Well, as I heard from a parent dropping off their child on Thursday, "The Family Day holiday almost turned into Family WEEK, what with the snow days!"
This week we worked on activities that were familiar to the children with some new extensions. For instance, the children have a solid grasp of what addition is and subtraction...so, I introduced multiplication and division. This was met as a great new challenge to discover. I find introducing "hard" work early on is never received with a complaining attitude with young children, instead with pure excitement!
One child asked to do some sketching and she chose an Indian Tiger. Studying carefully the original sketch and then working diligently on hers for a great length of time adding colour to complete it.
A surprise for me was on Friday morning when a girl had asked if she could write her own music. I said sure and gave her a piece of paper to write it out not really sure of what she meant. As she sat in the chair, humming a few different melodies I listened. Then after about 15 minutes she said, "OK, that's it, I've finished my music. Would you like to read it?" And what she handed me was a 1/2 page filled with notes. This amazed me because we have never looked at music books or sheet music here at school. I didn't think she was in music lessons - so I immediately sent a message to her mom. And, she too, was at a loss - not sure where she would have seen this because she isn't in any music class.
We also made bread on Friday. The children loved shaping their very own loaf some made heart shaped loaves (with some help from me), baguettes, round loafs. They are always excited to be able to bring home something to eat and share with their family. They take such satisfaction in being part of that process of making and sharing. Often in our busy life, we buy and share because of the convenience, however, if you have time to help your child make something to share, you will see a light in their eye and joy in their voice when they are able to give that "made" item to a loved one.
Saturday 23 February 2013
Friday 15 February 2013
Week 20 & 21
Last weeks snow day on Friday made me completely forget about the blog. Over the last 2 weeks, we've been learning about Asia. Listening to the music, learning about the animals, making some art, and trying to count to 6529 (because that is how long the Great Wall of China is in KM). We've been trying to use chopsticks (another compound word) but it is proving to be a difficult task. We also made some very yummy Valentine Day treats. We've been able to enjoy the snow as well, thanks to the man who blows out our driveway, making some fun climbing hills!
2 of our friends have left on vacations: Sadie who will be visiting Minnie Mouse in Florida, and Mia who will be spending time visiting family in Barbados! Enjoy your time in the sunshine!
A reminder that Monday is Family Day, so school will be closed.
2 of our friends have left on vacations: Sadie who will be visiting Minnie Mouse in Florida, and Mia who will be spending time visiting family in Barbados! Enjoy your time in the sunshine!
A reminder that Monday is Family Day, so school will be closed.
Friday 1 February 2013
Week 19 - Review
I'm not really sure what was up with today but the children were absolutely wired. It didn't really matter what activity I tried, not a thing was catching their interest. "We just want to do what we want to do" was the consensus, which I get and understand, yet a day of not much "work" tends to disappoint me a bit.
The rest of our week went well though. We worked on reviewing blends and digraphs. I also introduced the idea of compound words. They thought this was a neat concept, 2 words put together to make a brand new word. We also were able to eat pancakes, cupcakes, and they asked to eat popcorn. We tried to make a snowman and snowballs but that just didn't work out. It was the wrong type of snow.
Some of the children continued to work on addition and subtraction skills, while others worked on printing. It is always a fun time with young children decide they want to learn how to print words. It is important to just let them print any and all words. Get really excited about the length of the words too, count the letters they have just printed, count the vowels, then the consonants. Ask if they can think of other words that make the same starting sound, or a word that rhymes.
We ate a "brunch" one day as well. One of the students thought about this word for quite a while and then said, "brunch, that is a good word, it takes the br from breakfast and the unch from lunch, to make its own word...very smart!"
We are beginning to study Asia during the month of February so this may spark some new interests and a desire to do some "organized" activities?
The rest of our week went well though. We worked on reviewing blends and digraphs. I also introduced the idea of compound words. They thought this was a neat concept, 2 words put together to make a brand new word. We also were able to eat pancakes, cupcakes, and they asked to eat popcorn. We tried to make a snowman and snowballs but that just didn't work out. It was the wrong type of snow.
Some of the children continued to work on addition and subtraction skills, while others worked on printing. It is always a fun time with young children decide they want to learn how to print words. It is important to just let them print any and all words. Get really excited about the length of the words too, count the letters they have just printed, count the vowels, then the consonants. Ask if they can think of other words that make the same starting sound, or a word that rhymes.
We ate a "brunch" one day as well. One of the students thought about this word for quite a while and then said, "brunch, that is a good word, it takes the br from breakfast and the unch from lunch, to make its own word...very smart!"
We are beginning to study Asia during the month of February so this may spark some new interests and a desire to do some "organized" activities?
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