Cultivating the Spirit of Giving

Thanks to the generosity of all the parents who helped organize and donate, we had a beautiful morning of crafting on Friday.  The children were engaged in making felt book marks, stuffing herb sachets, decorating picture frames, putting together calming jars, and assembling pine cone bird feeders. In the days leading up to the celebration we talked as a class about the joy we feel when GIVING gifts, especially ones we've made.  Everyone went home with a bag full of items to give if they wish or keep. And of course we had some delicious snack as well.

This was the crew listening to all the options!

Drawing with the Bee Bots

In the days leading up to the winter break it was challenging to stay focused on the present, but the children were certainly "drawn" (pun intended) to this fun twist on working with the programmable Bee Bots...we used them to draw!  By placing a specially made "jacket" with a marker holder over the bot, it could push and pull and marker to make lines on a page.  This took concentration but resulted in some really cool designs that were sent home in folders on Friday.  It also fostered some wonderful partnerships.

Gaining Confidence as Readers and Writers

Our work with "old favorites" continues and this week the children had fun dramatizing The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  We are learning that when we re-tell stories, remembering and even TRYING OUT the character's voices and help us know the story by heart.  Take a look at the children using popsicle stick puppets on self designed bridges to retell the classic tale.

In addition to listening and retelling stories, we are working hard on reading "just right" books and communicating our own ideas through writing.  Here you can see children getting to know a new strategy we call "WORD PART POWER".  That's when you use parts of a word you know to help you figure out a new word.  Word families demonstrate this clearly.  Below you can see children using flip rings and creating slide strips to reveal words with the same ending but different beginning letters.  Check it out-

Stories, Friends and Robots!

Our current focus in Reader's and Writer's Workshop is "Old Favorites"- stories that live in our hearts because they have stood the test of time.  To get us started we fell in love (some of us for the first time and others all-over-again) with Harry the Dirty Dog.  This classic is a model text for understanding the beginning, middle, end story structure.  Below you can see some students using the book to choose the moments they will illustrate to show the story's sequence.

As focused as the children are during work times, most days they are equally focused at Explore time!  Check out the team work knowing that as soon as these designs were created, I was asked to "post them on line"!

In keeping with how tech savvy this crew is, it's worth taking a look on the expressions on the children's faces as they were introduced to the Bee Bots (early programming and coding tool) by Ms. Courcelle.  You can see the intensity with which the children listened, experimented, and then celebrated their success.