Our letter this week is "D". So we began the day (as usual Monday's go) with the Big Event. You might recall we do this weekly because studies show that by involving multiple senses in the learning process, students are more apt to grasp what's being taught. In this case, it's the alphabet and the sounds made by letters. So with the "D", we had a "Dig for Dog bones". Mrs. Sapp hid mini dog bones (real) in a bucket of colored rice. The kids got to choose which digging utensil they would use to locate a bone. Then, we had them put the bone on a Doll.
We followed up the Big Event with our typical letter-writing exercise. Everyone is doing very well with these.
We are talking community this week. So, we had a brief discussion about what the word means to them. We had some very insightful responses, like: "It's when someone shares with me and I share with them". And, it really kind of is. We explained it this way: "It's like a neighborhood. In fact, it IS a neighborhood. It's where we all live, work, and play together. So, it's important to be kind and share. But to be helpful and caring, also." They seemed to grasp the concept pretty well. So we worked together putting together an imaginary community. Mrs. Eastman had a vey large pocket chart and some laminated images. She invited all the children in the group to select an item from the circle. We discussed them and put them together in groups. There's that word again. We gave the children an opportunity to group items together (remember our math focus this month and into November?). From the images on the rug, the kids could select a person, a job, the transportation for that job, and a location. They all did a very, very good job. We will continue discussing the community this week as we end the week with our trip through the community and to the Fire Department (on Friday).
In anticipation of the field trip, we did a little number recognition (and ordering) activity as individuals. The kids got a xerox of a long fire hose. They were instructed to put the numbers 1-10 in order on the hose starting from left to right. Just about everyone performed very well. There are still a few of us that are either (1) still working on number identification, and/or (2) don't understand the concept of ordering (age appropriate ... this comes later for many!) These went home today so you can work with your little one if he/she brought something home that looked a little "off".
Mrs. Eastman brought in a pumpkin for a little treat. She filled a cup with a solution of yeast, peroxide, and food coloring. Even though she experimented at home over the weekend (and that went well), it flopped at school. So we had the kids all gathered around. We were excited to watch them observe the solution foaming and oozing out of the jack-o-lantern's mouth. We waited. And waited. Shucks! It didn't work. So we improvised. We didn't want to leave them hanging. Of course, we explained how that's what experiments are. Sometimes they don't work as planned. That didn't appear to appease them. So we rounded up some alka seltzer, put it in a cup and added food coloring and peroxide and stuck it inside the jack-o-lantern. Viola! They loved it. Whew!
Finally, we read a book about emergency and dialing 9-1-1. We followed up with a rhyme and felt board activity and a discussion about what an emergency is and what that means to actually use a phone and "dial" the numbers.
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