We welcomed a new student this week who just moved to the US from Russia with her family. All of the children enthusiastically greeted her and introduced themselves, and she has quickly integrated into the class.  We are thrilled to have her with us!

 

On Tuesday we had our first Star of the Week.  He shared a story about himself and we learned about some of his favorite things, such as biking with dad, monster trucks, and the color orange.  He also read us one of his favorite stories from home, Curious George Goes Camping, in which George gets sprayed by a skunk and helps stop a forest fire.

 

Henrietta chicken also shared a story with us that she wrote herself, and many friends were inspired by all of this story writing to start working on their own.  Henrietta told us that sometimes she just draws pictures, sometimes she tells a story to go with the pictures and someone else writes it down for her, and sometimes she tells a story and writes down all the sounds that she hears in the words and writes them down herself.  These are all great early fine motor and literacy skills, and every child is encouraged to do what is most comfortable and developmentally appropriate for them.

 

During music we continued to practice distinguishing high notes from low notes and were introduced to whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes.

 

On Thursday we visited the library where we met fireman Steve and fireman Derek, who talked about fire safety, showed us their gear and how they put it on, and their great new fire truck.  We were reminded to talk with our families about establishing a meeting place outside the home in case of a fire and to practice family fire drills.  We also saw how Derek got his gear on and learned that although he may look scary, his job is to find us if we can not get out of the house and that our job is to stay low and visible.  We also learned about Stop, Drop, & Roll!

 

At the science table we tested out how many drops of water would fit on each coin, and observed how the water pulls together as you drop it on and forms a hemisphere.

 

During Spanish this week we continued to talk about Guatemala.  Tuesday students finished their worry dolls and took them home to try out.  We re-read Mortimer, by Robert Munsch, and everyone loved singing, very, very, loudly.  Next week will move on to Honduras.

 

Friday students made flying paper during science.  We traced patterns from one of our science books, cut them out, assembled them, and flew them!  We recorded our process and observations in our science notebooks.  We also noted that our carnations are gradually starting to change color.

 

Next week we will be focusing on preparations for Bring Your Family to Sunnybrook Night!  Everyone is looking forward to sharing our classroom with their families on Thursday evening.   See you there!