We are in the middle of the wonderful world of Dr. Seuss. It's one of my favorite themes and time of year, as Spring is just around the corner and we have all settled in nicely and are a true school family. We have learned each other's quirks and likenesses and differences, and the friendships are becoming more meaningful as they are more complex.
Language Arts:
We wrote about what we would do if Thing 1 and Thing 2 came to our house. Watching a movie together was a popular activity along with jumping on the bed or making a mess! Most children said they would NOT tell their mother if she asked what they had done that day! We wrote rhyming words using inventive spelling too, as we made Sneeches and chose whether or not to have a star upon their belly! The W and Y sounds are still very tricky for most all of the children, as they think the "W" sound is made with the letter "Y".
We have read many favorite Dr. Seuss books, including the Cat in the Hat, I Have a Wocket in my Pocket, ABC Book, The Foot Book, Daisy Head Maizy, and some other books including: Goodnight Opus, Pickle Things, Three Bags Full, and Same, Same but Different.
We are also working on the most common sight words (popcorn words) "is, the with, and, play" We talked about our favorite Dr. Seuss characters and how they are alike and different. The Grinch was a definite favorite! It was funny to hear the comparisons to the Cat in the Hat! Asking them in depth questions about the story setting and characters is a great way to improve their comprehension.
We made/make many comparisons with letters and letter sounds, and many students are beginning to recognize and/or spell their classmate's names as well as their own. This is all part of the process of Erikson's stage of development-Initiative v Guilt. The most important part of this stage is children playing and through play making up their own rules to games they create. The most important idea to take away from this is that their play is immensely important, because it allows them to "develop a sense of initiative and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions." This skill is not able to develop when only playing games with set rules- as in soccer etc. (Those are also valuable in different ways!)
Math/Science:
We sorted and used tweezers to place pom pons on our Dr. Seuss themed mats using numbers 1-10, and then practiced sorting and counting using numbers 11-30. The children took turns sequencing a number line from 1-31, working in pairs and then alone. We played another Dr. Seuss game where we flipped green eggs and identified numbers 20-30. This center worked to build fine motor along with number identification.
The children have been learning about quadrilateral shapes, yet another way for them to group/classify their shapes. We are introducing shapes outside of the basic and 3D shapes we learned earlier in the year. Felt pieces and making it a game are fun for the children, and learning new vocabulary and classifying familiar things in different ways extends their understanding.
We visited the Wax Museum our third graders presented, and learned about electricity from Ben Franklin, and listened to Barack Obama, Helen Keller, and many other great leaders. The costumes were amazing and the children loved learning from their reading buddies!
Fine Motor/Art:
The children measured and cut their "Thing's Hair" and label and placed it on their journal page after writing their response to reading. The children glued eyes, stars and collars on their Sneeches after writing their rhyming words and deciding what type of Sneech theirs would be. Our art this week was more about creating interesting journal pages based on the characters and less about making art! I like to provide open ended art for them to create daily-where the process is valued more than the product, along with art that focuses on everything from following multistep instructions to creating something in the likeness of something we are studying.
ALL of our art projects have a purpose, and all of those purposes are different! Some involve entirely child imagined and created clay projects, and some involve simple placement of items that are less about imagination and more about following instructions and replicating something they see. It's all helpful and overlaps into multiple disciplines. Art serves many purposes in JK, sometimes least of which is creating original art, and sometimes the only purpose is to create original art. Please ask me about any of our centers and the many benefits. They are intentional and valuable, and I love talking about why and how.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Massey
