This week, we enjoyed listening to several different versions of the Three Little Pigs. We worked on comparing and contrasting stories. We started by reading the “original” story the Three Little Pigs, where the wolf eats the pigs, and the “new” version, where the pigs move on their their siblings house. Then each day we read a different version (The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, The Three Little Javelinas, and The Three Little Hawaiian Pigs and the Magic Shark). After each story, we listed the ways it was the same as the original and the ways it was different. We found that many of the stories had a lot of things in common except for the setting or the place the story takes place. Our big writing project this week was to create the characters and setting from the story and to use the props to retell the story. We ended the week by retelling the story of the three little pigs to our 5th grade buddies using the puppets and setting we created.
Monday:
In reading, we were introduced to our new letter sound and letter, Gg. While we were singing our letter song, we noticed that G has two sound, /g/ & /j/. We are focusing on the /g/. Next we created a list of words that started with the /g/. We also created a list of words that ended with the /g/. As we were creating our ending sound list, we noticed that most of our words were from the same word family- ug. After identifying all of the words in the -ug word family, we made our ug word family slider. Then we completed our letter g sorting worksheet.
Our theme for the week is The Three Little Pigs. Today we read two stories titled The Three Little Pigs. Our first story was the “original” Three Little Pigs. In our story, the pigs each built a house. The big bad wolf blew down down the first two houses and ate the pigs. The third pig built a strong house and was able to capture the wolf. In the second story, the pigs each built a house. The wolf blew down the houses of the first two pigs, but they got away. Then together the three pigs captured the wolf. As we read the second story, we talked about things that were the same and things that were different.
In math, we were introduced to the + symbol. It is called an addition or plus sign. It means we need to put them together. We use it with a some and some more story problem. Ms. Torborg showed use how it works on the SMARTboard. As Ms. Torborg told a number story, she drew a picture. She put some on the left side of the symbol and then the rest on the right side. To find the answer, we had to put them together. Then we gave it a try with our own addition symbol and counters. After several examples, we tried solving the same number stories by drawing a picture, writing a number sentences, and checking our answers on a number line. We also played 10 bears on a bus. We pulled a number card (0-10) and put that many bears on the bus. Then we created a number sentence to tell how many seats were on the bus. We started with how bears were on the bus and then we added how empty seats were left on the bus.
In the afternoon, we revisited the story of the Three Little Pigs. First we watched a short movie. Then we completed a sequencing worksheet. We had to cut out all of the pieces and glue them in order. Since there were so many pieces, we had to make sure the second row went from left to right just like when you read a book.
Tuesday:
Ms. Torborg was gone today. Mrs. Dingman was our sub.
In reading, we reviewed the letter Gg, identified words that begin and end with the /g/, and practiced writing capital and lowercase g’s. In small group, we worked on substituting letters in words to create new word and writing sentences. We also listened to the story, The Three Little Javelinas. A Javelina is a southwestern cousin of the pig. Our story was similar to our first story The Three Little Pigs only it was set in the dessert. When we were done with the story, we compared it to the original story. We learned a new word- similar. It means that it is just like it but not exactly the same. There were many things in the stories that were similar. In the first book they built a house out of straw. In the second book, they built a house out of tumbleweeds. We decided that straw and tumbleweeds are similar. We also found all the ways they were the different and the same. Our project today was to create the stick puppets for the story of the three little pigs. We colored and cut out the three pigs and the wolf. Then we taped them on popsicle sticks.
During religion, we discussed the next liturgical church season, Lent. We found out it starts tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. We found out that during Mass Father will mark our foreheads with a cross made out of ashes. The ashes were created from burning the palms that were used last year during the Palm Sunday celebration.
In math played a new game, The Train Game, with a partner. To play, you need a pile of unifix cubes (interlocking blocks), a game board, and a special dice. On your turn, you had to roll the dice and collect that many cubes. As you add the cubes to your train, you had to identify how many cubes you had, are adding, and end with. Then it is the other person’s turn. The first person with 20 cubes wins.
Wednesday:
Today is a special day, Ash Wednesday. It is the first day of Lent. Lent is a special time when we get ready for Easter. Ms. Torborg gave each of us a Lenten calendar. Each day we need to color one rectangle on the path. It will help us keep track of how long lent is and how many days until Easter. In honor of Ash Wednesday, we had Mass in the middle of the day. During Mass, Father marked each of us with a cross on our forehead out of ashes.
In reading, we listened to the story, The Three Little Hawaiian Pigs and the Magic Shark. We compared and contrasted it with the original one. We found the biggest difference in the The Three Little Hawaiian Pigs and the Magic Shark was the setting. This story took place in Hawaii, so there were several new words we didn’t know. The way the story ended was also different from the other stories we read. Our project for the day was to create the setting from the original story of the three little pigs. We started by creating three different houses. We cut out the outline of three houses and glued them on a big piece of paper. To create the straw house, we glued yellow string pieces on a house outline. To create the stick house, we glued popsicle sticks on a house outline. To create the brick house, we just draw bricks across the house outline.
Thursday:
We started our day reading the story of the Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. In this story, the wolves worked together to build different houses. Each house was stronger than the first. The big bad pig would find a way to destroy each of the houses. That is until they build a fragile house of flowers. The pig decided to change and be their friend. Throughout the story, we made predictions about what might happen next. After we read the story, we compared it to our first story (the original Three Little Pigs.) We identified things that the same and things that were different. We also talked about different building materials we could use to make a house. Then we started a writing project. We pretended we were a little pig and had to build a house. We could build any kind of house we wanted to, real or make-believe. Then we had to add details to our story about our house. We finished our writing project by creating a pig out of our writing. After cutting out hooves and a head we glue them together. Now they are on display in the hallway.
During Lent, we spend some time learning about the Stations of the Cross. Today we discussed the First Stations of the Cross: Jesus is Condemned to Death. Then we colored a picture. We are going to color a picture of each Station throughout Lent. Then at the end, we will turn them into a book. We also talked about St. Maria Goretti. Her feast day is July 6th. St Maria Goretti is the patron saint of youth. She was attacked by her brutally attacked by her neighbor. Before she died, she forgave him.
In math, we worked on creating number scrolls. A number scroll is just like a hundreds chart. We had to write the numbers in order from 1 to 100. Once we completed our number scroll, we played the train game with a partner.
We ended our day with the three little pigs. First, we added some background designs like a blue sky and grass, to our paper the our houses on it for our setting. Then we used our puppets to retell the story of the three little pigs.
Friday:
During reading, we listened to Snow Day three times. The first time, we listened to it for the story. We made predictions about what might happen next and retold some of the details at the end. Then Ms. Torborg introduced 2 new end marks, the questions mark and exclamation point. After defining them, we found each of them many times in our story. The next two times Ms. Torborg read the story helped us to understand the difference between a telling sentence, an asking sentence, and a excited sentence. The second time she read it, she ignored the end marks. The story was boring and all of the sentences sounded the same. The third time she read it, she read it including the end marks. The was much more exciting.
We finished our Three Little Pigs theme by reading the story, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. We found out that the same story can sound a lot different when a different character tells us the story. This story was written from the wolf’s point of view. After we read it, we compared the story to the rest of the stories we read. We also took a vote to see which story we think was the truth and the pig’s story won out! We also worked on retelling the story of the Three Little Pigs. This week we created puppet characters and the setting. We used our props to help tell our story. We practiced a couple of times on our own. Then music, our 5th grade buddies joins us. We retold them the story of the Three Little Pigs using our puppets and the setting we created. If we had time, we read them our decodable book, The Three Little Pigs. We ended with the story, The Three Little Pigs and The Big Red Dog. We found the biggest difference in The Three Little Pigs and The Big Red Dog was the characters. Clifford was sick and sneezing and not trying to hurt the pigs. Ms. Torborg had enough books that we each got to keep a copy of the Clifford story.
In religion, we discussed the Second Station of the Cross: Jesus Takes Up His Cross. Then we colored a picture of it.
In the afternoon, we worked with the BeeBots. Ms. Torborg made some BeeBot mats for us to use. One mat was rhyming words, another mat was attribute shapes, plus there were 3 Ball word mats. First she taught us how to use the code planning sheets that go with the mats. Then we got a chance to try them out. After a little bit, the 1st graders joined us. We had fun figuring out the code to make our BeeBots move where we needed them too.