & Frozen Food

This week the girls have been learning about transition words such as first, in the beginning, second, then, after that, next, finally and last.  Today the girls made melted crayon hearts and created a How-To class book using the new transition words they have learned. 

First, the girls peeled the crayons.

Next, the girls broke the crayons into smaller pieces and placed them in heart shaped (oven safe) holders.

After that, Mrs. McMahon baked the girls' creation in the oven at 230 degrees for 15 minutes.

Finally, Mrs. McMahon took the holders out and let the new heart shaped crayons cool.  The girls will each get a heart to take home with them today!

The girls worked in pairs to write about and illustrate one step in our How-To book.

To start science class today Ms. Burr read  Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming.

After that, we did an experiment on reasons why some animals hibernate in the winter.  The girls were given fresh pieces of pineapple and were given the green light to go ahead and eat them.  We talked about how the pineapple smelled, what it tasted like and how easy it was to bite into and eat it.  Then they were given pineapple that had been frozen in an ice cube.  They had to attempt to get to the pineapple and eat it--the girls discovered that this was not an easy task.  As they were gnawing their way through the ice, we talked about how difficult it was to actually get the food out and how hard it must be for animals to find food in the winter.  The girls realized, at the end of the experiment, that one reason some animals hibernate in the winter was the difficulty to find and eat food; it is not easy to smell, find or eat!

Math Centers

The past several days the girls have been learning place value by working with base 10 blocks.  They have learned that a cube represents one, a ten cube rod represents ten and a flat block represents a hundred.  The girls have been writing and modeling numbers using these blocks.  Today, they worked around the room in four centers: base 10 matching, a place value computer game, Montessori Numbers app and a hundreds chart mystery picture.

From the Library

In Library we read a series of books by Norah Dooley in which  Carrie travels through her neighborhood looking for her pesky brother, trying to round up kickball players, and collecting ideas for a gift for her mother. Everybody Cooks Rice introduces the Darlingtons from Barbados, the Diaz family from Puerto Rico, the Tran family from Vietnam, the Krishnamurthys, the Huas, and the Bleus. Carrie tastes black-eyed peas and rice, turmeric rice with pigeon peas, nuoc cham, fried rice, biryani, tofu with vegetables, rice and beans and her own grandmother's risi e bisi. Recipes are included. Many of the same families appear in Everybody Bakes Bread and Everybody Serves Soup. Check out these books with recipes!

Transition Words & Base 10 Blocks

We have begun planning our next Writer's Workshop book.  The girls will be writing a How-To non-fiction book using the transition words that they were introduced to today.  We sorted the different transition words (first, after that, etc) according to where we would use them in a story.  Then we used these words to help us arrange the steps of how the girls get ready for lunch.

Next, the girls listened to Tell Me About Your Day Today by our Author of the Month (Mem Fox) and sequenced the events of the story using transition words.

Finally, the girls used the Popplet Lite app to plan out the steps of how to build a snowman.

In math, we have been working on place value using base 10 blocks.  The girls have done an excellent job of grasping this concept and have even graduated to using the hundreds blocks.Watch out first grade!

The girls are loving our Mystery Reader time--thanks so much to all of the parents for taking time out of your busy day to read to the girls.

Penguin Pic Collage

After learning all about penguins, the girls have been working hard on penguin collages in the Pic Collage app.  We learned how to change a background, search for and add images based on the topic, and add and edit text.  They included a variety of facts about penguins such as:  penguins can't fly, blubber keeps them warm, and penguins can swim.