Shelby Farms

It was big fun at the Shelby Farms Discovery Playground! Perfect weather and a perfect day!

Fly on the Wall

Do you ever want to be a fly on the wall in the classroom and just observe while the kids work together?  Jill and I often find ourselves being a fly.  Just listening and observing while the kids work out problems, discover new ideas, and come up with solutions.  

We went outdoors to work on the final Joe the Ginkgo Tree project.  The class was randomly divided into 4 groups, each representing a season.  They were given the task of writing 2-3 sentences about Joe during their given season. Here is a snippet of what happened.

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.

Math Tubs

The kids are excited about playing Top It!  This game is just like "War" - you flip over a card, and the highest value wins.  If you have a tie, you have a "top off" and flip over another card.  The way we play, Aces are low, Jacks = 11, Queens = 12, and Kings = 13.

We are learning how to tell time and are very excited about it!  To practice, the kids worked in groups to put together time puzzles, matching analog and digital clocks.   In SK, we focus on the hour and 1/2 hour.

Solving subtraction problems using an egg carton calculator!  Each problem began with 12 and the kids removed eggs to find the answer.  A great way to understand how subtraction works.

Everyone had fun using the iPads to practice math concepts such as addition, money, and time.

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.