You're amazing children were hard at work this week making very special mementos for the end of the year. I don't want to give anything away so I won't be sharing any more information :) Don't worry Dads...we have you taken care of as well!!
In Fundations, we continued to practice sentence dictation and proofreading by tapping out each word and checking from capitalization and punctuation. We also learned a new Trick Word: from. The children amaze me day after day with all the words they know now!
Also in Fundations, I read a nonfiction story to the children about cows. Last week I read the fiction story "Not Now!" Said the Cow by Joanne Oppenheim and we compared and contrasted the two books. The children learned that nonfiction texts sometimes include a table of contents, bold words, headings, and a glossary.
Before reading the nonfiction text, we looked at the front and back cover and discussed the title, author and illustrator. Then, I read the book and after each page, I asked the children to name one true fact that they have learned. Some of the facts they recalled include:
- A male is called a bull and babies are calves.
- Cows can live up to 25 years.
- Dairy cows are milked two times per day.
- A cow chews her cud (regurgitated, partially digested food).
In Math, the children played the "Number Grid Search Game." I explained that it was kind of like "Pin the Tail on the Donkey." I called out a number on our class hundreds chart between 0 and 100. I then asked a volunteer to close their eyes and try to place an x on that number on the number grid. The class gave direction clues (higher, lower, the other way, near the top) to help. They LOVED this!
The next day, we reviewed how tally marks work, emphasizing that after you draw 4 up and down you always do the fifth tally as a diagonal across the first 4. Then, I displayed a group of pictures on the board and asked the children to count and tally. They wrote their answer on their "hands" (aka hand-shaped dry erase boards) and then they held them up so I was able to quickly scan the room. Take a look below :)
The children also recorded how many inches their grass grew in their grass journals! I think the longest blade of grass in our class is over 8 inches long!
Thank you to Marakee's Dad and Caroline's Mom for visiting this week to read for Marakee and Caroline's summer birthdays. It was so nice to see you both and we loved your two stories – very fun!!
Finally, we wrote a letter to the Gingerbread Man in hopes that he will pay us a visit before the school year ends. I told the children that I mailed the letter after school and that they may hear from him when they return to school on Monday :)
Have a great weekend!
Miss Visicaro
P.S. Wednesday and Thursday are half days. There will be no milk on those days so if your child usually orders milk, make sure you pack your child a drink on Wednesday and Thursday.