Don't forget that there is no school this Friday, October 8th. I will be looking forward to seeing the class again on Monday:)
We have been learning about pumpkins the past two weeks in science. We labeled the different parts of the pumpkin including the tendrils, vine, pumpkin shell, ribs, and pulp. We have also been learning about the lifecycle of the pumpkin: seed, sprout, plant, yellow flower, green pumpkin, yellow pumpkin, orange pumpkin, back to seed. For art we made torn paper Jack-o-lanterns where we were not allowed to use scissors and had to rip all of the pieces for our pumpkin including the stem, leaves, and jack-o-lantern face. Next week we will start our theme about the farm.
We are finishing up our math chapter where we learned about sorting, graphing, fewer, and more. Next week we will start our chapter on patterning. The kids seem to really love this chapter. We have already been working on patterns during calendar time in the morning and centers in the afternoon. Each month we focus on a different pattern in addition to the chapter on patterning. In September we learned about AB patterns (red, green, red, green). In October we are focusing on AABB patterns (pumpkin, pumpkin, candy, candy, pumpkin, pumpkin, candy, candy).
Each week we are continuing to be introduced to one or two sight words. I have adult helpers that have started playing sight word games with the kids to reinforce these words at school. Once a child masters 6 words, I move them on to the next 6 words that have been taught or will be taught. This way students that need a challenge can learn the words ahead of when they are taught in class and kids that need extra practice can get that extra practice.
We also started calendar books this week. These books will come home about once a month, when students are ready to start the next one. Kids are learning concepts such as odd and even, number writing, counting and adding dice, graphing, reading numbers on dominos, finding numbers on a hundreds chart, and number recognition. Some kids don't quite understand what is being taught yet, but are able to copy the examples on the document camera in the front of the room. This is okay, because we are going to be doing these books all year and I have found they really help children with more challenging math concepts.
