Fairy tale week

Journal time Thursday morning: "Alright boys and girls, close your eyes. Now I want you to imagine for a moment that you are in a magical land where you have been turned into someone VERY special. You might be a Princess, a Knight, a King, or a Queen. You might even be a big scary protector, like a shark or a dragon! (everyone had their eyes closed and began to gain a slight smile in the corner of their mouth. I could tell in that moment that they could SEE who they became!) 

Imagine that you live in a far away land... Where are you? Amongst trees in a forest? Up on a hill? Under water?

Your house has turned into.... a castle!... What does it look like? Imagine how many towers your castle has, what shape your door is, and how many people live there with you. 

Open your eyes. I want you to keep that special vision in your head and go draw what you just saw and tell me your story"

This is Hayden's Castle. It is on the ocean floor, her family has turned into mermaids! She is the Princess, who is taking a horse drawn carriage ride (on the left side of the castle) to her new under water home.

Another castle activity: Students had to work as a team to build a grand castle using all the blocks from the Construction center. They got so creative and thought of every detail! I saw gates, motes, guardian animals who would defend intruders, the whole bit. So cute!

Rishabh made all three of the bears from Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

5 Senses

See it, hear it, smell it, taste it, touch it! That was our focus during this week of the 5 Senses. Here are a few activities we did to explore and experiment:

Items were put in socks and passed around the circle for students to feel. It was SO hard not to peek inside, but it was fun to guess what each item was! (see and touch) 

This was one of our musical jam sessions with the 

instruments  you all made as a family. We played a few memorable games, but the most fun was Simon Says- calling out sound groups to see what it sounded like using different sound combinations. (hear and touch)

Finally, we learned about our taste buds and sense of smell by exploring different foods. Students learned about the different types of flavors (sweet, salty, bitter, and sour) and ate a sample of each. How do you think Jake liked his lemon?? lol! (taste and smell)

Reading Buddies

We have begun reading buddies in our class! Each day after snack students meet with their buddy to read to one another for a few minutes out of a book that has been matched to his/her reading level.

Students change their partner each week to ensure that they meet with students of varying reading ability.

Some weeks students are paired with classmates of a higher reading proficiency, allowing them to see first hand that the more you practice, the better you will read. Other weeks your child will be the stronger reader, allowing  confidence building within themselves. Or children will be paired with a similar leveled reader to be able to share struggles and successes.

During this time each day I put on quiet music. Students are to read and stay with their partner until the music is turned off, at which time we will come back together as a group and share stories with one another about what we read.