Workshop Rundown: 2/4

We had fun reading HFW sentences and adding punctuation to the ending. This activity was quite challenging and the kids had fun reading the sentences in different punctuation voices.  Practice reading them at home.  They use many of the HFW that are not in our books.

 XOXO BANG was a fun way to practice our HFW.

We Love GSL!  Everyone had fun writing about what they like best about GSL.  While most love the playground, some wrote about learning....

 The G and J sounds are some of the hardest sounds for kids to distinguish.  The kids sorted /G/ and /J/ words into a gumball machine or jellybean jar and then labeled the pictures.  What great practice!

 Our new book this week is Sit, Lil and new HFW are from and had.

 Everyone had fun playing Chutes and Ladders.  Games are such a good way for kids to develop strategies as well as strengthen social skills that will last a lifetime!  P.S.  That's our new friend Leon playing with Tessa and Alex in the middle.

 At the light table, the groups worked together to write HFW.

Celebrating 100 Days of School

The 100th Day of School is such a big celebration in SK!  All year long we work on counting how many days we've been in school and finally, we made it to 100!  Anna had the honor of being the Days in School Counter this week - such an exciting job!

Next, we went to the Crazy Critters classroom to join the rest of SK for a story, sitting still for 100 seconds (quite a feat with 66 SKers!) and instructions for the party.

Trying to figure out which bag has exactly 100 items.  (it's the middle one with 100 paperclips if you're wondering)

Counting by 5's to 100 by coloring in coordinating squares. 

Working with Mrs. McLaren from Computer on a hundreds chart app.

Sorting and graphing the bags of 100 items we brought in for Show and Tell.

100 pieces of snack!!!!!

Stringing Fruit Loops to 100.  The pasta acted as separators so the kids could keep track and count by 10's.

Making a fun picture using the number 100.

Coloring a hundreds chart by 5's, 10's, and 2's.

Doing 100 exercises!

Counting out 100 cents to trade into a dollar.  THEN, you got to "buy" something at Mrs. Donald's Dollar Store!

The 100 crowns were worn proudly throughout the day!

Whew! I'm tired!  But, I wonder what the rest of the year will hold....

Workshop Rundown: 1/28

 This week we worked on the short U sound.  As in umbrella or duck or stuck.  After reading the very silly and clever book Stuck about a boy who throws all sorts of funny things from a shoe to a whale up in a tree to get his kite out of a tree, we retold the story using short U words.  During Workshops, the kids made their own trees that were filled with all sorts of short U words that had gotten stuck.

 What would you do with $100?  The kids got to write about what they would do using a $100 bill with their face on it!  The answers were all over the place.  Some bought servants, others gave the money to others, and a one bought some cute cowgirl boots!

Everyone read the new take-home book Hat, and made new HFW flashcards did and for.  Then, they wrote a "polar bear" conversation between a mother and cub.  Many of our little polar bears were hungry and there was lots of sweet "I love yous!"  too!

 What would it be like to live to be 100 years old?  What would you do, wear, look like?  We explored this by creating a 100 year old self portrait and writing about what we would do.  As you can imagine, there was lots of gray hair and canes.  Most kids wrote about playing with grandchildren.  So sweet!

To continue our Arctic study, the kids made Life Cycle of a Penguin wheels to illustrate how a penguin goes from egg to chick to penguin.

Fun at the Pink Palace

Our field trip to the Pink Palace was a wonderful adventure.  Not only did we have fun, but we had the opportunity to experience first-hand so much of what we had talked about in class about the polar regions.  The kids were able to make connections between what we talked about in class and the information given during our Discovery Lab class.  I was impressed with their knowledge and levels of questions. 

First, we learned a lot about how scientists survive in the Arctic regions.

This shoe is almost as big as Will!

Trying on a heavy coat.

Thomas, those aren't boxing gloves, they are super warm mittens!

Experiencing "white out conditions" in Antarctica.  The kids used a rope to find their way home.

The best part, though, was learning about the Arctic animals.  We had the opportunity to touch many furs and see some actual bones and teeth of Arctic animals.

These Arctic hare furs really are as soft as we imaged them to be!

Petting an Arctic wolf!

A real penguin egg.

We examined a tiny penguin feather.

This tooth once belonged to an Orca Whale.

Passing around the pelts.  The kids talked about the differences in the animal's size, softness, and color of coats.

Once our Discovery Lab was over, we explored the museum.

Umm...I think that owl just blinked.

Learning about the lifecycles of bugs.

Blubbery

As part of our Arctic Animal unit, we made little polar bears to talk about blubber and how the animals keep warm.

To get started, we explored the concept of blubber with the famous blubber glove.   Instantly, the kids understood the purpose of blubber.

Then, we created these cute little polar bears covered with blubber and fur.  I created a simple black line of a polar bear using clip art.  The kids cut out the bear and laid it on a craft mat.

First, a thick layer of blubber was painted on. The blubber is actually plain old white school glue.  The kids loved painting it on and talked about how thick their "blubber" was.

Next, a fluffy layer of fur was added.  We used batting as the fur but stuffing and cotton balls would also work.

A button eye and felt nose were added using the blubber glue.  This touch gave each bear its own personality.

Once dry (they did take a day to dry due to all the blubber!), the class worked together to make a super cute bulletin board with icebergs in the Arctic Sea.

Workshop Rundown: 1/22

This week zoomed by! Not only was it a short week, but we had a great field trip to the Pink Palace Museum as well. We only had 3 workshops this week.

We read our first decodable book, Sam Sat.  These books do not have any pictures in them, but ask us to sound out words to read.  Yes, we are reading!  Our new HFW are by and come.

After reading the book, the kids put together HFW sentences that included the word "snow."  Some of these sentences proved to be quite a challenge and made us think about how a sentence works.

A 30 minute period was spent on Arctic research.  Each child filled out a research sheet with information about a chosen animal.  They wrote down three things that they knew about each animal and then asked a question about the animal.  Then, they got to say why they chose the animal and added a photograph.  The questions were often very insightful and thought provoking.  How do Arctic Hares change colors?  Which is bigger a fox or a wolf?  What does the skull of a narwhal look like?  We used the internet and books to find the answers.

Lastly, we reflected on Martin Luther King, Jr. and his dream.  We thought about what kinds of dreams we have for our world and wrote and illustrated them.  Such wonderful thoughts!