Monday started off with journaling about our Thanksgiving breaks. We tried a new strategy this week. I came around and helped the students count how many words were in their sentence. I then highlighted the lines for the students to write on. This really helped the students with planning out their work, spacing, and recogonizing words.
Monday we also started learning about families. We talked about where families live, who is in a family, and what families like to do together. We discussed how all families are different, and not all look the same. Throughout the week, we read fiction and non-fiction books about families, and the students took turns sharing their family pictures with the class. This will be great background knowledge for learning about family traditions next month.
Last but not least, we ended Monday with self-directed play time and enjoying time with friends :) It was great to be back together!
1. making a blueprint of a tower, building, and then measuring using a yardstick. The challenge was to make it at least 50 inches tall.
2. sorting different objects in the sensory table by size, shape, color, or type.
3. Dreambox Math on the iPads.
4. Writing letters in the writing center (with encouragement to write to a teacher or friend).
5. Making a grocery list, shopping for the food, and then counting the number of syllables in a food to get the price (for example, apple, would be $2).
The students did GREAT! They especially blew me away in the building center. We talked a lot about what a tower was this week; where we see them, how they're built, and why they're built. The students then used non-fiction texts and pictures of real towers to inspire their building. It was so fun to see them collaborate to make tall towers.
Additionally, the syllable shopping center was challenging and fun! We have been working hard on counting syllables in words, and this was a great way to apply that. Many students also practiced addition by adding all their "prices" together.
We also had a special visitor... Olaf! He is going to be here until winter break and is watching our class looking for positive behavior (especially being safe, respectful, and responsible). He is going to be picking students he sees showing these positive behaviors to come find him, and maybe even give them a little present! He will of course be making sure that all of the students get a turn :) Ask your student about his visit, and how they can show positive behavior in our classroom.
The next 2 weeks will be about holidays and The Gingerbread Man!