We have been talking about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans this week, learning about how different things were for children when the Mayflower came to America.
Math & Science:
The children have been working on measurements this week, measuring their names with a specific beginning and ending using different objects. We have been working on number identification, especially numbers from 11-20.
We talked about the Native Americans and read many fiction and non-fiction books about various tribes in the midwest. We watched a video about the Wompanoags and the things they taught the pilgrims.
Language Arts:
The children wrote/dictated journal pages about what their Thanksgiving dinner would look like. They used inventive spelling or dictated their stories to us. In our reading groups we practiced our zoo phonics letters and letter sounds. We read our "Letter C" book and made a list of words that begin with the letter "C". We read books while practicing underlining each word as we read. Learning the flow of the words on a page and being able to follow the sentences from left to right and top to bottom, along with being able to turn pages in the correct direction, are all necessary skills for beginning literacy. As we read in the classroom, we discuss the setting, characters, sequence of events and make predictions. We read "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie" and the children fed each item as it was read by placing it in our puppet's mouth. They love feeding her and taking turns stuffing her with all of the items!
We read a non-fiction book about the creation of the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. The parade actually began with puppets held by wooden poles, but they couldn't be seen by all of the people attending. The creator then designed balloons to float hight in the air so everyone could see them!
Gross Motor:
The children ran, skipped, walked on stilts, and played many games where they are practicing bilateral and crossing the midline skills. When a child skips, they read. It's amazing the connection between skipping (where both sides of the brain are being used) and literacy. The ancient Greeks realized the correlation and connection between the physical body and the brain/academic. It's incredibly important to encourage crossing the midline, which is
Fine Motor:
The children have been making turkey pictures and playing with play dough and clay. We are making foot print pictures for Grandparent's and Special Friends Day. I painted all of their feet and tried not to tickle those toes! It was pretty funny. We also used pastels to decorate tee pees, and even made little Native American people to go inside. They learned some of the symbols that represent weather, animals, and even the symbol for "many fish", to alert their tribe to plentiful places to catch their dinner.
We will have a short week next week, so I'll save photos from Monday and Tuesday for the week after Thanksgiving's blog.
Have a wonderful holiday, if I don't see or chat with you in person before then. I am very thankful for each of your children and the opportunity to influence their lives. It is a gift for me and from me to be their teacher. Lila will be at her grandparents for Thanksgiving, but I will be celebrating with close family friends and plan to watch lots of football, eat loads of butter loaded food and hopefully get some shopping done. I hope you all make some lovely memories and enjoy relaxing.
Ms. Massey
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