It's been a short week but we have done so much!
We read many books about Martin Luther King Jr. and learned about what he was like as a child! It was fun to know he rode his bike and roller skated and was "just like us" when he was little and before he became a great leader. The children learned about his famous speech, and were reciting "I have a dream..." (although some were saying, "I have a speech") :) they understood it was important.
They leaned about his kindness and ability to walk away from a physical fight and use his words and intelligence to better the world. We read about his life and some things that happened to him when he was little, like a lady slapping his face and riding a bus for hours standing because he had to give up his seat for white people simply because he had a different color skin. We talked about things all day in terms of "what would MLK Jr. do in this situation?". I am hoping they shared some of the stories we read. One student said "He's president!". We talked about all of the ways he was like a president. He made the world a better place and we will continue to reference his life and work this school year!
We have introduced the beginning of our Inuit study while still continuing with penguins! We learned how the Inuit people build igloos from frozen snow and how the warmth of our bodies helps keep the igloo warm.
We talked about our upcoming field trip and having a scavenger hunt while at the aquarium.
Fine Motor:
The children created observation drawings of our class King Penguin with pastels. The colors pop so well on a black background. They all concentrated on the details of the colorful feathers and white tummies.
Literacy/Fine Motor:
They created their own Stripes after reading the amazing story of the little girl who wouldn't eat Lima Beans even though they were her favorite. May we all be brave enough to show our stripes. I loved the different patterns and brilliant colors.
Reading groups concentrated on isolated sounds opposed to guessing when reading words. We spent some time on Zoo Phonics and the animal sounds. We also introduced more popcorn words and blends.
Our reading buddies came to read books they checked out for us, and the children all created a story about a penguin either dictating or using inventive spelling to write it, and then illustrated it with their buddy.
Math & Science:
We worked on our life-size penguins as we outlined and labeled more penguins. We counted and grouped and made patterns. We practiced counting and getting over the tricky numbers that stump us on the way to 100!
We tried to freeze bubbles outside but it was a little too warm. We will try again next week!
Ethan turned 5! We celebrated his birthday and have seven 5 year olds in JK! They are all growing up and it's amazing to see their bursts of learning.
Have a lovely weekend!
Ms. Massey
