This week has taught us about life on the farm, from milking cows to raising pigs, we have read and seen and experienced many farm-life activities! Mr. Bailey's twin brother "Farmer Joe" ahem, even came to visit us in our classroom! They look exactly the same, but Farmer Joe definitely speaks with a southern accent! The kids were mesmerized! We also celebrated another birthday, and now have two five year olds in our classroom! Thanks you Rowan for the yummy treats and for bringing Aidan in for a visit. We love visitors in the classroom!
Math & Science:
We played numbers bingo and practiced our number recognition and writing with numbers from 1-20, paying special attention to the double digit numbers and which number comes first when writing. We conducted multiple sink or float experiments, making predictions and then testing them to formulate our conclusion. The children were surprised at all of the large items that were buoyant and the small items that seemed so light but were not buoyant. They loved learning more about the scientific process and being a part of it!
Fine Motor:
We created farm scenes to be filled with photos of the children, after learning about the real life animals as well as operations on a dairy farm. We "milked cows" using the simulated utters of plastic gloves filled with white paint and water. It definitely put into perspective how much time is required to milk a cow for even the smallest amount of milk, when milking by hand!
Literacy:
We continue to work in our reading groups and write in our sign in books each day. The children are learning to always begin at the top with their letter formation and to practice writing in lower case letters. We write on the white board as a group as we practice our writing and read our letter books to reinforce the identification and sounds they are all learning. We read our reading A-Z books and searched for words that begin with particulars letters. Each day we stretch our approach to thinking and talk about "higher level thinking" questions. This week we explored how we thought kids on a farm were like and different from us. They talked about what they think life on a farm is like and if they would enjoy it. They created different endings for stories we read about the farm. We read many fiction as well as non-fiction books and learned that Holstein Cows make milk and Herford Cows are for raised for meat. Chicks and Salsa, Nutty for Acorns, Foxes and their Dens and Leaf Trouble were some favorites! We also read stories with our 3rd grade buddies this week and were happy to use some of our strategies we are just learning when following print from top to bottom and left to right. The older children are helping remind our JK children how to do picture walks first to anticipate the story.
We will continue our farm theme and add pumpkins to our theme this week. We are also finalizing a field trip I will be sending information about soon.
Have a great week!
Ms. Massey
Have a great week!
Ms. Massey
