We continued to tour Europe this week, focusing on the Hebridian Islands of Scotland, where the author and illustrator Mairi Hedderwick lives.  We read several of the Katie Morag stories, which she wrote about a little girl who lives on a fictional island in the Hebrides.  We learned what islands are and saw many pictures of the Scottish Isles.

At the art table we were introduced to watercolor painting, the medium that Mairi Hedderwick uses to illustrate her stories.

Students made invitations to Bring Your Family to Sunnybrook Night on Thursday, October 17 from 5-7 PM, when your child will show you around our classroom and demonstrate a favorite material.

The students began fall projects this week.  Everyone is making a diorama, and the kindergarten students are also making fall lap books.  Our classroom is housing some bear caves, some fall forest scenes, and a pond with frogs burrowing in the mud.

During music we were introduced to Ludwig van Beethoven.  We listened to the first movement of his very dramatic 5th Symphony, which the children enjoyed dancing and acting to.  We also listened for string instruments playing.

We participated in the Great North East Shakeout when we learned and practiced a duck, cover, and hold drill.  We pretended that the whole earth was shaking and crawled under tables and held onto the table legs to keep ourselves safe.

Afternoon students were introduced to a Yoga breathing exercise, where we put little stuffed animals on our bellies then made our bellies go up when we breathed in, and down when we breathed out.  We will continue to learn some yoga positions and breathing exercises throughout the year.

During Spanish we began to learn a fun calabaza (pumpkin) song and a rhyme.  We practiced casa (house), pequeño (small), and grande (big).

Friday students continued to learn about water this week.  We read about the water cycle, evaporation, and water being a liquid, solid, and gas.  The students drew rainbows in their science notebooks, which we see when the sun shines on water droplets in the air, making beautiful “water colors” in the sky.

Kindergarten students began making their world maps.  They traced and cut out the two hemispheres, then traced Europe, pin punched around it, and colored it.  They will work throughout the year on their world maps.

outside play