Now I know my ABCs....

Now I know my ABCs....but first, let's talk turkey.  I waited to post a blog update until today since this was a short week. But last week was all about our Thanksgiving traditions. Each day, we added to and read our Thanksgiving dinner anchor chart and practiced using our newest reading tool - Stretchy Snake.

We've been working on sounding words out for a while but mostly just isolated words, not within text.  Now we are ready to move on from simply making the first sound of an unknown word and using the pictures for help.  The unknown words on the anchor chart weren't exactly easy. So we learned to pick up on the pattern - the second word was always a family member's title. The last word had to be a Thanksgiving food word. This helped us narrow down our choices after making several sounds.  

We made a graph to record our favorite Thanksgiving foods. 

Then the students wrote about the foods they couldn't wait to eat on Thanksgiving.

As you can see from Morgan's journal, the students also wrote about who was in their family after we read the book, "Thanksgiving at the Tappletons'" by Eileen Spinelli. 

The students had the chance to set the Thanksgiving table and serve the food in the blocks center this week. Mr. B (our PE teacher) let us borrow his SUPER cool play food. It feels really neat and looks SO real.

In the number work center, the students played Turkey Hunt, reinforcing ten frame recognition, addition, and subtration skills. 

And here's some adorable turkeys.

The students built their own turkey in the math games center, just like the game we play during calendar time on the Smartboard everyday. 

The students had to search for number pairs in the box of beans and clip them together in the fine motor/sensory center. We called the game, "Don't Spill the Beans."  (And thank goodness no one did)!

In the word work center, the students had to practice sounding out words to pair them up with the pictures.  Then they wrote the words onto the corresponding worksheet.

This was the first week the students didn't have a letter handwriting practice worksheet in the writing center.  Now that we're finished with the letters, we get to to do more exciting things- like using magnifying glasses to spy teeny tiny words on a turkey. There were 15 sight words typed in a 6 point font hiding on the turkey's feathers. Once a student found one, they wrote it on the right hand side of the worksheet. Most of the students found and wrote all of them!

In our literacy groups, instead of focusing on a letter, we worked on recognizing, writing, and reading rhyming words; specifically those belonging to the -at, -an, -og, and -op word families. 

At the end of the week, we made our Christmas hallway display using this new skill. The students cut out the candy canes, glued the word pieces on, and wrote the beginning letters to make their own rhyming words

There were a few other activities last week - pajama day was one of them.

Some of the activities we had planned for last week had to be carried over to Monday since we had that record-breaking snow day.  One activity was coloring, cutting, and gluing some fun turkeys.

Another was painting their hands to create cute, keepsake turkey hand prints.

And the other was watching "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and then sitting down to our very own feast - just like the one they had in the movie.

And now, without further ado.....the ALPHABET PARTY. 

They made their names using marshmallows and toothpicks

We played alphabet bean bag toss

Alphabet (Initial Consonants) Bingo

Snack table

Searching for letters 

Write the Room

The First Thanksgiving Story

 This week we heard the story of the pilgrims, the Native Americans, and the First Thanksgiving. We practiced listening for "key" details from the book we read, "The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving" by Ann McGovern. We used the chart to retell/summarize each day before continuing the story.

We sorted through things that were from way back then and things we have/wear/use now. The students reached into the mystery box, pulled out a card, and posted it to the correct side of the chart.

 

Immediately after this whole group activity, the students sorted the same items themselves using brown and orange crayons. 

 

A few of the centers reflected our "First Thanksgiving" theme this week. In the number work center, students rolled two dice, added them up, and covered the corresponding ten frame with foam feathers. 

 

They built log cabins in the math games center. First they spun the spinner and had to solve the addition problem. They added that many logs to their cabin. 

 In the fine motor center, the students arranged feathers on a basket.

 

The students put CVC word puzzles together in the word work center. 

 

Our theme inspired a couple of our journal writings this week. We compared the pilgrims' pioneer life to camping. The students told whether they'd been camping before and if they liked it.  We also talked about the chores the pilgrim children had and the students wrote about chores they had to do at home. 

 They got a chance to share their work with the rest of the class. They loved this!

 We wrapped up our unit on Fun Friday by watching "The Mayflower Voyagers" (the Charlie Brown movie) and making our own Native American stories using pictograms. They got to use markers- always a big deal!

 

When their stories were finished, I had them wad their papers into balls. They were very confused. 

But then I explained how we were making the paper less stiff and making it look worn like the material the Native Americans would have used.  Then they were very into it. 

 

 We also did another "Write the Room" activity (unrelated to the theme).  The students have only done this one other time, but it's one of their favorite activities. 

 

 For the students who are working on letter recognition and aren't quite ready to write word lists, they searched the room for each letter of the alphabet, turning down the letter flap once they found it.

 Now that we're in the month of November, our calendar activities have changed. The students guess then extend an ABC pattern of yummy Thanksgiving foods. 

  Next, they work on recognizing and decomposing teen numbers in the "Who's Coming to Dinner?" page. Each child gets a turn to spin the spinner and then set out that many plates for their Thanksgiving dinner.  The top ten frame is the grown-ups' table and the bottom ten frame is the kids' table. Once a number is spun, I always ask, "How many will be at the grown up table? How many will be at the kids' table?"Then we record each child's number and review the highest numbers and lowest number so far.

 

On the next page, the students go against the other class to build the best turkey.  They look forward to seeing what piece the other class has gotten each day. This activity builds up our addition skills. We either add using our fingers or by drawing little dots beside each number.   In a few weeks, we will use a number line to add. And then in a month or so, we will begin using the "Smash" method. More on that in December....

 

The final page of the November calendar is for tracking our days in school. This activity teaches us about place value and it also gives us a movement break.  However many days we've been in school, we do that many exercises. 

 To make up for not posting last week (and to help me remember what I did for the sake of planning next year) here is an all photos recap. It was fairy tale week.

We identified characters, setting, and sequenced each story.

Students retold their favorite fairy tale in their journals.

We used the "draw a picture" method to solve addition problems to 5. 

They built the 3rd little pig's house in the math games center.

They rolled dice, added them, and then graphed the sums in the number work center.

They wrote colorful sight words in the word work center.

They worked on their cutting skills in the fine motor center, then later used the pieces to create a fun math-focused craft.

We had two students receive the award for responsibility: Amelie and Tommy

 I'll leave you with this sweet pic of Afton and his dad, who we honored at our Veteran's Day program this week. Thank you, veterans!