Our week started with a bang as we held our first Show and Tell Day in the Owls class. This special event was a reward for filling up our “Good Choices” jar last Friday. We gathered in the multipurpose room and each student had a chance to sit in the teacher’s chair and share three things about what they brought to class that day. It was wonderful to hear the compliments they gave each other as they had the chance to hear all about the items. The children took such pride is sharing their precious objects with their classmates.
As we wrapped up our Bread Unit this week, we continued reading variations of The Little Red Hen, this time with the hen making a pizza. Studying multiple versions of the same story helps to build children’s critical thinking skills as they compare and contrast similarities and differences. One difference that they noticed in each version was whether or not the hen shared her baked goods with her unhelpful friends.
What would a story about pizza be without an edible prop? The children continued their passion for cooking by creating their own mini pizza bagels for snack on Tuesday – what a treat! Even a simple cooking project such as this allows the children to build their sequencing skills. For example, they learned to put the sauce on their bagel first, and then the cheese. It also nurtures the interest that four and five-year-olds have in doing “real work” and being independent.
The Owls were also excited to complete their own giant book about bread. This book contains drawings by the children as well as some of their favorite facts about bread. This was a great way for the children to express their mastery of the concepts that they had learned during this unit. Dictation is an important writing experience, as the children have the opportunity to see their words written on paper and then read to their peers. The children each dictated a fact one day, and then had an opportunity to “edit” their words the next day. This gives us an opportunity to help children to change some of the grammatical errors. For example, a child might say “I eated some bread.” The next day, during the editing process, a teacher will say, “Your wrote ‘I eated some bread. Grown-ups usually say ‘I ate bread.” Would you like to change your words?”
On Tuesday after snack, we welcomed the Bears into our classroom for a “playdate.” The Owls were able to practice being good hosts and did a wonderful job sharing our classroom space and materials with our guests. Having opportunities to play with our slightly younger friends encourages the children to be role models and to “teach” their friends what they know. We were honored to be able to read our bread book with the Bears at Circle Time. We encourage you to come in and check out the giant book for yourself.
Morah Larissa has introduced the skill of pattern recognition this week during Morning Meeting and Circle Time. Children have been invited to recognize and reproduce patterns made of concrete objects, an important pre-math skill that can be easily replicated at home. Please ask Morah Larissa if you would like some guidance with this activity.
While we were slammed with our first school-day blizzard mid-week, the Owls didn’t skip a beat as they returned to class on Thursday eager to learn about our next unit: Tu B’Shevat. This holiday, which begins at sundown on Wednesday the 19th, celebrates the birthday of the trees. The students worked on many tree-related activities throughout the day, including leaf rubbings, learning a new reverse numerical tree poem, painting with pinecones, and adding paper leaves with what they know about trees to our own classroom tree. Before our break for lunch, the Owls collected objects from around the room (i.e. pencils, blocks, cars, books) and sorted them into two categories: items that come from trees and those that don’t. The children are learning just how much trees do for us. At Circle Time that afternoon, they continued to recognize rhythm and rhyme in poetry in the reading of It’s Tu b’Shevat by Edie Stoltz Zolkower.
On Friday, we began to delve deeper into how trees (and other plants) grow and the beauty of seeds. We read the classic story, The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss and continued our interpretive readings by acting out the text. We will be doing our own planting next week and the children are looking forward to our Tu B’Shevat seder and tasting all of the delicious foods associated with the holiday.
We are all so excited to welcome Cristopher Smit and his family to the Owls classroom. We hope this week’s weather hasn’t made their transition from the Netherlands to Boston too difficult! It is great to see the children include him in their playing and teach him all there is to know about being an Owl. His beautiful smile is a wonderful addition to our class!
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Larissa and Morah Kate
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