Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime!

 We combined my favorite holiday and favorite science unit into one AWESOME week of learning!  Each day we concentrated on one of the senses. We started with the sense of sight.  This was an easy one.  The students were told to look at the Christmas lights (which were turned off) and tell me what their sense of sight told them. Then I turned them on.  We talked about the words we use to describe things we see; shiny, bright, dark, their color, etc. The next day it got more interesting.  We explored our sense of touch.  The students reached into a special box with holes cut out of the sides and described what they felt.  Using only their sense of touch, they decided it was a cookie cutter - and they were right! 

    The next day we went on a smell hunt.  I held a cinnamon scented pinecone in my hands in a way that the students couldn't see it.  Then I had the students smell it.  They described how it smelled and we listed the descriptions on the board. All the while, Mrs. Taylor and Ms. Groom were hiding the pinecones all around the room. Then the kiddos went on a hunt to find where that smell was coming from. 

On Thursday we had a taste test!  The students were shown a red candy and were asked to make a prediction about its taste.  They chose between sweet, salty, sour, or spicy.  Most of the students thought it would be sweet like a strawberry or cherry.  Boy, were they surprised!

It was a Hot Tamale!




Our last day explored many senses at the same time.  The students made cinnamon dough ornaments with dough they could feel - it was squishy, see- it was brown, and smell- DELICIOUS! 
We also painted their hands to make a cute, little, non-breakable snowman ornament!

The centers have been very engaging the last few weeks, as well.  The students had to use their counting skills on the "Wheels of Christmas Senses" in number work, then pin the coordinating numbered clothespin to each amount. This week they have used the counting bears to make all kinds of connections and patterns with numbers.

As a nod to the sense of taste, the students played "Cookies on a Plate" in the math games center last week.  Students took turns rolling a dice (with numbers 1-3 only) and putting that amount of cookies on their plate.  When all the cookies were gone, the students counted how many were on their plates to see who won.   This week they played Trim the Tree addition. The students took turns rolling two die and adding up the dots.  They had to find that number on their Christmas tree ornaments and cover it with a matching counter. 

The blocks center also got a makeover last week.  A Christmas tree was placed in the room for the students to decorate however they chose.  This may have been their favorite center but word work was also a close contender. The kiddos reached  into Santa's Bag (ok, it was a ziplock baggie) and found some of the most in-demand Christmas wishes. They used letter magnets to spell the words on magnetic boards.  If you're looking for a good stocking stuffer, letter magnets would be agreat idea! They LOVE them.

 

And what about our beloved Snowflake?  Well, she was touched (gasp) but all is well. A letter was sent to Santa (thanks to a wonderfully gracious and cooperative parent) and, voila, her magic was back! Here are some of the places we've found her, and the tiny little letter she brought along explaining how she got her magic back.



You can just spy Snowflake to the top left of the bulletin board

Alphabet PAR-TAY! (All-Photos Edition)

Meet **Snowflake**

 Santa sent us a scout elf from the North Pole to keep an eye on things while he makes out his naughty and nice list.  Both classes took a vote and decided her name should be Snowflake. We hope to see her everyday until Christmas break, so long as we can remember the one and only rule - DON'T TOUCH THE ELF! 
   Should anyone touch her, she will lose her magic. You see, every night Snowflake flies back to the North Pole to report all she's seen and heard to Santa. Then she returns every morning to a new spot in the classroom before the children arrive. So far, she's been found on a shelf, playing Uno with some turkeys, and getting into mischief with Mrs. Taylor's stickers.  I have a feeling there's a lot more mischief to come....Check back here every Friday for a weekly Elf Sightings Report. (By the way, if you're looking for the Thanksgiving Song, I'm having some trouble getting it uploaded, but will hopefully get it figured out).

 

Pilgrims, Indians, and Turkeys...Oh My!

Ms. Groom (my student teacher) taught the students all about the very first Thanksgiving this week.  They learned how the pilgrims came to America in the Mayflower and settled under some extremely harsh conditions.  The students wrote in their journals about what they would have to do if they were pilgrim boys and pilgrim girls to help their mothers and fathers. They also wrote/drew about how the pilgrims came to America. I tell the students to draw a picture first and use as much detail as they can.  Once they've done this, we've taught them to label special parts of their pictures.  When they can express themselves sufficiently through drawing, we encourage them to use letters and words to tell about their picture. The students use resources around the room to help with spelling (most of the time, key words can be found written on the board) and they also have to segment (break down) words into their individual letter sounds.  We do not expect perfect spelling. What is most important right now is that the students can recognize the beginning and ending sounds of words.  Anything in the middle is a bonus!



Here, a student shows with a drawing how
 the pilgrims made it to America,
 including details about the harsh
 conditions.  She also wrote a sentence to
describe her picture.   



Here, a student shows a pilgrim girl planting seeds in the garden.  The picture shows some good details and  even a label of "girl." This student will soon begin working on how to use many words to tell about her picture.



For our weekly art project, the students got to make their own Native American "pouch" with a brown paper bag and a black marker (they LOVE markers)! Ms. Groom showed them some examples of Native American symbols and the students got to tell a story with the symbols of their choice.  

 

 We wrapped up the week with a very special guest! Amy Neel (Riley's mom) is a Native American from the Osage tribe. She grew up on a reservation in Pawhuska Oklahoma.  She brought lots of great visual displays such as clothing, pictures, and a feather fan for the children to see and touch.  She  taught them how to say hello and the steps to her tribe's traditional dance!  The students thought this was WAY COOL!  In the video below, you will see the morning class performing the special dance and leave with the message "hohwah" which means 'hello' in her tribe's native language.



Amy dressed Riley in her special ceremonial shaw to show the class.



 



Kaydence gets a feel of the buckskin mocassins.



 

We, of course, had centers as usual this week too.  Ms. Groom made fun Thanksgiving shape mats for the students to sort and match different shapes in the math games center.  In the block center, the students got to experience a tiny glimpse of pilgrim life, as they played with Lincoln logs for the first time. And in word work, they strung letter beads on string to make words.



Allison matches shapes in the math game center



Jace uses the letter of the week to make "ZAP" in the word work center



Clayton gets the hang of building with Lincoln logs.



And, by the way, here's the turkeys we made last week on display in our hallway.