Week 2 - Never Eat Soggy Waffles

Week two with our book, Katy and the Big Snow, took us into studying the compass. In the story, Katy shovels snow to the north, east, west and east. She was an extremely hard working snow shovel!
We identified N, S, W, and E on our own copy of a compass and learned that the phrase "Never eat soggy waffles" will help us remember the order they go in.
We each looked at our own map of the beautiful city of Port Orchard. We put stickers on the compass and then took a close look at the legend. We identified each symbol in the legend and marked map sites with more stickers. We found some excellent spots for camping and using the restroom!
We then put our compass skills to test and went on a little treasure hunt outside our school building. We went north, south, west, and east!!(all with the help of our compass!)
We found a treasure of cookies!!
With our few remaining minutes we each chose a mini car or truck and tried to build it a snowplow out of clay. Even some convertibles got snow plows:)!

Next week, we head to Italy (oh I wish) in our book, Papa Piccolo! It's a good one:)!!

Week 1- Katy and the Big Snow

We had a great start to the new semester with the book Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton.  The story takes us to the make believe city of Geopolis.  The city is hit with snow and more snow!!  Katy, the tractor, saves the day with her snow shovel.  

We talked about character, setting and personification.  This is the second book we have read by this author.  She likes to use personification.  We sure enjoy it!

We had a fun discussion about community helpers and their jobs.  We learned a couple of our classmates want to be police officers.

We then went over traffic signs and what they mean.  These kids are so smart and so close to passing the driving test!

Lastly, we created our own city.  Everyone was responsible for a block of our city.  We created jails, police stations, parking lots, hospitals, swimming pools, and much more.

When we finished our city we were surprised with a huge storm of cotton balls (snow)!  Katy came to our rescue and we set about rebuilding our city after the snow clean up.

Next week, we will talk about maps and compasses, and maybe go on a little treasure hunt.

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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

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.

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!

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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.

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.