We have had a fantastic first week of school! Getting a school year under way takes an enormous amount of patience and perseverance on the part of students, with a lot of time spent listening and learning new routines. I am always amazed at how quickly children internalize these routines as they adapt to the flow of our days. A few of the things we have done this week include:

• practiced walking safely in a line as we move through the school 
• learned how to use classroom materials including pencils, markers, scissors, and glue sticks
• learned about reading books to ourselves by looking at the pictures and telling the story
• explored materials that we will use during math
• learned about expectations for using the playground safely
• learned about options for choice time in the classroom
• learned how to connect a color to how we are feeling in a given moment and talked about how this can change throughout the day
• watched a collection of caterpillars eat and grow, including several caterpillars that we found in the middle of the playground (we started wtih 6 and now have 13!)

We will continue to practice all of our routines in the coming weeks and learn a few more as well!

 For the past month we have been working on nonfiction writing. We began by talking about the difference between fiction and nonfiction books, reading several specific examples of nonfiction texts including "Red Eyed Tree Frog" and "Chameleon, Chameleon" both by Joy Cowley with fantastic photos by Nic Bishop, as well as "One Tiny Turtle" by Nicola Davis. After reading each of these we talked about some of the facts we learned from these books, and how fiction might be different.

Children then spent a couple of weeks engaging in nonfiction writing  about any topic they chose. Many loved the idea of using riddles to share information about a topic, presenting facts without revealing the subject  until the very last page. 

Last week we began a project writing about our nature name animals. Eric graciously loaded ipads with books about each child's animal so they were able to learn basic information such as what their animals look like, where theiy live, and what they eat. We finished by creating collage covers. Children are very excited to bring these home!

For the last couple of months we have been exploring similarities and differences among people around the world, focusing particularly on children. We have read several books about children that reinforce the same theme: while we are all unique, in many ways, no matter where we live we have much in common. Some of the books we read were One World, One Day, by Barbara Kenley, This is How We Do It: One Day in the lives of Seven Kids from around the World, by Matt Lamothe, and Wake Up World! A Day in the Life of Children Around the World, by Beatrice Hollyler.  All of these books follow several children from morning through evening as they go through a day, describing simple routines that are common to many, such as eating breakfast, going to school, playing with friends, and getting ready for bed. While these children have noticeably different lives depending on what part of the world they live in, emphasis is placed on their commonalities. As we looked at each of these books we noted things we had in common with these children from all over the world.

Last week we continued this discussion reading the book To Be a Kid, by Maya Ajmara and John D. Ivanko. With the repeating phrase "To be a kid means..." this book carries a similar message that children all over the world have much in common. We followed this book by creating our own illustrations of what being a kid means to each of us.

For the month of April our calendar markers focused on measurable attributes including length, weight, volume, and temperature, along with various tools that might be used for measuring each of these. During Number Corner we practiced identifying attributes that could be measured for specific objects. For example we might measure the length and weight of a marker, but probably not the temperature. We also spent time comparing objects, deciding which was longer, colder, heavier etc. Students particularly enjoyed using pan balances this week to compare the weights of various objects. Perhaps you can tell by expressions that in some cases the results were surprising!