Fun Friday!

Today we put on a play about the first Thanksgiving. The students also put on a variety show that featured sun princesses, pet giraffes, spies, knights and numerous other characters. We made books, practiced writing letters, and read with our second grade book buddies. We interrupted Math for a few minutes when we saw snow falling outside... we just had to run around in the swirling flakes and catch some on our tongues. Priorities, you know.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Photos from the School Thanksgiving Dinner

Today's Math Activity

Today we worked on estimating and representing. The children estimated and then counted how many dinosaur counters they could grab from a container. They represented the number on a sheet of paper containing a handprint. We then looked at the handprints to find out which represented the smallest number and which represented the largest number. Then they compared two handprints, figuring out which had more and thinking about how many more that handprint showed.

I also told the fairy tale "Seven at One Blow" to show how important it is to indicate the unit of measure you are using!

Partner Reading

The children practice their reading skills in several ways. One approach is to read with a partner.

There are several ways to partner read, depending on the needs of the learner. Sometimes students partner up with a more advanced reader so that they can practice reading fluently; other times students with similar reading processes work together on a book.

However they do it, the students in our class work wonderfully together and show a lot of respect, compassion and patience for their classmates!

New Computer!

I finally got a new computer, one that runs much faster than the aged eMac I was using before. Now it will be easy to update this blog on a regular basis! Here are some photos from the last few weeks:

From a rainy outing with the Nature Adventure Program:

From an adaptation of "Little Red Riding Hood" written and performed by the students:

Reading with partners:

From an excursion into town to look for sights and sounds of autumn:

More photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/111126617517323002973