Workshop Rundown: 5/13

 We are finishing the year with our last tapestry - this one is bug-themed!  Based on the book Bugs in a Blanket, everyone made a unique bug.  It's turning out so super cute!

 What fun it was to write a bug-themed comic strip.  I've noticed that a lot of kids were checking out graphic novels during library and they were very interested in them.  To get ready to write our own, we read a lot of graphic novels written for kids and books that use speech bubbles to tell stories, like Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  We talked about how both stories and what the characters say tell a story and how to write and draw the speech bubbles.

The gender differences really came out in the stories!  All of the girl's comics are sweet about love, marriage, and friendship.  The boys have some fighting and challenges going on in them. 

 Everyone had fun illustrating the bug opposite book.

A lot of time recently has been spent on consonant blends.  In the Blends Book, the kids chose a few favorite blends and wrote a word and illustration to represent the blend.

We reflected on the year with a Memory Page for our journals.  We learned a lot in SK this year!

Workshop Rundown: 5/6

This week was filled with lots of BUGZ! and Mother's Day surprises, but we also managed to sneak some learning in too!

On Monday, we all made a set of antennas to help us get in the spirit of our play!  Some wore them during the show.  Some kids are still wearing them today!  While simple, these required the kids to use good fine motor skills and follow directions.

We drew our final self-portraits, as bugs, of course!

We focused on R consonant blends this week.  The kids unwadded a piece of "trash," named the picture and then wrote the word, making sure to write the blend.  Afterwards, the paper was wadded up and thrown into the trashcan - the best part!

We took a walk down memory lane.  Everyone chose 4 photos from throughout the year and then wrote a sentence about them.  If you want to take your own memory trip, just look through past blog posts.  It's amazing all we've done and learned this year!

Workshop Rundown: 4/29

 Did you hear the news? We filled our marble jar again!  For our celebration, the class voted on more outside time.  Luckily, the weather cooperated with us and we enjoyed snack, lunch, workshop, and even rest time outside!  Here we are eating lunch outside.

 Workshops this week were great.

 Everyone enjoyed an exciting game of HFW Go Fish!  This was a fun way to practice all the new words we have learned.

 Currently, our language arts study is on consonant blends.  This is 2 consonants "blended" together such as "sn," "tr," and "pl."  This week, we focused on L blends and made a flower of blends.  The kids took turns drawing a picture out of the flower pot and then decided the blend before writing the word on the flower pot recording sheet.

 Playing language arts and fraction apps on the iPads was a fun way to practice key concepts. 

 Everyone worked very, very hard on writing the Mother's Day Lunch invite.  We hope you find yours in the mailbox soon!

We also spent a lot of time this week working on a special Mother's Day surprise, but we'll keep that under wraps until next Friday!

Workshop Rundown: 4/25

To practice position words, we made a fun little sticker book.  Our new HFW this week are over and under.

 As part of our Earth Day celebration, we sewed up snack bags.  These handy bags can be used in place of plastic baggies and washed so they may be used again and again.

 Of course, we had to fill up our bags with a yummy Blends Snack Mix. 

 We are just beginning to focus on blends - two consonants that keep their individual sounds as they are read together such as pl, sc, and tr.  Our blends mix had trix cereal, craisens, dried fruit, pretzel twists, and sprinkles.

 Everyone was an "ing King" for a day!  The kids are really beginning to understand how to place an "ing" on the end of a word.  After decorating the "ing" crown with pictures and words such as swing, swimming pool, and king cobra, it was worn proudly around.

 Our word family study this week was on U.  For a challenge, the kids had to create their own words using the U Word Families.  This was a big challenge for many!  They worked together in their groups and did a great job.

We also drew our April self-portraits.  Such fun, sunny pictures!

Seeds, Seeds, and More Seeds!

To start off our week, we went on a seed hunt.  The kids cut open various fruits and vegetables looking for seeds.  We discovered that seeds come in all different shapes, colors, and sizes.  Some seeds you can eat and some you don't.   We planted various seeds and look forward to seeing what sprouts.  

We also had fun sampling the various fruits and veggies.  Unfortunately, I was so busy exploring with the kids, I forgot to take pictures!  Ask your child about the seeds we discovered.

After writing a class seed story last week, the kids had fun creating their own, original seeds stories, on seeds, of course!  While each story is different, they all have the same components of how a seed grows into a flower and then produces more seeds.

The seed stories are strung on green yarn and will go into a cute little seed packet the kids will make tomorrow.

In Discovery today, we read about the parts of a flower and created a collage flower using yarn for the roots and actual flower seeds for the seeds!  After making the collage, the kids used their National Geographic Explorer magazine to label the parts of a flower.

Workshop Rundown: 4/8

Once, there was a little seed. It grew and grew and became a big sunflower. Then, it began to wilt and dropped its seeds. Once again, there was a little seed...

We are learning about seeds and the cycle of seeds.  After reading Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed, the kids worked together to create a collage and write about a part of the sunflower seed cycle.

Writing together required a lot of concentration and thought.

The story is outside in the hallway.  We'll tell it to you soon.

Everyone made a "Smart Flower" to display on the SK bulletin board.  We've learned a lot this year!

Right outside our classroom, we can see the cherry and dogwood trees in bloom - so beautiful!  Everyone had fun making flowering trees with tissue paper.  I have fond memories using the eraser end of a pencil to create flowers with little squares of tissue paper and love to share this technique with the kids.

We are now working on the I Word Family.  The challenge was thinking of an additional real word for each Word Family.  Be sure to read this book with your child.

This week, we focused on the "CH" digraph with chewy chocolate chip cookies!  Yum!  After flipping over a paper cookie, the kids said the picture on the cookie and decided if the CH was at the beginning or end of the word.  Then, they wrote the word.  Everyone did a great job hearing and writing the CH sound.

Bonus - as they worked, they got to munch on some chewy chocolate chip cookies!

Workshop Rundown: 4/2

This week, we continued to talk about eggs.  The kids had fun "cracking" an egg to reveal a mixed up sentence.  Each sentence contained the word "egg."  Here, the kids are learning sentence structure, word order, and remembering that a sentence begins with an uppercase letter and ends with a period.

 Making chocolate nests was the most fun!  The recipe card will tell you how to make these sweet treats at home!

We went on an egg hunt!  Each hidden egg contained a HFW.  The kids walked around the room looking for hidden eggs, reading the HFW inside each one, and then marking it off their recording sheet.

We have been talking a lot about oviparous animals - animals that lay eggs.  Everyone chose an oviparous animal and then wrote clues about their animal on an egg.  Lift up the egg, and you'll find out which oviparous animal it was!  These fun "Who Am I?" writings are hanging in the hallway.

This week, we began to explore digraphs - these are 2 consonants that make a new sound when blended together such as "sh," "th," and "ch."  To work on "sh," the kids sorted shoes in a shoebox to find the beginning and ending "sh" sound.  Then, they wrote the words.  In this activity, the goal is for kids to recognize the "sh" sound as well as write it correctly.

After working with the "sh" sound,  the kids had fun practicing tying shoes.  At this age, shoe tying is very developmental and takes a lot of time and practice.

Our word family this week was E.  Everyone is catching onto the word families so well!  Be sure to read this book with your child.  Our challenge was to write an additional word for each word family.