Catching up!

We have been busy!  We are really enjoying our science unit about weather.  The children enjoy learning about the effects of the Sun on the surface of the Earth.  Today we read a really enjoyable book about the sun called Sun: One in a Billion!, by Stacy McAnulty.  The Sun brags about how important it is in this book.  It's a really enjoyable book filled with fun facts about the Sun.  This is part of a series about space and the ocean so if your child enjoyed this book, they might like some of her other books.  This class seems really interested in space!  
We have learned about the effect of the sun on different objects and food left in the hot sun.  We made some predictions and watched a video to see them tested.  Today we looked at some other materials and made some claims about what we think will happen.  Instead of putting them in the sun outside with the cooler weather, we will be using a light and/or hair dryer.  We will be using what we find out to build a sun shade.  

We studied these two paintings and looked for clues to tell us what the weather was like that day.  Ask me to tell you about the clues we found! 

In reading we have been working to identify characters in the story, events in the story, and comparing texts.  These topics come back again and again throughout the year in Benchmark.  We read Duck on a Bike, by David Shannon, and identified events in the story.  This is a great book to use when introducing events because nearly every page is a new important event.  The children drew a picture and practiced labeling important parts of their picture.  Labeling is a great way to get students listening for sounds and writing down the sounds they hear.  This is a great way to introduce listening to write the sounds because we aren't dealing with all those pesky conventions of writing that can overwhelm a beginning writer.  This supports what we are doing in Really Great Reading at this point.  We are now not only peeling off the beginning sounds, but we are tapping out the sounds in three phoneme words.  The children are using their thumb, forefinger, tall finger and ring finger as they separate the sounds in the word.  This is a really great strategy for the students to use as they write. 
Yesterday we read a book called The Wrinkled Heart, by Tracy Hoexter.  This is a book about a little boy, Elliot, who has a rough morning.  His feelings are hurt, his heart is wrinkled, the response he gets from three different characters.  We wrinkled a paper heart as we listened to the story and heard a part where Elliot's feelings were hurt. Ask me to tell you how his feelings were hurt three times in the story.  As the story goes on, the characters who wrinkled Elliot's heart make amends.  It's a really sweet story to illustrate how what we do and say effects others.  We tried unwrinkling the heart as each character apologized to Elliot, but we found it impossible to get rid of all the wrinkles.  
In math, we have been working on writing numerals, without reversals, and writing them from 0-10.  We have also been working to notice the relationship to five 6-10 have, as well as composing and decomposing different numbers.  We have made it to ten and will be continuing to practice writing numerals, but also learning about story problems and what strategies we can use to solve them.
In Health, we talked about medicine.  We showed a short video and talked briefly about medicine.  I'm including the video below so you can continue to discussion at home.  I did not tell the kids this, but at 4 years of age, I medicated myself and my brother with a bottle of baby asprin.  I liked to share.  My mother kept it in her closet in her bedroom, above the hanging clothes, behind the door frame, and I still managed to get it!  I did not share that with the kids, but it's just a reminder of how kids notice everything!  In those days we didn't have safety lids, so I know things are much safer now but it's still an important topic to discuss.

Have a great evening!
​Miss Wolfe