Ferdinand the Bull

We were certainly happy to see each other on Thursday!  

And we were especially happy to explore our new book, Ferdinand the Bull.

The book took us to the countryside in Spain where a young bull named Ferdinand was born.  He was different than the other bulls in that he enjoyed laying under a cork tree and smelling the flowers, while the other bulls butted heads and chased each other.

When Ferdinand is a two year old bull he is mistakenly chosen to compete in a bullfight!  This proves to be a complete disaster for all involved.  We loved this story!  Ask your kids to retell it to you.  Maybe they will even act it out.

After we learned a few facts about the country of Spain, (instead of a tooth fairy they have a mouse that comes and exchanges your teeth for treasures!) we talked about bullfighting.

But we didn't just talk about it, we went outside and DID it! (To a certain degree.)

Here are some pics of a few of our ferocious bulls and courageous matadors.

Next week we will discuss our olfactory system!  And see what we can identify with just our nose.

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Owl Moon

Last Thursday, Owl Moon by Jane Yolen was the book of choice in class. It's a beautiful story with gorgeous, wintry landscapes.
I wasn't in class, but I heard a fantastic art project happened as well as some owl calls. How exciting!

I hope you all have an amazing holiday break filled with lots of stories and fun:).
See you in January!


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Hooray for Hanukkah

 Today we continued with our Jewish studies as we further explored  the book, Mrs. Katz and Tush.

We watched part of a Reading Rainbow episode that featured this great book about friendship and kindness.

We then completed a dot-to-dot page that revealed a menorah.  We then learned all about Hanukkah. 

We learned about the 8 days of celebrations.  We even played the dreidel game with mini marshmallows.  Everyone caught on very quickly and we even had three games going at once!

Lastly, we hunted for the matzoh cracker in the Fellowship Hall.  It was eventually found and everyone was rewarded with a golden chocolate coin.

Next week, Teacher Suzanne is going to delight us with the book, Owl Moon!  It's a wonderful book full of gorgeous illustrations.

Mrs. Katz and Tush

Last Thursday, we read a very sweet story about friendship.
Mrs. Katz is an older Jewish lady that lives in the same apartment building as the young boy, Larnel.
Larnel befriends Mrs. Katz after giving her the runt of a cat litter.
He begins to love visiting her and they create a long lasting bond. She teaches him about Jewish traditions and invites him to share Passover dinner with him.
The book ends with Larnel, as a grown man, visiting Mrs. Katz's grave.
Very sweet!!!
In class, we discussed the characters, themes, problems and solutions, and the setting.
We then talked about the history of the Jewish Passover. We discussed the 10 plagues of Egypt and Moses' great escape with the Israelites.
Next class time we will talk about Hannukah!

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Tally marks, compound words and ships

  On Thursday, we took our last look at The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.  We worked on our math skills and learned to make tally marks.  We made a tally mark for every boat we saw in the story.  We came up with about 23 boats total. Great tally marking everyone!  Hopefully, you challenge your kiddos to go home and count with tally marks, or it would be even better if they did it on their own.

    Next, we moved on to compound words.  This was SO MUCH FUN!  We put a lot of words together to make new words.  The best part was their excitement when they thought of a compound word to share with the group!  Their words were very impressive. 

    And finally, we looked at a pretty amazing pop-up book about ships.  We learned so much about their boat experience.  Two of the kids have even driven a boat!!! (I think they both attributed this to their grandpas.)

    Next Thursday, we are going to read a wonderful book titled, Mrs. Katz and Tush.

The Little Red Lighthouse and The Great Gray Bridge

Even though you are small you can still help! This is the theme from our story this week. And Sam quickly identified this important theme during our book discussion. We have a class full of literary geniuses!
The book, The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, by Hildegarde Swift, tells a sweet story of the The Little Red Lighthouse which is actually the Jeffrey's Hook Light on the Hudson River. This lighthouse feels important until a great, big bridge is built right on the top of it (George Washington Bridge.)
The lighthouse thinks that it is no longer needed now that the bridge lets off light from its tall towers. But it is definitely wrong. The lighthouse saves the day in this classic story and realizes that although it is small, it is still needed!
After the story we watched a quick video that shows the actual bridge and lighthouse from the story! Irish said that when she moves to New York she will be able to go see it! How exciting!
This story was a perfect example of personification. We saw the boats, lighthouse, bridge and fog all take on human characteristics. The fog had hands that would try to grasp the boats below. It was spooky!
We talked about the job of lighthouses and made our own lighthouse complete with eyes to demonstrate our personification skills.

Less is more-Harold and the Purple Crayon

We had a creative class last Thursday! We saw a lot of budding artists among our class.
First things first, though! We started class by recycling old crayons into new crayons. We peeled off the paper of old crayons, broke them into pieces, placed them in muffin tins, and baked them in the oven!
It was fun to see the wax all melted. I will bring the finished products to our next class. They turned out really neat.

Next, we watched a video of Harold and the Purple Crayon. And then we went to work on creating our own imaginative drawings.
The kids were given a choice to choose up to five crayons. They all chose ONE! (Just like Harold.)
They then made a window using a ruler. After they drew the window, their imaginations and art skills went wild! I was immensely impressed with their houses, trees, people, balloons, and MONSTERS!!