ask me about thursday, april 18, 2024

Today we started an author study about one of our favorite authors, Mo Willems!  The children learned a little about Mo Willems life and what inspired him to become an artist and eventually author.  Willems was inspired by the Peanuts cartoons in the newspaper.  He also loved making kids laugh as he was growing up.  Willems wrote for Sesame Street and had two cartoon shows.  We watched Mo Willems perform his first book, Don't Let the PIgeon Drive the Bus.  We brainstormed some other things we thought the pigeon should not do.  We didn't get to do a pigeon guided drawing like I thought we would, but during playtime a few students drew the pigeon and a couple even started writing their own pigeon books, which I had suggested we could do after drawing the pigeon.  They did it on their own!  I love when they get inspired and show their interest in what we're learning in those ways!
We also visited South Carolina in Read the USA today.  We read the book Follow the Moon Home: A TAle of One Idea, Twenty Kids, and a Hundred Sea Turtles.  This book was written by Philioppe Cousteau and is the true story of a class from South Carolina who wanted to do a campaign that would help fix a problem in their community.  The children identified a problem, researched the problem by reading books and talking to experts, and planned and implemented a project.  We read this book now because it's about how humans changed the environment by building beach houses which impacted sea turtles.  Ask me to tell you what the problem was and how the children help to solve it. 

I hope you were able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful day!
​Miss Wolfe