Week of December 4th

Unit of Inquiry: Materials

This week the class explored cotton, wool and plastic. Many students had wonderings about where these materials came from and how different objects were made. i.e. How are plastic beads made? Why does wool come from sheep? Where does cotton come from? We read books about these 3 materials and then watched a few short "How it's Made" videos. The class discussed the difference between natural and artificial materials. Students discovered that wool and cotton are both natural products and the way they are made is similar (there is a whole lot of spinning!). 

Wool being processed.

Literacy

Book Making was once again a very popular Centre this week. The students are really enjoying being authors and illustrators! Their writing skills are really improving with all the practice they are doing. It is so great to see how they are taking their time to sound out words and use finger spaces. We have been discussing the difference between fiction and non-fiction (along with our Special Helper Show and Share), and we have seen students writing both made up stories and real life stories. 

Letter of the Week

To form the uppercase H:

- Start at the top

- Big line down

- Frog jump to the top corner

- Big line down

- Jump to the middle

- Little line across

To form the lowercase h:

- Start at the top

- Dive down

- Swim up (half way)

- Add a hump

(we do not lift our pencil up for this letter)

Math

The class was introduced to a new math game called "Number Towers". Students used snap cubes and number cards to create their towers. 

Beading

Students worked on their fine motor and patterning skills this week at the Beading Centre. This has been a great quiet activity for students when they are feeling they need something calming to do. I have also benefitted from some very creative jewelry this week! :) 

Music with Ms. Serena

After practicing our song for the concert, the class played a game called "Naughty Babies". Once the Queen Mother leaves her babies, they do naughty things that she told them not to do. (i.e. fly an airplane, go swimming). The class thought this was a really funny game!