We’ve begun a new unit on penguins. We’ll learn a little bit about many different kinds of penguins (there are 17 in all), but our focus is on the Emperor and Adelie penguins that live in Antartctica. Our current chapter book is Mr. Popper’s Penguins (of course!) by Richard and Florence Atwater. This coming Monday, the class will have a special visitor. Photographer Sally Meade traveled to Antarctica and will be coming to share her photos of the penguins, walrus, skua birds and ice bergs that she saw while there. The class is looking forward to her visit!
Our new unit in math involves sorting by one and then by two attributes. The class is using a wide variety of materials to practice this skill and are making good progress.
To reinforce the sound of the letter /s/ and to hone math skills in learning to read bar graphs, the class tasted foods that are salty, sweet, and sour (pretzels, strawberries, and pickles). Everyone then got to choose their favorite and mark it on the graph. The class also brainstormed a list of descriptive words – crunchy, hard, juicy, etc. One of my favorite aspects of teaching this age group is how so much of our learning (math and language arts) is intertwined. And, just in case you were wondering, sweet won this year – a first in all my years of teaching – usually pretzels are the favorite!
We also celebrated Jackson’s sixth birthday during our first week back from vacation. Sarah joined us in the morning and read a great picture book by Aldous Huxley to the class. At lunch, we enjoyed delicious chocolate treats. Thank you, Sarah, for making Jackson’s birthday so much fun!
It seems like winter is here now. Please remember snow pants, waterproof mittens, boots, and dry shoes for inside every day. Thanks, and have a good weekend!
Andrea