Short...but VERY BUSY!

BOW TIES to welcome Mr. Myler!

           A short week always makes for a busy one. Your children came right back to school Tuesday morning ready to work. They jumped into their literacy centers like they have been doing them for weeks now. We continue to review short "a", consonants v. vowels, handwriting, and ending marks-to name a few concepts.  Please take a look at the pictures below from our mornings this week:

Ms. Lorfing guides the students in a mini-lesson on ABC order!

Page has placed the student names (on the apples) in ABC order and is now writing them down on her recording sheet.

Julian is working hard in his THEME NOTEBOOK!

Lila is reviewing capital letters using the Handwriting Without Tears WET DRY TRY app!

Jake is finding words that rhyme....then he records pairs on his recording sheet!

As a part of our MYSELF, OTHERS AND A CARING COMMUNITY theme, we listen to Backpack Bear Learns the Rules on Starfall.com

Griffin reviews his consonants and vowels.

Raquel works on color words....

Mrs. Waller presents a mini-lesson on punctuation....when do we use a question mark?

Sentence sort....is the sentence missing an ending mark or a capital letter....decide, sort it and then write it correctly on your recording sheet.

This week's listening center: NEVER RIDE YOUR ELEPHANT TO SCHOOL! For their follow-up the children brainstormed a list of other animals you should never bring to school...what would happen???? 

In math this week we have been learning about addends, sums and switcheroos.  We have made addition equations with our bodies and other manipulatives to demonstrate that if 6 + 2 = 8, then 2 + 6 = 8; the SUM does not change (6 + 2 = 2 + 6). This is the commutative property of addition which also applies to multiplication. The children worked independently with dominoes and dice to show that they understand this concept before moving on.  We have also been working on our tallies. After Mrs. Waller read Tally O'Malley by Stuart J. Murphy, the children went on a scavenger hunt around the room and tallied the number of cubbies, computers, plants, balloons, etc that they could find.

Using dominoes to practice our switcheroos!

We also used pipe cleaners and beads to explore this concept!

Switcheroos with DICE!

Tally O'Malley-literature to help us learn about tallies!

The students tally different items around our room. 

Raquel is counting our cubbies!

Jake is counting all of the clothes pins in our room....the bonus problem! It took a while!

In social studies Ms. Lorfing introduced the book, Incredible YOU! by Dr. Wayne Dyer. Dr. Dyer is the author of the adult book, 10 Secrets of Success and Inner Peace....in Incredible YOU!  he has taken these ten secrets and interpreted them for young children.  It is never to early for children to know and realize that they are unique and powerful beings.  He wants his readers to know that each being has everything they need within themselves to create happy, successful lives. After reading the book, each child chose one of the 10 secrets, wrote about it and followed it up with a picture.  

This week, we also talked to the children about how they like to learn. The children responded YES or NO to statements such as the following: I work best when it is quiet, I like to work by myself,  I like to learn by moving around the room, etc.... It is important for the children to begin to recognize how they learn best. The term for this is METACOGNITION - when we think about our own thinking. As they advance in their academic careers they will benefit from this knowledge. We gave the kids examples for times when they are expected to work independently: if you know you are easily distracted by noise, then find a quiet place to work in the room; if you know you work better sitting up at a desk, then find an open spot and sit there.We will share these sheets with you at conference time!

In TNT (Try New Things) Wednesday, the children created cards for their buddies. They were so excited to find out who their buddies will be for the year! We also started to decorate large paper bow ties that the children wore on Friday during chapel as we present a class gift to welcome Mr. Myler into our community!
 

WE LOVE BUDDIES!

Joshua is hard at work on his bow tie...he will wear it with pride Friday in chapel!

In Hands-On Science this week we discussed the difference between non-living and living objects. The children worked together to make their very own collage! They cut out objects from magazines and glued them down under the correct category. We had fun!

Evan, Alex, and Elianna  glue their non-living things down onto our chart!

 

FUN WITH OUR BUDDIES!

 

REMINDERS:
Family Collages due Monday, September 15th
School Pictures Tuesday, September 16th
Send back your picture forms any time between now and picture day!

 We are really enjoying getting to know your children. They make us smile every day. Hope to see you at Family Fun Fest, if not, have a great weekend and we will see you back here on Monday!
SARA AND CAREY