MLK, Stone Soup, Maps and MORE!

Good morning!

Welcome back and please enjoy the recap from this week's adventures with the Hardworking Journalists!

We came back from our holiday break and reflected on why we had an extra home day to spend with family.  Friends shared what they knew about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., about what life was like during his movement, and what his wishes were for the next generation.

Many friends wished to see what MLK looked like, so we looked a few images on him found on the internet and talked a bit about how we felt about his message, and if we agreed, how we would practice it.  You can read about their ideas in our Discussion Notes Binder. 

This week, we finished our Story Study of Stone Soup and completed our Venn diagram to compare and contrast Tony Ross' and Marcia Brown's versions of the story.  We have moved into the planning process of performing a Reader's Theatre of the stories!  We started out by listing which roles we would need actors for and held our first series of auditions.  After each group did their best pantomiming of what their character did in the story, we held a vote for whose performance was most clear.

Since we had a shorter week, Beth offered to squeeze in our Gardening class time to be combined with our Thursday morning Buddies time!  As the garden continues to grow many vegetables, harvesting them and making a salad to enjoy with our friends is a great way to celebrate our hard work!

It turns out our Buddies have never cooked together as a class, so the Hardworking Journalists helped them stay safe and worked the whole time to make a great tasting leafy salad!

After the salad was ready, the dressing committee came around to offer friends a splash of their tasty vinaigrette.  The class enjoyed the fruits of their  labor with their Buddies.

Thank you to all of the families who helped bring in an ingredient for our two versions of Stone Soup.  It was very much just like Marcia Brown's rendition where each community member contributed something small to help create a wonderful dish for all to enjoy!  The students worked hard to prepare each ingredient into bit size pieces.  

When all was said and done, we let to two crock pots cook on low overnight and when I got to work the next morning, I was welcomed by a magical aroma!

Marcia Brown's Stone Soup

Tony Ross' Stone Soup

On Friday Morning, Brian invited us to join him at the park to make up for our lost time together on Monday.  He set up a number of stations for the students to practice large motor activities that centered on team work, and working core body parts and muscles!

After that hard workout, the class came in ready to fuel their bodies with hearty Stone Soups.  Sitting at a large dinning table, each student took in a deep breath to see what magic smelled like, and then lifted their spoons to try out first Marcia Brown's version, and then Tony Ross.  Most students enjoyed Marcia Brown's recipe most and came back for 2-3 servings!  Tony Ross was just as tasty to some but not all.  I think everyone was very brave and excited to see what it would taste like and were not disappointed!  You can check out what they thought about this experience in our Discussion Notes Binder!

In other news, we are still continuing our study of where we live, focusing on San Diego for now.  We used Google maps to help us research more about the surrounding areas found in San Diego, and to take a closer look at our neighborhood, Scrips Ranch!  Check out our Discussion Notes Binder to read more about what the students found interesting about these maps!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come in to the classroom sometime this week to see what your child is most curious about this week!

Love, Gaby