This week we have started baking for the bake sale. The children are participating in making raisin cookies, gingerbread cookies and chocolate covered pretzels. They are really excited to get to bake!
The children have also been making paper chains to hang up on the wall and practicing wrapping boxes with decorative wrapping paper. Some of the children are learning about the parts of a penguin and creating books about them. Another new work that has been introduced is pillow sewing. The children have to be able to thread a needle and have been practicing tying a knot to be ready to do this work. The children show great interest in this and it’s fun to watch them create pillows pretty much on their own!
We have also been working a lot with the golden beads. We use the golden beads to learn about thousands, hundreds, tens and units. We can do all of the operations with this material and learn about exchanging. This is usually a group lesson and the children like doing this with friends.
Week of 11/17/17
Hi Families,
This week the bells have become more interesting to the children. The bells consist of a set of white bells and a set of matching brown bells. The bells start at middle c and continue to high c. The children first learn to strike a bell and how to use the damper to stop the sound. Then they practice pairing the brown and white bells. After a child can successfully hear the matching sounds then the lesson on how to grade the bells is introduced. I show them how to grade from lowest pitch to the highest pitch. I also have bells that are used for introducing sharps and flats.
Currently, I have some children that have shown interest in creating their own music. We have talked about what a staff is, a treble (or g) clef, ledger lines and how many lines and spaces are on the staff. We discuss where the notes fall on the staff and we sing the note while striking the corresponding bell. The children who are writing music and playing it on the bells are using a large wooden staff where they place the notes. They then can move the notes around and create new pieces of music.
The bells offer an opportunity to practice discriminating sounds by pitch and this work indirectly prepares children for future musical education. I find that this work can be contagious! Once someone starts playing the bells other children want to do it to. It is always pleasant to hear the bells playing softly in the environment while we all work.
Week 11/10/17
Dear Parents,
This week our class has had an explosion of barn work (function of word), chain counting and work with the hundred board. The maps have been a very popular work as well. Also this week we have put out paint at the easel. The children have been really excited to paint pictures and they have had lessons on how to wash the easel. Some children have been helping clean up our map boards with the table washing work. They are very proud of helping keep our classroom in order.
Now that the cold weather has arrived it is a great time to send hats and gloves. It has been feeling pretty cold when we go outside, before lunch especially. We have been talking with the children that when we go outside we need to wear the coats that we bring to school. We have been encouraging children to help other children zip their coats and have been practicing zipping with the children who haven’t mastered that skill yet. The more independent the children become in getting ready to go outside the quicker they get outside to play! It is wonderful to encourage your child to try to get ready on their own because the more they practice, the more independent they will be.
Rachel, Erin & Britanie
Week 11/3/17
Dear Parents,
Have you asked your child what they did that day and received the response, “I didn’t do anything” or “I don’t remember”? This is a common response that children give to their parents when asked this question. The odds are that your child did do something that day but either doesn’t remember or doesn’t want to talk about it. I have put together some helpful hints to start a conversation about your child’s day.
First ask open ended questions that require more than a yes or no response. Questions like “what did you of their day. You can also use school work to help start conversations with your child. If your child brings home something they made at school you can ask them to tell you about it. Another way you can get a conversation started is to model communication. Talk about your day and what happened to you. This gives your child a great example of how to communicate.
