The Last Two Weeks

The children had a great time building gingerbread houses!  Thank you for all the items you sent in to help make this activity possible.  And thank you to all the parents who were able to volunteer...I really appreciated all the extra sets of hands. 

 

In addition to making gingerbread houses, we have been busy reading several different versions of The Gingerbread Man.  By reading multiple versions we have been able to practice comparing and contrasting.

Social Studies

Our Social Studies focus for the month of December has been cultures and traditions.  Over the past two weeks the children learned about Hannukah, St. Lucia, and about the traditions and culture in Thailand! 

One of the Hanukkah books I read aloud

We were lucky to have Andre and his mom teach us about Thailand!

Our literacy focus for December has been on pattern books.  Since my last post, we have learned the following skills/strategies in Reading:

• When you figure out the pattern in a book, you can use the pattern to "sweep" you across the pages.
• Before a reader begins reading a book, he/she can do a picture walk with a focus on what changes: the object or what the object is doing.
• Readers think about what will happen next in their book and then continue reading to check their predictions.
• Authors often change the pattern on the last page.  Good readers use the pictures, title, and what they have read so far to help them figure out the "tricky page."
• Readers ask themselves three questions when they are trying to figure out a word: Does it look right?  Does it sound right?  Does it make sense?
• Readers use the words, pictures, and title to help them tell what the book is about.

In Writing we have learned:

• Pattern books communicate meaning just like other books.  All the pages should be about the same topic.
• Writers can use the words on the word wall to write pattern books quickly.
• The title of your book holds your book together.
• Writers can get ideas for a book by asking a friend what kinds of books they like to read.
• Writers can change the pattern on the last page.    

In Math we: 

• Learned how to use a pan balance.

9 plus 1 more equals ten

• Learned about groups of numbers that make ten.

•  Created a bar graph to show our favorite colors.  We then analyzed and discussed the data.

• Used a "teen frame" to build and compare teen numbers.

• Used a giant number line to learn about moving forward and back (or adding and subtracting) on a number line.
• Counted all the fingers in our class by 1s.  We then talked about how we could count fingers more efficiently, by 10s.  The children learned that skip-counting by 10s is more efficient than counting by 1s.
• Compared numbers by playing a card game, Top-It.

 








   

• Used a pattern block template to record designs we created with pattern blocks.     

This week we are busy getting ready for our play.  As a reminder, the children will perform Gingerbread Baby on Wednesday at 1:30.  Hope to see you then!