Pilgrim and Indians

We began the week with a left-over hibernation project from last week.

The children thought about what they would bring with them, into a cave, if they hibernated. Then drew their hibernation caves with a white crayon to stand out against their very dark caves.

I loved asking them all about their pictures - don't worry, I wrote it all down for a cute caption in their Portfolios, where you'll see this masterpiece! Hot Chocolate, pillow pets, iPhones, and siblings were a few of the listed "hibernation must-haves".

Then, of course, we had to add a little softness to our hibernation caves - so we glued some fluffy cotton balls around us for comfort.

We learned how the Pilgrims came across the ocean on the Mayflower, and how the Indians were a great help to them. We talked about how the Indians knew how to use the land for food, housing, and transportation.

Then we made our own canoes . . .

and decorated them like the Indians might.

Make sure to check out the Thanksgiving Feast pictures they brought home today - they turned out so cute - and I REALLY wanted to steal them for their portfolio's once I saw how cute they were. I resisted the urge, however, and now you can have a cute Thanksgiving Feast on your refrigerator! Make sure to ask them what kind of food they drew.

Oh, I forgot to take a picture of our snack on Wednesday. The kids sat at a long table just like the Thanksgiving Feast table in a book we read - and it was a highlight of the week. We'll do the same thing at our Feast on Tuesday though!

So, not only are we well versed in hibernation, pilgrims, indians, and well on our way to mastering numbers 0-5, we also found Connor's true calling in life . . .

Song Leader :)

When I asked him what song we should sing on Tuesday, he said, "Um, I think I'd like some rocker stuff."

Have a great weekend!

Getting Ready for Winter

This week we discussed how living things prepare for winter. We talked about hibernation and migration. We also talked about what animals do if they don't hibernate or migrate.

We began the week by created a KWL chart on "Getting Ready for Winter".

K- what we know, W- what we want to know, and L- what we learned.

We listed all the things we know living things do to prepare for winter, and talked about what we'd like to learn more about. At the end of the week, we listed all the things we had learned throughout the week.

We painted Fall Landscapes and wrote poems to go with them...

We began our pictures using a black crayon to create an outline for us to paint in. The children had a fun time mixing and creating new colors with their paints. At one point, it seemed like we were playing musical chairs, as they called out in excitement - "Wow! Look at the color I just made!" And they all had to come over to see the new color :)

I told the "Story of a Tree" - the cycle of the seasons - and we played a game to enforce this concept. We had four baskets, each labeled with a tree from one of the seasons.

The children took turns choosing an item of clothing from a box . . .

Deciding which season we would most likely wear it . . .

And sorting it into the correct season's basket.

We ended our unit on patterns this week.

For our end of unit test the children had to create their own patterns.

And for Therrific Thursday . . .

We got to play with REAL play money :) The kids loved it!

Next week our theme will be Pilgrims and Indians. We'll also finish up a hibernation project. Our math unit will be a review of numbers 0-5. An important part of this unit is introducing correct number formation.

For Your Enjoyment!

Here's the promised video of your cuties jamming it out with "Hey Diddle, Diddle".

Logan and Connor desperately attempt some break dance moves, while the girls keep it real with air instruments :) Just so you know, Ellie is the song leader for the week, that's why she's sitting in the teacher's chair for the majority of the song.

It's November!

Can you believe it's November already?

And as Connor puts it . . . . . .

Our new month song is revealed!!!

One of our weekly jobs is "Calendar".

Here is Kensington fulfilling her responsibilities as Calendar girl.

The kids love this job! And, this is our calendar flower I mentioned in our last post - it's the official pointer for the job - very professional :)

We continued our unit on patterns this week.

Next week we'll have our unit "test" on patterns.

This week our theme was "Fantastic Fall".

We discussed the signs of fall and then went on a Fall Walk to collect all things pointing to the season fall: berries, pinecones, acorns, fallen leaves, etc.

PS- I didn't let them grab any nut gathering squirrels for their bags :)

Then, we took our collected leaves....

And made a leaf rubbing book.

At first the children were . . . a little less than enthusiastic about the activity -seeing as they all have an internal voice chanting - center time, center time, when is it center time? BUT, once they discovered how magical it seemed - rubbing a piece of paper and a leaf appearing - they couldn't get enough of it!

(It also doubled as a color word activity - sneaky, sneaky, I know)

I'll have these books put together for them to take home on Tuesday - so keep your eye out for them!

Favorite activity of the week:

Reading our Balanced Literacy Book -"Fall"- outside, in a fall setting, sitting in leaves, acorns, and berries!

Each child took a turn, as an independent reading activity, and read to the class. It was too stinkin' cute! I should have video-taped it! Don't you love Reese's pose?

And of course, we always have a fun activity to celebrate our Therrific Thursday's

Duck, Duck, Goose!

Next week we'll continue Fantastic Fall, with "Getting Ready for Winter"!