This week we have begun our Gingerbread theme. It hardly seems like December but there is definitely a little magic brewing around the classroom as the children are getting excited for upcoming holidays and the change in the season.
Literacy:
I had each child read to me this week one on one as well as reading groups. It's nice to have time to really study the process as they decipher letters and sounds, and allow them extra time to answer questions and find answers without any interruptions or assistance from friends. Early childhood teachers meet monthly (as well as informally often) to discuss strategies and ensure cohesion in our curriculum from one grade to the next. We began using whole body letter writing as a result of this week's suggestion from our Lower School Learning Assistance teacher. Allowing each student to sky write letters crosses the midline. It's lovely that we have such wonderful resources from which to learn. We continued our journal pages and sign in using Handwriting without tears. The biggest daily struggle for early learners is beginning at the top for letter formation. It's human nature to want a baseline from which to begin. Practice is key, so we continue to remind each student to "start from the top".
We read many holiday and Gingerbread stories this week, including How to Catch Santa, Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Man, Still Running, Snowman's Christmas, Mrs. Greenberg's Messy Hanukkah, Berlioz The Bear, Small Medium and Large, The Gingerbread Bear and Keep Running Gingerbread Man.
Math and Science:
We completed a science experiment on water and how it effects paper Gingerbread people. We submerged three different Gingerbread people in water for one minute, five minutes and 30 minutes, and recorded observations as we compared and noted differences. The children first offered predictions and we discussed what a hypothesis is. They also wanted to name the different paper people. For young children, inanimate objects are also real so teaching empathy carries over to objects. It's great to teach respect for even paper people as that transfers to real relationships.
We practiced our number counting, and played a Math addition game as a center this week. Using frogs as manipulatives, the children rolled dice and wrote and added two numbers to play the game.
We talk about many math related questions in our morning and afternoon meetings, including comparison on bigger or greater than and less than numbers, further encouraging the one to one correspondence and meaning of each number. We compare relational and sequential people and items, for example, "who is beside and behind Evelyn", or, "who is taller than Emma but shorter than Kai".
Fine Motor:
We made Gingerbread people using glitter, ribbon, sequins, tissue paper, markers, and anything else suggested. It's fun to see the many creative ways the children choose to decorate their people. We color and cut each day during free play, and also paint most mornings with either water colors or tempera paints. We offer different size brushes, different colors for mixing, different kinds and colors of paper each day as we experiment with textures and brush strokes. We also decorated foam Gingerbread people with stickers and hung them in our classroom-thank you Kai for sharing this craft with your friends! Each child also decorated a gingerbread house with stickers and added to their pictures with packages they decorated with tape and crayons.
We have had a few children sick with fevers and vomiting. We are careful to clean well and hand wash often, but know sometimes it just happens. I will not hex us by saying that there have not been any lice instances in this classroom and with 20 children that's really wonderful, because the moment I say it they will find a way to us. :)
Have a wonderful week, and thank you for letting me share time with your children. It's my pleasure. And, I should also share that our specials teachers LOVE this class as well. They always comment about what a wonderful class this is, so it's not just me being bias. Your kids are truly wonderful.
Ms. Massey
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