Toga Party!

We began the day with the reading of our writing assignments!  I made a HUGE deal out of these today.  Each and every child did their absolute best, and it showed.  Their handwriting, capital letters, punctuation, and big ideas were just awesome!  There were stories of magical snowmen who melted into magic snow slush and later made into another snowman, snowmen who could turn their enemies into frozen ice, and snowmen who healed people with magic dust.  I told them that I expect more of the same when we come back for second semester!

For handwriting practice, we wrote some of the spelling words from this week's list.  All of the children made the same handwriting mistake.  All of their lower case "k"s looked like uppercase "K"s.  We spent time correcting this mistake.  They may need to work on lowercase k's at home, as well.

In art class, Ms. Bev brought in beads!  The children worked on beaded Christmas ornaments.  They loved choosing their colors and threading the beads onto the line.  There is just something about beads, buttons, rice, beans, and other beautifully tactile materials that children just love!

Today was the big Greek Party in Ms. Allison's history class!  The kids (and teachers) came in togas, headbands, and came bearing Greek food!  The children tried pita chips and hummus, pita bread and olive oil dip, spanakopitas baklava, olives, meatballs, and more!

In Spanish class, we all learned a lot as Ms. Rose explained to us the Spanish Christmas traditions that she shares with her family.  We learned about different foods that her mother and grandmother would cook for the holidays.  I think I learned more than the children!  I always love hearing of how different cultures around the world celebrate the birth of our Lord!

Math-  In math class, we have been learning, in class at at home, about measurement.  Today, the students worked with capacity.  It is so difficult for a child to first get their head around the fact that taller containers do not always hold more than shorter ones!  By the end of math class, they were all focusing more on the capacity the container has to hold liquid, rather than its height!

Science- At home, the students watched videos about different methods that single celled organisms use for movement: cilia, flagellum, and pseudopods.  Today, they reviewed the concepts in their reading and discussed the differences between the different modes of motion.

In spelling today, we focused a lot on the sound "wor" as in "worms".  This is not something that can be sounded out!  The class took their spelling list and wrote each word onto a different notecard.  Then, they had a relay.  The kids had to take turns dropping one of their notecards into the appropriate "special sounds" box.  At the end, we sat in a group and discussed the cards within each box.  There were quite a few "wor" as in "worm" cards (like work and word) in the "or" as in "morning" box!  Hopefully, after today's lesson, it will be easier for them to spot this sound.

In Language Arts, the children learned that you drop the silent "e" in words before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel.  For instance, when you turn "race" into "racing", you must drop the silent "e".  The class worked through examples of this as a group.

The class and I walked over to check out the garden.  They learned how broccoli and cauliflower grow inside the middle of the plant, tried a piece of fancy lettuce (all of the tried it!), and checked out the goat's new winter coats!

We will continue at-home assignments through Friday of this week.  Then, enjoy a nice, long, Christmas break!  At-home assignments will begin on Monday, January 6th.