Thanks for visiting our class blog. I plan on using this blog to update families of what is going on in our classroom. It will take the place of a weekly newsletter that is generally created in other classrooms. I would love to hear feedback about how this blog works for you. Please feel free to send me your thoughts. I hope to post at least twice a week, if not more.
We have had a fantastic second week of school. We are continuing to develop community within our classroom and have been focusing on each component of the C.A.R.E.S. curriculum. We have been establishing a respectful, caring learning environment and have been working on being our best selves! The students have been writing stories that focus on being kind. We discussed what being kind looks like, feels like, and sounds like. In these stories, we worked on labeling our own self.
This past week we have been looking closely at butterflies and learning about their life cycle. We began our week talking about what we already know about butterflies. From there, we brainstormed ideas about what we want to find out about butterflies. These questions have prompted many discussions throughout the week. In math we learned about symmetry and created beautiful butterflies for a class book, "Five Butterflies." We also made caterpillars that have patterns across their bodies. These are crawling all over our walls so be sure to stop by and check them out! The students practiced making patterns during a guided discovery of unifix cubes prior to creating their caterpillars. The most exciting part of our week happened today. While observing the chrysalis, we started noticing that we can now see the butterfly inside. Hopefully we will be able to observe the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis tomorrow!
During literacy this week, we have learned three different ways to read a book. During our read to self time, the students practiced reading the words, reading the pictures, or retelling the story. This time is used to practice building a readers independence. We also learned how good readers track the words as we read a book about the life cycle of butterflies.
Throughout the week we have been singing many songs. Our favorite was definitely, Chi Chi Cha, but we also enjoyed many songs about butterflies. The students were able to dramatize the different stages while singing. Ask your child to share these with you. They are sung to the tune of The Eensy Weensy Spider and Frere Jacque.
