Books We Read
A Bad Kitty Christmas
The Legend of Old Befana
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Weekly Activities
December Portfolio
The fourth page was added to our portfolio, and it's getting ever more colourful. Mr. McCullough has been writing a lot for us now that we're getting the hang of describing our pictures and, soon, we'll be writing our own words!
Frozen Ponds
Using white, light blue and grey paint, as well as some glitter, we "snowed over" our ponds!
Reindeer Ornaments
Everybody got a triangle made of colourful popsicle sticks, which we were then asked to turn into a reindeer face!
Other Things We Did
We talked about the most important thing during the holidays, and we learned that it's not presents, or Santa, or a big meal or toys. The holidays are about spending time with the people we love and being happy we have them!
Our Holiday Show & Share was Tuesday and we saw a lot of interesting things, from favourite toys that were given to us on the holidays, to holiday themed toys like reindeer and snowglobes, to light up and musical items! There was even a letter from Santa!
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Friday, 13 December 2013
Week 15: What's In A Name?
Books We Read
Lisa and the Snowman
Monty Goes South
The Little Engine That Could
Song of the Week
Winter Holiday
Ding, ding, ding! A winter holiday!
Ding, ding, ding! A jolly holiday!
Some call it Christmas, some call it Hanukkah!
Candles for Christmas, candles for Hanukkah!
Ding, ding, ding! A winter holiday!
Ding, ding, ding! A jolly holiday!
(song repeats two more verses with "candles" being replaced by "presents" and "parties")
Weekly Centres
Printing U and V
We doubled up on our letters this week, working on both the letter U and the letter V!
Snowman Names
After learning how to count the letters in our name, we wrote our names, one letter at a time, on circles. We then cut the circles out, glued them on a black construction paper board, and stuck them to a black poster board.
Snowy Ponds, Part 1
In the first part of a two-part craft, we used watercolour paper and food colouring to create ponds! Next week, we'll be "freezing" the ponds.
Patterned Links
Everybody got a strip of paper and created a pattern on that paper. We then added all of the papers together and created a line of links, making a whole new pattern by alternating the pink and the green of the construction paper.
Other Things We Did
We learned how to count the letters in our name, either by spelling our name out loud (or in our head) and counting on our fingers, or looking at our name and counting the letters that way. We also talked about ideas like more than and most, less than and least, and the same. We used this information to find out who had the longest name in the class (it was Shaugnessy at 10) and who had the least (it was Ezra at 4).
"ie" and "ee" were added to our Jolly Jingles!
We started adding "sight sounds" based on sight words we already knew. This week's sight sound was "ing", which we found on words like snowing, thinking and running!
We learned about migration, where animals move from one place to the other to find food or warmth, or even both.
Lisa and the Snowman
Monty Goes South
The Little Engine That Could
Song of the Week
Winter Holiday
Ding, ding, ding! A winter holiday!
Ding, ding, ding! A jolly holiday!
Some call it Christmas, some call it Hanukkah!
Candles for Christmas, candles for Hanukkah!
Ding, ding, ding! A winter holiday!
Ding, ding, ding! A jolly holiday!
(song repeats two more verses with "candles" being replaced by "presents" and "parties")
Weekly CentresPrinting U and V
We doubled up on our letters this week, working on both the letter U and the letter V!
Snowman Names
After learning how to count the letters in our name, we wrote our names, one letter at a time, on circles. We then cut the circles out, glued them on a black construction paper board, and stuck them to a black poster board.
Snowy Ponds, Part 1
In the first part of a two-part craft, we used watercolour paper and food colouring to create ponds! Next week, we'll be "freezing" the ponds.Patterned Links
Everybody got a strip of paper and created a pattern on that paper. We then added all of the papers together and created a line of links, making a whole new pattern by alternating the pink and the green of the construction paper.
Other Things We Did
We learned how to count the letters in our name, either by spelling our name out loud (or in our head) and counting on our fingers, or looking at our name and counting the letters that way. We also talked about ideas like more than and most, less than and least, and the same. We used this information to find out who had the longest name in the class (it was Shaugnessy at 10) and who had the least (it was Ezra at 4). "ie" and "ee" were added to our Jolly Jingles!
We started adding "sight sounds" based on sight words we already knew. This week's sight sound was "ing", which we found on words like snowing, thinking and running!
We learned about migration, where animals move from one place to the other to find food or warmth, or even both.
Monday, 2 December 2013
Week 14: Only in Winter
Books We Read
Press Here
Tap the Magic Tree
Malke's Secret Recipe
Snowy Sports: Ready, Set, Go!
Snowball
Weekly Centres
Letter L
We worked on the second hardest letter to print in the whole universe, the letter L. We didn't really find it that hard, but maybe some people do.
Dress the Snowman
Mr. McCullough gave us a piece of paper with three stacked circles on it. It was our job to dress the circles to make a snowman. Using googly eyes, pipe cleaner, tissue and construction paper, white glue and glue sticks, we gave our snowmen eyes, noses, mouths, hats, arms, legs and, for a couple, dresses!
Only in Winter
Using the other side of our "Only in Fall" picture, we created Only in Winter pictures. We talked about things we could only do in the winter and drew a picture of that activity. Mr. McCullough then strung a ribbon through the top and created fall/winter mobiles in the room!
Other Things We Did
We incorporated Chanukkah into our daily math, answering questions like how many candles were on the menorah and how many have been lit so far.
We created "Hand Menorahs". We chose our coloured construction paper, then a colour for our hands. Mr. McCullough painted our hands, and then we planted them on the paper. We added lights to the menorahs on our own! We also solved pattern mysteries where we had to figure out how to get two attributes (hand colour and paper colour) to match to continue our pattern.
After reading Press Here a second time, we figured out action words in the book. Words like press, rub, tap, shake and blow! Tap the Magic Tree also taught us other action words! We'll be using these words when we create our own Press Here books with our Reading Buddies.
We talked about authors and how they write different books with different characters. Mme. Degroot taught us that the author of the Charlie and Lola books had written other books, and we looked for the similarities between the two. Mr. McCullough read Snowball, which was written by Lois Elhert, who had also written Leaf Man. We looked at both books for similarities and differences.
This also led to some talk about how books can remind us of other books.
Press Here
Tap the Magic Tree
Malke's Secret Recipe
Snowy Sports: Ready, Set, Go!
Snowball
Weekly Centres
Letter L
We worked on the second hardest letter to print in the whole universe, the letter L. We didn't really find it that hard, but maybe some people do.
Dress the Snowman
Mr. McCullough gave us a piece of paper with three stacked circles on it. It was our job to dress the circles to make a snowman. Using googly eyes, pipe cleaner, tissue and construction paper, white glue and glue sticks, we gave our snowmen eyes, noses, mouths, hats, arms, legs and, for a couple, dresses!
Only in Winter
Using the other side of our "Only in Fall" picture, we created Only in Winter pictures. We talked about things we could only do in the winter and drew a picture of that activity. Mr. McCullough then strung a ribbon through the top and created fall/winter mobiles in the room!
Other Things We Did
We incorporated Chanukkah into our daily math, answering questions like how many candles were on the menorah and how many have been lit so far.
We created "Hand Menorahs". We chose our coloured construction paper, then a colour for our hands. Mr. McCullough painted our hands, and then we planted them on the paper. We added lights to the menorahs on our own! We also solved pattern mysteries where we had to figure out how to get two attributes (hand colour and paper colour) to match to continue our pattern.
After reading Press Here a second time, we figured out action words in the book. Words like press, rub, tap, shake and blow! Tap the Magic Tree also taught us other action words! We'll be using these words when we create our own Press Here books with our Reading Buddies.We talked about authors and how they write different books with different characters. Mme. Degroot taught us that the author of the Charlie and Lola books had written other books, and we looked for the similarities between the two. Mr. McCullough read Snowball, which was written by Lois Elhert, who had also written Leaf Man. We looked at both books for similarities and differences.
This also led to some talk about how books can remind us of other books.
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Week 13: Growing and Shrinking Snow!
Books We Read
The Great Paper Caper
The Chanukkah Guest
Press Here
Song of the Week
Douglas Mountain
Snows are a falling on Douglas Mountain,
Snows are a falling so deep!
Snows are a falling on Douglas Mountain
Putting all the bears to sleep!
Putting all the bears to sleep....
Trimming the wicks on Douglas Mountain
Shining up the chimney so bright!
Trimming the wicks on Douglas Mountain
So we can bring the night!
So we can bring the night...
Weekly Centres
November Portfolio
We added another page to our portfolio, and boy are our drawings getting more detailed! Mr. McCullough is asking us to use at least two colours and the results are astounding!
Growing and Shrinking Cubes
Using snap cubes, we created crowing and shrinking cube patterns. We tried to make them as big as we can, with some of us getting seven levels high!
Growing Buildings
In our building centre, we created pyramid-style buildings with a bunch of different blocks
Melting the Ice
We experimented with ice cubes and blocks of coloured ice, seeing what we could do to make them melt faster. We figured out that leaving them in the water, holding them in our hands and rubbing them, or swirling them around in the water made them melt faster.
Other Things We Did
We discussed proper snow attire and learned THE ORDER to put on our snow gear! The most important thing to learn was shoes off, snowpants first, mittens last!
Our clue finding skills were worked on in The Great Paper Caper and The Chanukkah Guest as we tried to figure out who was chopping down trees in the forest and why, and why an old grandmother thought that a bear was her Rabbi!
We learned that heat makes snow and ice melt, that you can't freeze ice cubes in an afternoon and that a container of snow takes longer than a whole afternoon to melt. We're also experimenting with one of our class pumpkins to see if keeping it in the snow outside will make it last longer before it rots away...
...and it couldn't rot away because it was TAKEN!!! What a mystery!!! We're looking at a few different clues about where it went, including one student seeing "a man in a dark shirt and a grey beard" taking it away, and a letter that was left behind by "Officer Peter Pumpkineater", who we don't think is actually an officer! I wonder if we can follow the clues to find out who took our pumpkin and why???
Our daily survey is in full swing, with questions this week asking us to match numbers to patterns, figure out which pattern was growing, an who was better dressed for winter.
A Latin band came into our school for our first assembly! We listened to music from all over Latin America and one of our classmates was picked by the band to get up on stage and play the maracas! We all got to dance along to the music at the end!
"B" and the "AI" combination became a part of our Jolly Jingles!
We read the fantastic "Press Here" with our Reading Buddies who, next week, will be helping us make our own "Press Here" books!
The Great Paper Caper
The Chanukkah Guest
Press Here
Song of the Week
Douglas Mountain
Snows are a falling on Douglas Mountain,
Snows are a falling so deep!
Snows are a falling on Douglas Mountain
Putting all the bears to sleep!
Putting all the bears to sleep....
Trimming the wicks on Douglas Mountain
Shining up the chimney so bright!
Trimming the wicks on Douglas Mountain
So we can bring the night!
So we can bring the night...
Weekly CentresNovember Portfolio
We added another page to our portfolio, and boy are our drawings getting more detailed! Mr. McCullough is asking us to use at least two colours and the results are astounding!
Growing and Shrinking Cubes
Using snap cubes, we created crowing and shrinking cube patterns. We tried to make them as big as we can, with some of us getting seven levels high!
Growing Buildings
In our building centre, we created pyramid-style buildings with a bunch of different blocks
Melting the Ice
We experimented with ice cubes and blocks of coloured ice, seeing what we could do to make them melt faster. We figured out that leaving them in the water, holding them in our hands and rubbing them, or swirling them around in the water made them melt faster.Other Things We Did
We discussed proper snow attire and learned THE ORDER to put on our snow gear! The most important thing to learn was shoes off, snowpants first, mittens last!
Our clue finding skills were worked on in The Great Paper Caper and The Chanukkah Guest as we tried to figure out who was chopping down trees in the forest and why, and why an old grandmother thought that a bear was her Rabbi!We learned that heat makes snow and ice melt, that you can't freeze ice cubes in an afternoon and that a container of snow takes longer than a whole afternoon to melt. We're also experimenting with one of our class pumpkins to see if keeping it in the snow outside will make it last longer before it rots away...
...and it couldn't rot away because it was TAKEN!!! What a mystery!!! We're looking at a few different clues about where it went, including one student seeing "a man in a dark shirt and a grey beard" taking it away, and a letter that was left behind by "Officer Peter Pumpkineater", who we don't think is actually an officer! I wonder if we can follow the clues to find out who took our pumpkin and why???Our daily survey is in full swing, with questions this week asking us to match numbers to patterns, figure out which pattern was growing, an who was better dressed for winter.
A Latin band came into our school for our first assembly! We listened to music from all over Latin America and one of our classmates was picked by the band to get up on stage and play the maracas! We all got to dance along to the music at the end!
"B" and the "AI" combination became a part of our Jolly Jingles!
We read the fantastic "Press Here" with our Reading Buddies who, next week, will be helping us make our own "Press Here" books!
Monday, 18 November 2013
Week 12: Things YOU can only do IN THE fall!
Books We Read
Leaf Man
Fall, Leaves, Fall
Stick Man
Song of the Week - What Do The Leaves Say?
Weekly Centres
Printing H and K
We're working on two letters a week now, with one letter (H) being done during our regular centres, while the other letter (K) is done as a full class activity before free centre time.
Leaf People
After reading Leaf Man, we created our own leaf people using leaves that we picked up on a very blustery Monday!
Sight Word Magnets
Our three new sight words became the focus of our magnet board, as you, in and the were all spelled using magnetic letters.
Only In The Fall
As fall comes to an end, we drew pictures of things we could only do in the fall. For instance, we can only go Trick or Treating in the fall, because that's when Halloween is, but we can dress up in costumes any time!
Other Things We Did
We got to know our new colour groups this week! The new groups will be staying the same all the way until the end of December!
We also started using magnetic name tags to answer questions in class. This will be a daily thing now, where we come into the room, sign our name, and then use our name tag to answer a question on our magnet board.
We talked about the word only and decided that it meant things that happen one time, something that is all by itself, or something where there is only one.
Letter "L" was added to our Jolly Jingle song list!
Leaf Man
Fall, Leaves, Fall
Stick Man
Song of the Week - What Do The Leaves Say?
Weekly Centres
Printing H and K
We're working on two letters a week now, with one letter (H) being done during our regular centres, while the other letter (K) is done as a full class activity before free centre time.
Leaf People
After reading Leaf Man, we created our own leaf people using leaves that we picked up on a very blustery Monday!
Sight Word Magnets
Our three new sight words became the focus of our magnet board, as you, in and the were all spelled using magnetic letters.
Only In The Fall
As fall comes to an end, we drew pictures of things we could only do in the fall. For instance, we can only go Trick or Treating in the fall, because that's when Halloween is, but we can dress up in costumes any time!
Other Things We Did
We got to know our new colour groups this week! The new groups will be staying the same all the way until the end of December!
We also started using magnetic name tags to answer questions in class. This will be a daily thing now, where we come into the room, sign our name, and then use our name tag to answer a question on our magnet board.
We talked about the word only and decided that it meant things that happen one time, something that is all by itself, or something where there is only one.
Letter "L" was added to our Jolly Jingle song list!
Week 11: Pigeons, Patterns and Pajamas
Books We Read
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!
The Pigeon Wants a Dog!
Imagine a Night
Weekly Centres
Printing M
We added "M" to our printing skills this week, which was really helpful for students in our room whose name starts with M!
Pattern Painting
Using three different colours, we created multi-coloured pattern strips, where we could create patterns with stripes, shapes, or any other things we could think of.
The Pigeon Can...
After reading so many books about what the Pigeon can't do, we decided to come up with an idea of what the Pigeon CAN do. We had pigeons eating ice cream, pigeons getting married, pigeons driving cars and pigeons inviting people to their house!
Flower Shop
Every group had a chance to use our Drama Centre in their colour group, playing "Flower Shop" with all of the neat items inside.
Other Things We Did
"O" and "U" were added to our list of Jolly Jingles, and we noticed that some letter sounds can sound an awful lot alike!
Two new sight words made it in to the sight word board! We also talked about how, while Sight Words are important, they aren't the most important thing in a story, so we need to calm down a bit when we find them. =0)
Mr. McCullough showed us a paper man and explained how hurting somebody else's feelings is like making tiny rips. We fixed the paper man with tape but, after a while, we noticed that we could still see the rips, kind of like how we remember when somebody has made us feel bad. At the end of the talk, we decided it was better to not hurt feelings at all, and that sorry isn't going to fix everything.
We talked about the difference between using our imagination and describing things that actually happen.
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!
The Pigeon Wants a Dog!
Imagine a Night
Weekly Centres
Printing M
We added "M" to our printing skills this week, which was really helpful for students in our room whose name starts with M!
Pattern Painting
Using three different colours, we created multi-coloured pattern strips, where we could create patterns with stripes, shapes, or any other things we could think of.
The Pigeon Can...
After reading so many books about what the Pigeon can't do, we decided to come up with an idea of what the Pigeon CAN do. We had pigeons eating ice cream, pigeons getting married, pigeons driving cars and pigeons inviting people to their house!
Flower Shop
Every group had a chance to use our Drama Centre in their colour group, playing "Flower Shop" with all of the neat items inside.
Other Things We Did
"O" and "U" were added to our list of Jolly Jingles, and we noticed that some letter sounds can sound an awful lot alike!
Two new sight words made it in to the sight word board! We also talked about how, while Sight Words are important, they aren't the most important thing in a story, so we need to calm down a bit when we find them. =0)
Mr. McCullough showed us a paper man and explained how hurting somebody else's feelings is like making tiny rips. We fixed the paper man with tape but, after a while, we noticed that we could still see the rips, kind of like how we remember when somebody has made us feel bad. At the end of the talk, we decided it was better to not hurt feelings at all, and that sorry isn't going to fix everything.
We talked about the difference between using our imagination and describing things that actually happen.
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