Take Flight

Upon our return from Thanksgiving break, we completed our Transportation study with a look at air vehicles.  Embedded in our theme students practiced 1:1 correspondence, writing numbers 3 and 4, number recognition, letter recognition, identifying and building patterns, determining the difference between fiction and nonfiction books, finding the main character in a story, clapping syllables in our name and in common words, and sorting shapes by attributes.

Greeting
Our greeting this month was Hello Neighbor by Dr. Jean.  It is a catchy tune and the students enjoyed learning how to properly shake hands, look their friend in the eye and smile when saying "Hello".

Dramatic Play
Students pretended to be pilots, passengers, flight attendants and security in our dramatic play airport.  They practiced turn-taking skills, name and number writing as they filled out tickets, and conversational skills.

 

Sensory Table
Our sensory table was filled with water beads.  The students practiced pouring, filling and scooping.  They also discovered the properties of these little balls that were slippery, bouncy, and squishy.

Art

Our art project this week, was to create a hot air balloon.  Student created patterns on white paper plates using painter's tape and then painted the plates.  Once dry, we removed the tape to reveal their design.  The balloons were displayed from the lights in the classroom.

Games

The marble run was a great activity to bring the students together for problem-solving, sharing and lots of fun!

Science
At the end of our air transportation study, the students conducted a wind experiment.  Given a group of objects, students estimated whether or not they thought the objects would blow in the wind.  Then, using "wind" they created by blowing through a straw, the children tested their theories.  We then discussed why they thought certain objects were moved by wind while others were not.

Library:
Library this week sparked creativity in the students.  Small pieces of white paper were placed on a table for the children to color.  As the students began drawing, they decided to make small books and staple the pages together.  Some children asked to dictate words for their stories.  Then they read their stories to their friends and teachers!  We decided to extend this idea to the classroom where small booklets were placed in the writing center.  Be on the lookout for more kid-created books!

We also had a another mystery reader who prepared the children for all this snow by reading Snowmen at Night.

Friendship Feast

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to gather with family and pause to think of the people and things for which we are grateful.  As we discussed the concept of thankful in class, I described thankful as a feeling we get when someone or something makes us happy over and over again.  We read several stories about being thankful including Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes. The children shared their reasons for giving thanks which included hugs from mom and dad, riding a bike, the family dog, siblings and places they frequently visit with family. In school, we talked about being thankful for friends, teachers and learning new things.

I then connected this idea of thanksgiving to the people and time that we attribute to the very first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims and Wampanoag. We spent some time reading about, discussing and role playing the history of these groups and how they came together. The focus was on how the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims and why they were thankful. We also spent some time learning about the daily life of each of these groups and comparing them to our lives today.

The following two videos found on You Tube from Scholastic helped the students to visualize what life may have been like in the 1620s:
Wampanoag  (Start at minute 2:06)
Pilgrim Video

Throughout the week we did many Thanksgiving themed activities, but we celebrated the holiday with a Friendship Feast.  Each child enjoyed contributing to the feast by pouring fruit into a bowl, mixing, setting the table, etc.  In advance of the feast, the students made cornbread as they learned about the importance of corn to the Pilgrims and Wampanoag.  It was a fun event for everyone and a great bringing together of our class.

Corn Bread:

Fruit Salad:

Thanksgiving Feast!