Turkey Tug of War!

Turkey Tug-of War

We completed another Visible Thinking routine this week.  We asked the question…Should we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?  The children took sides and debated.  During our turkey tug-of-war the children were…

1.      Presented with the dilemma.

2.     Asked to identify the factors that "pull" at each side of the dilemma. These are the two sides of the tug of war.

3.     Asked to think of "tugs", or reasons why they support a certain side of the dilemma.  They were also asked to try to think of reasons on the other side of the dilemma as well.

We displayed our Tom Turkeys that were created at home around our tug-of-war.  The kids LOVE to look at them!  They are fabulous!

 

 

We also created turkeys and then”Stepped Inside” a turkey’s life.  This visible thinking routine helps students to explore different perspectives and viewpoints as they try to imagine things, events, problems, or issues differently.  They are also on display.  There is a lot to check out when you come for conferences!

Writing Workshop

 We are wrapping our third writing unit called, ‘Label and List in a Content Area,’   The kids have been collecting, observing, and studying leaves, trees, weather, shells, & rocks.  It has fit in perfectly with our science unit on trees!  We have been working on slowing down their writing from whole stories to using letters and sounds to labeling items and writing sentences. This has enabled students to take their time and record not only the first sound but also every sound after that.  Finally, this unit is supporting the idea that writing, science and learning about things in their world is important.

 

Let’s Stop Those Germs!

(Tune: Mary had a little Lamb)

 

Mary had a little lamb,
She also had the flu.
And when she left her school,
The others had it too.
So anytime your child is sick,
Please keep her home with you.
Then the children in our school
Will be happier and healthier too!

 

Please remind your child to “catch their sneezes and coughs in their elbows.”  This will keep their hands clean and stop germs from being spread.  Now is a good time to review hand washing and remind your little one to keep his/her hands out of his/her mouth and nose. 

Math

We continue to work on numeracy.  The children are thinking symbolically by seeing numbers as quantities or measurements of real objects.  Their thinking amazed me this week!   They represented the number 10 with tally marks, 10 Frames, objects, number stories, addition and subtraction sentences and ones and tens.

 

 

Science

The Kinder-Kids finished our science theme on trees and leaves.  This week we focused on the different seasons.   Fortunately, through our weather and landscape changes, we have had an excellent example of changing seasons.

 We also started our wood and paper unit.    We transformed the shape of wood using sandpaper and created plywood from thin pieces of wood.  We observed different kinds of wood and communicated our observations.   We also observed how wood interacts with water.  We are super scientist!

 

 

This week Hill celebrated Red Ribbon Week.  It is a campaign designed to present a unified and visible community commitment toward the creation of a drug free America. 

     We talked about the dangers of drugs, tied a red ribbon on our backpacks and we all signed a pledge to make healthy choices and say no to drugs.

Wow!  The Nursery Rhyme Recital was fantastic!!!!!  We have quite a few performers in our room!