January 25, 2012 Outside Play Candids

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Classroom Centers

Today was a great day! We started out by identifying and coloring all of the lowercase g clouds so that the goose could find her way.

Steven, Landon, and Hayden

Ella, Chloe, and Emily during morning work

Byron and Dean hard at work

We also enjoyed free play, which is always before morning Calendar.

I see you, Chloe!

We love Nicole's pigtails!

I see you, Dean!

 

Hayden, Sophia, and Sydney



Landon, Ella, and Hayden

 During Calendar, we discussed the hard Gg sound in gorilla and the soft Gg sound in giraffe and giant. We ventured outside on this beautiful day to enjoy a game of Garbage Toss! The word garbage is very cool because it has both a hard Gg and a soft Gg.

Getting ready to take a shot

Showing off our goofiest Garbage Toss faces

We have some great shots in our classroom!

When we returned to the classroom, we discussed how God made each of us great and read God Gave Us You by Lisa Tawn Bergen and Laura J. Bryant.

Before heading outside to the playground, we traced our body outlines in preparation for tomorrow's God Made Me Great activity. Tomorrow the kids will get to decorate their bodies and brainstorm special things about themselves. Please talk with them tonight about the wonderful gifts each of them has. See you tomorrow!

January 24, 2012

Today we continued our journey into the exciting world of the letter Gg. We also counted all the way to 82 (!) during Calendar this morning!

Counting to 82 with Mrs. Jones

We started our centers by using a Q-tip to paint glue onto the letter Gg. We then sprinkled some green glitter onto our letters in order to give them just the right amount of pizazz.

Spreading the glue within the lines of the letter Gg

Working to get it just right

Glitter preparation

Almost done

We also blended paint to create the Gg colors gray and green and then painted a lovely mural. Students painted self-portraits, animals, and even Mrs. Jones and Ms. Hill.

We finished our day by walking like gorillas! This activity was hilarious because the kids are so adorable and because of the limited amount of space we have in the classroom. Despite the tight quarters, your babies did an excellent job gorilla walking!

Gorilla walking

Tomorrow we will play a game of Garbage Toss and learn how God made each of us great! See you then!

January 23, 2012

Today we completed our unit on the letter Oo with a reading comprehension and sequencing activity starring Oh Oh the Octopus. The students used their Oh Oh hand puppets and practiced short and long Oo sounds. Once we read our story about Oh Oh and his friends the otter, ostrich, ox, and owl, we organized pictures of the story events in the correct sequence. The kids did a great job, especially considering the task was time consuming and required their best listening and comprehension skills.

Showing off Oh Oh the Octopus

Sequencing the events of the story

We also began our new unit on the letter Gg. We practiced making the hard Gg sound by gargling, grring like a bear, and starting our motorcycle engines with the repeated Ggggggg sound. We read Gobble, Gobble Crash! A Barnyard Counting Bash and enjoyed some time on the green, green grass and the ground before going home.

Reading Gobble, Gobble Crash! A Barnyard Counting Bash

G is for green grass and ground

Pajama Day! January 20, 2012



January 19, 2012

Today we had a busy day! We had several centers that we rotated. We created an Oh Oh Octopus puppet and cut out story scenes for a reading comprehension and sequencing center coming up on Monday.

We also completed Digging for Opposites. This practice sheet allowed us to discuss opposites, show off our cutting skills, and utilize problem solving skills as the kids decided what items an archaeologist would place in his bag and which items he would leave outside his bag.

We also got down in the floor and worked on our last names. We're building fine motor skills and improving handwriting.

We had a great time strategizing at our puzzle stations.

Finally, we got our special Thursday treat--music with Ms. Caitlin!

Wednesday, January 18

Thank you so much to Ms. Hill, the kids, and parents for making my 34th birthday a wonderful day! I am so touched by your kindness and honored every day to spend time teaching your children. They sang "Happy Birthday" to me at snack time and then enjoyed some of the yummy cake Chloe's mom Kim brought in (thank you!).

Today we also practiced writing the letter Oo and talked about owls. We discussed their habitat and the fact that they are nocturnal (the owls, not the letter Oo). The kids made some great owl sound for us before we read Owl Moon together. I want to say a big "thank you!" to Emily's mom for bringing in adorable magnetic owls, which we painted with watercolors today.

The kids also got to bring Ollie the Octopus home. We had a great time assembling him over the past two days. Your children are excellent construction paper leg crinklers, and they are now well-versed on just how many legs an octopus has.

Before we dismissed to go home, we learned about opposites and gave some examples. The kids grasped this concept very well, so please feel free to reinforce it at home. See how many opposites you can come up with together.