Our Sight Word Was "IT"

A new sight word! It was "IT". The kids looked at us confused ... it was "short" they said. We came up with a few sentences and got to work on our sight word books. Everyone is doing great with their handwriting! So much improvement. Just watch that pencil grip. Make sure they are sitting up in their seats and feet as close to the ground as possible (you can also put a box or something under their feet so they have something to perch upon ... this will help them a bunch!).

We talked briefly about totem poles since they are something the native americans took part in. Some kids remembered having seen some on tv or elsewhere as we began our discussion. We talked about how animals and nature (water, etc.) are prevalent in their totem pole "stories". So we made up a story of our own. The only direction given to them by their teachers was it had to have a bear in it. They did well. It began, "Once upon a time" and ended "they lived happily ever after". The guts were about bears in the water looking for sharks to eat and princess who was high in a tower above looking down on the animals. Cute! We followed up by coloring our own animal images (whale, bear, beaver, etc.) and made a classroom totem pole.

The gobble, gobble game we played today was a letter recognition game. We play this every year at this time and it can be a challenge for the kids as they haven't been introduced to all the letters yet. Our group did sooooo well. The children stand on the circle rug (in a circle). They march to a cute phrase and we call their name to see if they can locate the colored "feather" (construction piece of paper with a letter on it) with the letter we cite. Keep up the good work at home. Towards the end of the year, we will bring in the lowercase letters, too and totally confuse them!

Mrs. Erikson came in today and spoke to the kids about Mr. Rembrandt. She discussed how in his day there were no such thing as cameras and how if we wanted a photo of our family some artist had to paint it. So they tried their hand at making a family portrait with oil pastels. Mrs. Erikson encouraged them to use lots of color and include all family members. Many included their pets. They turned out beautiful.

We ended the day by making native american headresses. The kids kept calling them "hats" but they understood the "indians" from our country wore them long ago. We have discussed how the indians taught us how to use all the parts of the land and all the parts of the animals they hunted. We also learned how the indians and the pilgrims were friends and shared things.

We spent the last 10 minutes of the day in "centers" making free choices about where, what and who to play with. Interestingly enough, this class really doesn't have "teams" or "favorites". They all play well together! It's wonderful to watch.

Don't forget that your teachers have posted all the photos taken thus far on a snapfish group account. See your teachers for that information if you didn't receive it last week. We will continue to upload photos as we move through the year. In the past, we have asked for donations and printed off about 10 pics for you to have at the end of the year. Typically, they were just pics of your child. This way, we figure you can print off any pic you like. And, there are so many.