Planting a Paperwhite

We read the book, Paperwhite, by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. In the book, Lucy the bunny visits her neighbor throughout the cold winter months. Together, they 'make a little bit of spring' by planting an indoor paperwhite bulb and watching it grow. After reading the book, we passed around a paperwhite bulb (below) and talked about it using our five senses (although we agreed that we did not need to taste it :) ).

 

After passing around the bulb, we took turns putting rocks into the glass jar like Lucy (from the book) did. We talked about the noise that it made and used our ears to listen to each rock clink into the jar.

 

We used a measuring cup to pour water into the jar, and settled the bulb on top of the rock nest, just like in the book.

 

We drew pictures of what the bulb in the jar looked like. We will draw a picture each week and observe how our bulb changes over time.

 

Here is the picture of the inquiry chart that we completed. We talked about how scientists 'notice' and 'wonder' about things. All of the sentences were dictated by the children. I thought it was neat that they thought the bulb "smelled like perfume" and "smelled like fresh". I also was very happy that all of the children, after planting the bulb, had something that they wondered about. They are very anxious to see what happens to the bulb and how long it will take to "open up". :) Stay tuned... I will post pictures as it blooms!

 

 

Measuring with Unifix Cubes and Rulers

We read the book, Bumbling Building Bugs about some building bugs who measured wooden planks to build a bridge for their construction trucks. We worked in pairs, using rulers, 'inchworm' rulers, and unifix cubes to measure different pictures of transportation vehicles. We talked about which pictures were longer and which pictures were shorter. They had a blast and were all happily talking to their partners about what they were doing.

We sent copies of the 'inchworm' rulers home today... have your child measure items around the house!

Problem solving

   We have done a lot of problem solving lately... where I sit back and watch the kids talk to each other and figure things out. The top picture is of the students graphing toy bugs. First, they graphed by color. Then, they graphed by bug type. After graphing we talked about which column had more/fewer or the same.

   The bottom picture is of the students working in partners to sort pictures of fruit. I didn't tell them what the pictures were of, or what to do with the pictures. The fruit pictures were in black/white ink, which threw them off for a moment as they are used to sorting by color first. They were talking to each other and comparing charts and very interested, and then sorted by fruit type. After counting the different fruits, they realized that it was the fruit from the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (one apple, four strawberries, etc.).

   Just this week they were graphing fruit erasers and I asked them if I had helped them. They looked at each other and got really quiet... their eyes lit up and then they got very excited. "We did it by ourselves!" I told them that made them mathematicians and they were very excited. :)

A Few Center Pictures

Literacy Center -students are reading the big books, copying letters/words fro the word wall onto dry erase boards, and reading the morning message.

Literacy table - Malik has matched pictures of animals to their habits. :) 

Art Center - Students are painting circles which we later cut out and made into caterpillars!

Our field trip to the VASC!

We had a great time on our field trip to the VASC!

 

There Once Was a Turtle...

Last week we learned the poem,

 There Once Was a Turtle

There once was a turtle who lived in a box

he swam in the puddles and climbed on the rocks

He snapped at a mosquito, he snapped at a flea

He snapped at a minnow and he snapped at me!

He caught that mosquito, he snapped at the flea,

he snapped at the minnow and he snapped at me!

 

In class, we worked together to identify the each word in the first two sentences. Then, each child got a handout with each word 'dotted'. We read the first two sentences together as a class, focusing on pointing to each word as we read. We worked on the sentences in small groups all week, and the students got to take home their handouts. Have your child read the poem to you!

 

 

Graph Mat

We made a floor graph last week! :) We sat in a circle and each child got a shape. They worked together to figure out where to put their shapes to make a graph. The first time we graphed by color, the next time we graphed by shape.

During center time, the students took turns recreating our graphs in small groups.

An Orange in January

Ms. Burbage read the students the book, An Orange In January (above) and passed out orange slices for the students to try. They agreed that an orange tastes just as good in January as it does during the summer. :)

Gingerbread Display

Our gingerbread men! :)

Corduroy

Our theme this month is 'Homes'. Last Friday, we read the book Corduroy. We talked about how Corduroy wanted to find his own home. In the art center, we made our own Corduroys. At the end of the day, we all 'held' our bears and read the sequel A Pocket for Corduroy.

 

Partner work

 

We do a lot of 'partner work' or teamwork during our math lessons. Here is a picture of the students working together to make different patterns. They were each given a handful of unifix cubes, had to put together their cubes in an ABAB pattern, and then had to find a friend whose blocks would continue their pattern. When they were finished we compared the different pattern towers, talked about which tower had more/fewer cubes, and the students presented their patterns. They are really enjoying math. We talk about how mathematicians count, compare, sort, and measure every day.

Winter Parent Workshop

On Thursday, December 20th we had our winter parent workshop. Everyone chipped in and we had a bounty of food, to include pizza! The parents completed two crafts with the children and we watched a movie of some of the best moments of the year so far. The kids had a great time and are still talking about it a few weeks later. Thank you for your support and for making this year such a success! :)