This week in math we continued our exploration of shapes.  Children went on a shape hunt in our classroom and the hall by the gym.  It's amazing how many shapes can be found when we begin looking for them.  We also played a game using shapes and directions.  Children had a 3 X 3 grid with a star in the middle. One partner hid her board and used very specific directions to tell the other partner where to place shapes on the grid.  This was challenging, but provided a great opportunity for naming the shapes to be placed as well as using position words such as above, below, in front of, behind, and for some children even left and right.

To coincide with the coming full moon we read the book Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen, a familiar favorite.  We followed this book with an owl project.  As is typical of this group, I introduced the project and they ran with the idea, adding their own creative twists, and stretching the project over two days.  I thought the owls would look lovely hanging in the classroom,  but there was a strong desire to take them home and play with them!  The moon will officially be full on Sunday night if anyone is inspired to go owling!

This week during writing we began working on "How-to" writing.  We began by brainstorming a list of things that children in the class are experts on:  making a snowman, riding a horse, building an igloo or snow fort, making hot chocolate, feeding a dog, making a snowflake, skate boarding, and so much more.  As we began our how-to writing we focused on telling what to do in steps, numbering the steps, and using detailed pictures to help clarify the steps.  We will continue with how-to writing next week.

We continued our discussion of children around the world with a book called To Be a Kid, written by Maya Ajmara and John D. Ivanko (with a foreword by Martin and Chris Kratt, familiar names to many in the class!)  This book carries the message that children all over the world have much in common, with the repeating phrase "To be a kid means..."  We followed the book with a project illustrating what to be a kid means to each of us.

We also did an experiment to see why salt is used on roads in winter.  It was lots of fun using salt and ice and colored water to answer this question.

In honor of Rainbow Week we used colored pasta to  make rainbow necklaces.  Thanks to Cheryl Joslin for the idea and for supplying the materials.  Enjoy the long weekend!

From what I've heard it sounds like everyone had a fantastic vacation.  We have really appreciated having snow since our return to school.  Thank you for sending your children with appropriate clothing each day- it makes it much easier to actually enjoy the snow if they are warm and dry!

In math we have started a unit on geometry.  So far our focus has been on observing and describing 2-dimensional shapes, noting each shape's distinguishing characteristics, such as number of sides and corners or vertices.  Children have had an opportunity to make shapes and designs using pattern blocks and  geo-boards, as well as using paper shapes to make pictures.

Exploring shapes with geo-boards.

Since our return we have been exploring similarities and differences among people around the world, particularly children.  The books we have a read do a wonderful job of pointing out that while we are all unique, in many ways, no matter where we live in the world, we have much in common.  One book we read is Shades of People, by Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly.  One page in the book says "Our skin is just our covering, like wrapping paper.  And, you can't tell what someone is like from the color of their skin."    After reading this book we observed eggs, noting the different shades and unique feature of each egg.  After making our observations we cracked several eggs and noticed that while each egg is a little different inside, they are all remarkably alike - sort of like people.   Some of the books we have really enjoyed are One World, One Day by Barbara Kenley, and Wake Up World!  A Day in the Life of Children Around the World, by Beatrice Hollyler.   This book explores the daily routines of eight children around the world from waking up and eating breakfast, to going to school, playing with friends, and eating dinner and going to bed.  While these children have vastly different lives depending on what part of the world they live in, there are also many really important commonalities.

Observing eggs.

*Next week is Rainbow Week!  Each day hot lunch will be based on a color of the rainbow and children are encouraged to wear the corresponding color.  Monday is red day!

On Friday we participated in the Mad River Valley Christmas bird count.  During math, one of our stations was watching the birds at the feeder, recording the number of each kind of bird we saw at a given time (to ensure birds are not counted more than once, the highest number of each species is used in the official count). We began with children counting and sharing results for me to record on the official recording sheet, but quickly everyone decided to do their own recording.  In math we have spent lots of time talking about counting sets of objects in an organized way, making sure that each item is counted only once.  This was tricky with moving birds, but perhaps made it more exciting!  We observed goldfinches, nuthatches, chickadees,  downy woodpeckers, and tufted titmice.  We will share our results with Patti Haynes who is a member of the Mad River birders.   I was too busy recording totals to get many photos, but below is a picture of children recording their own data and avery brief video clip.

During reading we have started to read books that don't have a consistent predictable pattern, which means we really have to pay attention to the words.  We have talked about the importance of making sure that what we read matches the written text and we have worked on several strategies to help with this, including pointing to the words, getting our mouths ready with the first sound of each word, using the pictures, and asking ourselves if what we read makes sense.  We are also continuing to work on learning sight words, as knowing these when we come to them makes a huge difference in our ability to read fluently.

In math we have been exploring ways to compose and decompose numbers to 12.  We have done this in a variety of ways from tossing a set of two-color counters,  building two-color towers with legos or cubes, and playing multiple games that help practice these skills.  As we continue to work on these skills, students are beginning to recognize that each number can be made multiple ways (6 is 3 plus 3 and also 5 plus 1).  To promote flexible thinking we have also used a variety of models to represent our work.

On Friday morning Elizabeth Schwartz graciously joined us to present a puppet show about kindness and brightening the days of others with small kind acts.  She brought in loads of extra greenery to share with us and we spent time after the puppet show making bouquets and hangings, some of which came home and many that were shared around the school.  As a bonus our classroom smelled like eucalyptus and rosemary for the day!

As we are moving into the new trimester, we revisited our "Hopes and Dreams" from the beginning of the year and noticed that most of them have already been met.  We talked a bit about increased expectations as we progress through the school year and children worked on new "Hopes and Dreams".  While not all of these are academic in nature, as we took down the old ones we were struck by the change in both students' art work and their ability to write.  It is very motivating to pause and  reflect on our progress so far.

"I want to count to one hundred."

"I hope to sled with my class."

"I want to learn new letter sounds."

There has been a flurry of puzzle activity recently, and with such a small group we have enough table space to leave puzzles out and complete them over several days.  With this in mind I recently ordered several new, more challenging puzzles.  Working on puzzles is a wonderful way to work as a team and build spatial relations.

We are fortunate enough to have a bird feeder right outside one of our windows and it is fun to check in on the visitors (mostly birds) throughout the day.  To help maintain this interest we made a chart of the birds we've seen and children are keeping track of them by adding tallies to the chart, a great math skill that teaches them to see numbers in groups of five and ten.  On our first day we filled the space for chickadees with 37 tallies (based on their size I'm guessing some are spending most of the day at the feeder and getting tallied multiple times!).  We have now moved onto  a bigger chart. Chickadees and gold finches seem to be the most common, with frequent sightings of nuthatches, woodpeckers, and tufted titmice as well.