Friday, December 5, 2014

Week 12 - Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening

We had a most thrilling, thought-provoking Thursday class this week.
There were only a few things we would have liked to tweak.

We enjoyed reading Robert Frost's classic poem and looking with wonder at the beautiful and engaging illustrations by Susan Jeffers.

The illustrations show a man (who looks a bit like Santa Claus) stopping in the woods to make snow angels and feed all the forest animals.

We talked about alliteration and rhyme! It was fun picking out the rhymes in each stanza and finding the repeating sounds.

We strung cheerios to hang outside for the birds.  We matched animal tracks to the corresponding animals.  And we created our own wintry, snowy scene.

Next week, we are going to read some wonderful Christmas books.  We will also be sending home a semester's worth of work!  The kids have done some amazing things.  I hope to see them back for next semester.  This class has been GREAT!!  THANK YOU

Monday, November 24, 2014

Week 11 Cranberry Thanksgiving

Our book was the perfect lead in to Thanksgiving.
Cranberry Thanksgiving is a delightful story with a big lesson about judging the character of others based on their outside appearance.
The kids had supposed Mr. Whiskers was a bad man because he had a full, scary-looking beard.  It turned out that he was the hero of the story.  It was great to see them discover this as the story was read.  And fun to talk about "judging a book by its cover."
Teacher Jennifer Wright brought in some delicious cranberry bread and taught us why cranberries float and how they are harvested.  It was fascinating!
We then worked on our scissor skills by cutting cranberries out of colored paper.  We pasted them on our papers with the yummy cranberry bread recipe from the book.

This book is highly recommended.  Such a sweet story, but as we found out, it is HARD to get your hands on one.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

When we get back we will read a classic from Robert Frost.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Week 10- More Apples

We had so much fun talking about apples this week.
After reading our book, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, we looked at the map and found where the character gathered each ingredient for her apple pie.
The kids did a great job plotting the life of an apple tree.
We then talked about the different varieties apples come in. We tasted three different apple varieties and talked about how they were different in taste, color, and size.
Class ended with a fun finger painting project.

Next week, we have a new book titled Cranberry Thanksgiving!
Teacher Jennifer is going to delight us with a special treat featured in the book. I can't wait!

Sent from my iPhone

Friday, November 7, 2014

Week 9 - How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

Wow!!!  Time has flown!

This week we learned about the PLOT of a story.  Helen Mirren read our book this week, thanks to the old show, Reading Rainbow.  The story takes the reader on a trip around the world collecting ingredients to make an apple pie.  It is actually full of fun and humor.

After hearing the story we put the ingredients collected and places visited in order, making a mini-plot map of the story.

Then we made our own apple snacks.  We used measuring spoons and combined 1/8 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/2 tbsp. of sugar.  We mixed it up and used it as an apple dip.  It was delicious!

Next week there is going to be all sorts of apple talk.


Monday, November 3, 2014

Week 8 - Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

We had a classroom full of excited princesses and characters last week. Such fun!
We read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.  It is such a great classic with so many lessons.
We talked a little bit about how steam engines work.  We used a steam kettle and pinwheel to illustrate the power of steam. 

We focused on the personification in the book.  The author does an amazing job bringing to life the steam engine, Mary Anne.  We attempted to personify rocks.  We added eyes, mustaches, hair and any other characteristic they could dream up.  Hopefully, their rocks made it home and have been given a name.

As an added bonus, Teacher Genne, just happened to drop by our class and was kind enough to read some Halloween stories to us.

Next week we are taking a literary trip around the world with the book, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Madeline in Paris

Fun class this week!
We compared the art in our Madeline book to photos of buildings in Paris.  They were beautiful.  We attempted our own copy of one of our favorite Paris landmarks of choice.  They turned out remarkable!  We also had a fun impromptu visit from Teacher Genne.  She told us about some of the landmarks in Paris.  We even quizzed her and she passed with flying colors.
Also, we talked about symmetry.  We made a symmetrical Eiffel Tower with colored penne.
We also talked about the wonderful foods in France, including frog legs and sheep's brains!!!
We attempted to walk in two symmetrical lines to the bathroom to wash our hands.  We formed something that was more like a meandering river.  But we did make it back to class and we broke bread together when we ate a fresh baguette from Albertsons.

Next week, we will discuss personification and the book, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.  If we have time we will also read a few Halloween stories.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Week 5 - Madeline

We had a fun class this week with the book, Madeline.
We were whisked away to France where we saw poor little Madeline rushed to the hospital for an appendicitis!
The inquisitive kids wanted to know what an appendix was.
We talked about where and what it is, and why it sometimes MUST come out!
Then we discussed how to keep our bodies healthy. 
We made small hygiene bags with soap, tissue, and bandages.  We talked about sneezing and coughing without releasing all our germs and most importantly, we learned how to WASH and WASH our hands : )!!
We ended our class with a little lesson on food groups and creating a healthy plate. We learned which foods belong in which food groups and attempted to create a healthy plate of our own using a lovely Safeway advertisement.

Next week, hopefully, we will all be on the pumpkin patch adventure for the core kids!!

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Week 4- Lentil and Tastebuds

We had a great class this week.  We went on another journey into the book Lentil.
After reviewing character and setting, we talked a bit about taste buds.  In the book, the antagonist, Sneep, sucks on a lemon and causes the band to all pucker their mouths, hindering their ability to play their instruments.  Why would a sour lemon do this?

We talked about how taste buds are found on our tongue. They are called papillae.
We have over 10,000!!! 
We put our taste buds to work identifying four different tastes: sour, salty, sweet and bitter.
After identifying them using foods we eat all the time, we tested our taste buds by drinking four different liquids and assigned them a taste.
I think the sweet lemonade was the favorite. No one liked the salt water!!
They were all great sports.

Lastly, we built the town of Alto, Ohio with blocks.  We each built a house, library, train station, or store for our little town.  The kids attempted to re-enact the story with wooden clothespins as their characters.  They were creative and shared well.

This week we will read Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans.
Je suis impatient!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Week 3

This week we discovered our class is packed full of talented and amazing kiddos!!!

First, we talked about setting and what it means.  We found that our book, Lentil, is set in Alto, Ohio during the early 1900's.
We read the book and were on the look out for American flags.  There were a lot of them.  We came to the conclusion that the people in Alto love America.  We talked about the stars, stripe and colors of the flag.  Then we each made our own flag to show that WE LOVE AMERICA.

We also discussed the characters in our book.  Lentil could not sing but discovered another talent--playing the harmonica.  We then talked about ALL the MANY talents that you can have and develop.  We each pledged to go home and use one of our talents to make someone else be happy.

Next week, we will discuss why the grumpy character Sneep sucked on a lemon!!!  We will be doing a little taste testing.  And hopefully, we will build a block city.

Your kids are TERRIFIC!

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Week 2

We finished up with The Story About Ping.  After reviewing the characters and re-reading the book, we talked about buoyancy.  There is a scene in the book with two little boys tied to their family houseboat with rope and barrels on their backs.  We talked about how the barrels helped them to float and work the same way our lifejackets work for us.  We then conducted an experiment about what objects can float and which objects sink.  We took a walk outside and collected three items to experiment with.  After conducting our experiment we recorded the data in a graph.  We then tried our hand at using chopsticks.   Some of the kids were naturals : )!
Next week, we are going to read and explore the book Lentil, by Robert McCloskey.

Friday, September 12, 2014

First Day of Class

During this class time we talked about characters in a book.
We read the book, A Story about Ping, identified the characters, and discussed what happened and what lesson Ping learned.
The kids were great during the story and quick to answer any questions.
We also talked about the art in the book, attempted to layer colors with colored pencils, and draw a bit of water.
We discussed a little bit about what it would be like to live on a boat.  Only Teacher Jennifer said she would want to do it full time.

Next, week we will apply a little science and geography to A Story about Ping.

Thanks to those who already sent in class supplies!  If I didn't get the chance to take them from your child and put them in their assigned zip-loc bag, forgive me!  Please just send them back next week : )!

We will definitely be using scissors and colored pencils next week, so PLEASE send their supplies if you have not yet done so.

THANK YOU!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Hi Everyone,
I am so delighted to teach this class!
It is going to be a lot of fun learning.
 
As I understand it, a lot of your children will be taking part in either 2 or all of the Upper Core class offerings (Math Circle, Geography).
We, the teachers of these Upper Core classes, would like to have a bag of supplies for each child to use each week in each of their Upper Core classes.  These bags will be  labeled with your child's name and contain the supplies they bring from home.  They will be stored at the building.
 
This will prevent forgotten supplies and hurt feelings that can surface due to sharing or non-sharing.  Also, it will help move each class along.
 
These supplies do not need to be new.  They can simply be sandwich bags of crayons, markers and colored pencils taken from your own supplies at home.  As long as they are labeled, they will be GREAT!  I want to give the kids hands on projects as we read our book each week.  If they are fighting or searching to use crayons or markers, this will disturb our story time.  Their own bag of supplies will be a great opportunity for learning responsibility, as well.
 
Here is the list of requested supplies:
-crayons
-colored pencils
-scissors
-pencils
-markers
-ruler
-empty egg carton (1 dozen size) - MATH CIRCLE students only
 
Do NOT worry about getting these supplies to class tomorrow.  But by next week, we would LOVE to have them.
Thanks so much.  We are going to have a GREAT semester!!!
 
Jennifer Poyer