EVERYWHERE  - WORDS, MOTION, SHAPES, PLAY.......

                                            See some highlights below!

 Language Arts activities are always quite engaging.

Dictionary skills were taught to our readers and writers.  The children love words and most of them know where to find words in the classroom - the word wall, their own word walls, words around the classroom, our winter word wall, the science center, and more.

We are continuing our author study of John Burningham.  We just love his books - his imagination! We have been discussing story structure and imagination.  We had some interesting conversations on what is "real" in our imaginations, and what is "real" in the world around us - this conversation continues......

The children continue to love their "frog books." They enjoy creating stories, drawing, or making pictures and writing about them.

The children also practice handwriting and reading in their Handwriting Books.

Reading books and doing a "reading response" was also part of our language arts centers this week.

Christian's mom is reading this book to the class.

 Inspired by the book, the children are having fun designing their own cars.

FIRST GRADE MATH


Here our first grade mathematicians are watching a video about polygons.  The children spent a few math classes investigating polygons.

The first graders are exploring pegboards.

As the children work with pegboards, they are following directions, creating shapes, reading symbols, finding solutions, making predictions, counting, recording solutions, and problem solving.

 Our first grade mathematicians had fun investigating what happens to shapes when they are rotated.  Also the children were shown a video on Shape Rotation and Optical Illusion.

The first grade math students are introduced to 3-D shapes. They began to describe 3-D shapes using math words such as edges, faces, vertices, prism, rectangular prism, triangular prism, and cube. We also described hexagonal and octagonal prisms, as well as the pyramid.  Other 3-D shapes they are investigating are the sphere, cylinder, and cone.

Our first grade mathematicians are building 3-D skeletons of prisms. The skeletons help the children to observe more clearly how shapes are constructed - how many edges, faces, vertices.....

SCIENCE

Motion Words......


     Challenge:  Get the ball to stop as it rolls without using your hands.
     

 

ENERGY IN MOTION
    Exploring ramps at different angles....

As the children shared their findings, they found that they might have to measure speed next time in order to be able to share more accurately how fast the ball rolls on each ramp.

Buddies enjoyed (quite a lot) playing.  Some of the middle school children were very excited to find materials in the K/1 classroom they used to play with seven or eight years ago.

A group of girls presenting a picture story (and words too) they created during free choice.







Have a peaceful week!
Liliana