We Give Thanks

SK and 3rd grade buddies paired up today to give back.  We worked together to cook a delicious Thanksgiving meal for a family of 11 associated with Streets Ministries. 

Before we started cooking, Richard Vining, dad of Ava (3rd grade) and Elanie (SK) stopped by to tell us all the wonderful things Streets Ministries does.  He told us the history of Streets and thanked us for volunteering our time and energy to feed a family that might not have such a big dinner otherwise.

 In our class, we made desserts!  A big batch of chocolate chip-M&M cookies for the kids.

 Pumpkin pie, of course!

 And an apple pie!

 Afterwards, the SK and 3rd grade got together for a pizza lunch.

What a wonderful way to give back and give thanks with friends!

Nature Walk

What a beautiful day for our nature walk!  We had fun filling our nature bags with a variety of leaves as we explored Central Gardens.

The kids did a great job using their knowledge to identify leaves.  We found lots of oak, maple, and even ginkgo leaves!

What a fun adventure with friends!

Workshop Rundown: 11/12

Gobble Gobble!  We had fun making these glove turkeys!  They are just what you need for your Thanksgiving table.  The best part?  Using hot glue to attach the feathers!

 The kids drew their November self-portraits.

 The class has begun a fall tapestry.  Adding silk leaves is fun!

We wrote about "special times with our grandparents."  These sweet writings are displayed in the hallway.

Workhop Rundown: 11/6

The highlight of this week's workshops was the very yummy and simple acorn cookies.  The kids made one, then wrote how to make it, then got to make another one!  The little kiss is the acorn part and the cookie is the top.  You should try them at home - all you need is mini cookies (we used oatmeal), frosting (peanut butter would be yummy too), and Hershey kisses. 

Our new take home book is The Bug, The Frog, and The Frog.  New words:  on, ten.  After making their cards and reading the book, the kids sorted /D/ words by the beginning and ending sound.  If they finished that, they wrote sentences using the /D/ words.  We are beginning to tell stories in our writing!

Making Fall sentences was fun!  Each sentence and Fall nature item was tucked into a small brown paper bag.  The trick is putting the sentence together in the correct order.  This activity not only practices HFW, but sentence structure as well.  A challenge for some!

The kids worked in groups to weave using paper strips on the giant loom.  Next week, we will weave individual paper placemats.

 In preperation for Grandparent's Day, we made sweet grandparent collaeges.  These turned out so cute!  Everyone made a grandparent and then wrote 6 words that describe their grandparents.  Words such as "happy," "love," and "giving" are placed around the picture.

 We will put these collages up for Grandparent's Day.

Math Tubs

The kids put together numbered unifix cubes in order.  They counted by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's.  This activity proved to be challenging for everyone, even those who are able to count easily.  A number chart helped to keep track.  We will continue to do activities like this throughout the year.

With all the acorns brought in by kids, we had to do something with them!  We tallied scoops of acorns.  Using this natural material was a fun way to practice tallying objects.

Patterns were made with the Halloween stamps.  The kids are really getting more complicated patterns such AABC and ABAC.

The kids played a fun game with the pattern blocks.  Everyone took turns calling out a shape.  Then, everyone got that shaped and used it to make a unique picture.  It was cool to see all the different ways the shapes could be manipulated. 

Workshop Rundown: 10/29

What better way to celebrate the letter L than with lemon-limeade!  We had fun squeezing our lemons and limes and making this lovely treat.  Some loved it, while others made a sour face!

The kids enjoyed writing about their Halloween plans.  Lots of trick-or-treating and dressing in costumes!  This writing activity got many kids beyond the "I see a ...." sentence writing since they had to write about what they were going to do, not just what they drew.  As the year goes on, we will talk about telling a story in our writing.

After reading our new book "The Pot" and making HFW flashcards (are, in, nine), we made a ghostly word book.  The kids colored over ghostly cards to reveal the HFW.  How did we do it?  The words are written with glue first! 

A favorite this week was Ghost Boo!  To play, the kids passed the ghost and drew and read HFW as they went along.  If you draw a Boo! card, you have to put back all the cards you read.  This is a fun way to practice the words!

Happy Halloween!