Friday, February 21, 2014

Birthdays, Birch Aquarium, Game Day, and MORE!

Hello again!

Yet another short week that has just whizzed past us!  Here is a snap shot of our lovely adventures together!

We started off our week with a small performance by the Thoughtful Careful Listeners, honoring the 100th day of school and Valentine's Day.  We were the audience as they marched around the playground and then sang a poem, 100 is a Lot!




100 Is a Lot
100 dogs, 100 cats,
100 heads for 100 hats.
100 women, 100 men,
100's more than 5 or 10.
100 buttons, 100 coats,
100 sails for 100 boats.
100 cookies, 100 cakes
100 kids with bellyaches!
100 shoes, 100 socks,
100 keys for 100 locks.
100 puddles mighty dirty,
100's even more than 30.
100 daughters, 100 sons,
100 franks on 100 buns.
100 trees, 100 plants,
100 picnics, 100 ants!
100 is a lot to count,
100 is a LARGE AMOUNT!
100 kisses, 100 hugs,
100 bats, 100 bugs.
100 bees, 100 birds,
This poem has 100 words!

-by Meish Goldish


They finished their performance by sharing a few ideas of how people can spread love today and any day, leaving us with the question: How will you spread love this year?  Check out our responses in the brainstorm below:


Over the home days, another one of our friends turned six and we spent the last part of our day honoring him by singing Happy Birthday, his favorite song, Lean on Me, giving Birthday High Fives, playing another game of Mr. Fox, and sharing a special treat together. 






















We have started a new Story Study, starting with Trina Shart Hyman's version of the Brothers Grimm's, Little Red Riding Hood.  As a class, we documented the first few elements to the story.




On Thursday, with the help of Amanda, Barbara, Brenda (Isaiah's mom), Clara, Danielle, Julia, Marisa, Rita, and Seng, we were able to load up into different cars and get to the Birch Aquarium for our information session on tide pools!


Megan was our guide and facilitated a great Q&A session covering different topics about how tide pools are habitats for special creatures, such as the sea star, hermit crab, sea snail, octopus, and sea urchins.  We also discussed their anatomies, diets, predators, and adaptations.












What happens to a sea snail if he gets scared?  Make a scary face to find out!


He went into his shell!  How do you get a sea snail to come out of his shell?  Make a nice face and see what happens!



Slowly but surely...



He comes back out.




After the Q&A's, the class got the chance to have a hands on experience examining sea urchins, hermit crabs, sea snails and sea stars!


























After lunch, each family driver was able to explore the rest of the aquarium at their leisure.  I personally had a great time watching the student's faces and hearing their excitement and curiosity as they soaked in their surroundings.  Come check out our Discussion Notes Binder to see what the students found to be most interesting!





















We ended our adventure with a nice time with this week's Family Reader, Rita.  She also happened to be the mom of another friend who had their birthday this week!  We spent time to sing Happy Birthday, Lean on Me, give Special Birthday Messages, play Doggy, Doggy, Where's Your Bone, and to have a Special Birthday Treat!






















We ended our short week with another Game-Day, this time trying out new math games!

The 100 Game
Friends take turn rolling the die, counting how many spaces they color in.  The first one to make it all the way to 100 wins!


 

Roll and Add
Roll the die to see which two numbers your need to add up.  Write your equation and find the answer.





Connect the Dots
To help reinforce our counting skills, friends worked on these worksheet puzzles and revealed their hidden images


            

   

Change the Number
We continue practicing place value with this fun game.  Students like to see how big of a number they can create when they change a digit in either of the three place values.




                                 

What fun games do you all play at home?  What skills does your child like to hone the most? Which skills are they still working on?  How do you support their excitement for learning?

Have a great weekend!
Love, Gaby