Week 9: Rain Rain Go Away!

Just a reminder that Parent-Teacher conferences are coming up the week of Nov 6^th.  There will be a sign up sheet in the coatroom with 20 minute time slots after school and on Saturday, Nov 11^th.  If you need a different time or childcare on the Saturday time slot, please contact me.

To summarize this week we faced unusual challenges and overcame them.  As a school we celebrated international day and tour the upperclassmen projects.   We started merging our Spanish curriculum with geography curriculum.   As the end of the month approaches, we started reading Halloween theme books that all had similar rhyming patterns as some of the poetry we had been reading and we also finished our reading of Charlotte’s Web.  We also looked at another important seasonal celebration in the Hindu culture: Diwali. 

Monday:  At morning circle read Pumpkin Eye, by Denise Fleming.  Everyone seemed to jump into lessons.   Popular lessons were landform mat, grading cinnamon, nametag tracing, atomic board, sandpaper letters, and pumpkin pouring.  New works include montessori bells tune matching, pressure springs, bell math, and number elephant puzzle.  At the end of the day we read Charlotte’s Web.

Tuesday:  At morning circle we talked about Diwali and told the Ramayana story.  The children have an opportunity to do related art or story making.   We also snuck in a 3 part lesson on the continents and sang the continents songs as a group.   Work cycle began and new works focused on pounding.  There was an early level “play doh pound” and a more coordinated “hammer pound” work..   We were trying Tuesdays out as our new Spanish day, which worked well as we reviewed our colors and numbers. 

Wednesday (International Day):  All the wind and rain we had on Tuesday, caused the leaves to block the drain and flood our classroom last night.  We had a special morning recess and then went directly into our International day celebrations in the upper elementary classroom.   We enjoyed touring the country posters and having the older students explain their favorite facts to us.  By midday our classroom was dry enough for snack and normal daily activities, like Music Class with Mr. Wolf.  We’d like to thank Ms. Noelle, Mr. Curt, and especially Ms. Melissa for all their efforts drying our classroom. 

Thursday: It was day two of getting our class back to normal.  The kids enjoyed the fans and explored how their voices changed when talking near the fans.  Others enjoyed the open concept of the classroom while our workmats and rugs got washed.  At morning circle we read Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo.  A few children noticed rhymes in the poems and stories.  Today’s popular works included both hammering works and the bell works (It had been a loud day/week!); cat scooping work, folding towels work, 5 cube bead chain lessons, snake game, spelling (in particular rhyming words), early reading works, broad stairs and building with blocks.

Friday:  At morning circle we read Wee Witches Halloween, by Jerry Smath.   Some of the older kids really got into big works today: including Parts of a Clock, Telling Time, Parts of a Fish and Book of Classmates (in print and cursive).  Our younger friends had first choice on the new works: scooping out a pumpkin.  I am so impressed with their coordination as they remembered they needed to wear aprons (thus unfolding and putting it on); they needed to scoop out guts and seeds from the pumpkin, they needed to transfer seeds to main seed bowl and then clean up after themselves.  Other works included math beads, puzzle works and sound to letter association.  At the end of the day we finished our reading of Charlotte’s Web.  We also saw a beautiful yellow star in the sky today and really enjoyed our recess periods.