Our theme of the week was winter. We started out learning all about the sun. We found out that the sun is really just a star. It provides the Earth with heat and light. As we explored the relationship between the Earth and sun, we discovered the reason that we have different seasons. When it is really hot, summer, we are tilted close to the sun and when it is really cold, winter, we are tilted away from the sun. Next, we explored each season. For each season, we examined the weather that occurs, the activities we like to do, and the way people dress. This week we also completed two different writing projects. One was about something we like to do in the snow. The other one was about what a snowman might do at night when no one is watching them.
Monday:
In reading, we reviewed our letter sounds and letters. Then we were introduced to our newest letter, Bb. After singing our letter song, we each identified a word that began with the /b/. We also completed our letter D sorting worksheet.
Today we started on a big writing activity for Catholic Schools Week. We had to write about some of our favorite things we did this year. We started by talking about some of our favorite activities. Then we made a big list on the board. We tried to think of things all the way back to the beginning of the year. The next step was to meet with Ms. Torborg. We had to write about one of our favorite things about the School of St. Philip. (Eventually, we will have to complete 3 of them.) Next we will draw and color a picture to match the words. When they are completed, Ms. Torborg is going to turn them into table tents. They are going to be used at the breakfast during Catholic Schools Week and then they are going to be delivered to different restaurants around town.
Our theme for the week is Winter. We started out today by exploring the seasons. For each season, we examined the weather that occurs, the activities we like to do, and the way people dress. Next we talked about the sun. We found out that the sun is really just a star. It provides the Earth with heat and light. As we explored the relationship between the Earth and sun, we discovered the reason that we have different seasons. When it is really hot, summer, we are tilted towards the sun and when it is really cold, winter, we are tilted away from the sun.
In Math, we played Roll & Record again. This time we used two dice. We rolled the dice and added the numbers together to figure out what our big number was. Then we had to write the number on our chart. We played until one of the columns on our chart were filled.
In religion, we talked about different feelings. We started with the story, Grumpycorn. As we listened to the story, we identified different feelings the characters were having. We realized that we could identify them because we too have felt that way. Just like we knew how the characters were feeling, God always knows how we are feeling. He is with us when we are scared or worried along with the times we are happy or sad. On our worksheet, we identified how the character in each picture felt by drawing their face. Then we drew a picture of someone we can talk to about our feelings.
Tuesday:
During reading, we were introduced to our new sight words, go & will. We practiced reading through all of our words. Then we read through our new decodable book, Winter Fun, as a class. Then we completed our sight word worksheets for our two new words. Next, we listened to the story, A Wild Toboggan Ride. We made predictions throughout the story. At the end, we identified some of the different elements of the story. Then we created a list of different things we like to do in the snow like sledding, building a snow fort, or snowmobiling. Next, we made a new class book Winter Fun. In the winter, I like to . . . we each had to write about something we like to do in the snow. It was on the outline of a person in a snowsuit. Tomorrow, we will color the picture and glue our face on the outline.
In math, we played games. With a partner, we could choose which game we wanted to play, Monster Squeeze, Roll and Cover, or Top-It. After 15 minutes, we switched to a different game. During this time, Ms. Torborg worked with us one on one checking some of our skills.
In religion, we continued our discussion on emotions. Today we listened to the story, Finding Jesus in the Temple. As we looked at the pictures and listened to the story, we talked about how Mary and Joseph felt. They went from excited and worried about the trip to scared when Jesus was gone to elated and thankful that he was found again. On our worksheet, we had to color the picture of Jesus after he was found in the Temple.
Wednesday:
In Reading, we listened to the story Snowmen at Night. As we listened, we found out we were able to predict the last word in the paragraph because it was a rhyming word. In the story, the snowman goes to the park with their friends. They go sledding, have a snowball fight, go ice skating, and make snow angels. We extended our story with a writing project. Our job was to write about what we would do at night if we were a snowman that came alive. We each had to write two sentences. One about what we would do and one details to support it. We also completed our letter B worksheet after reviewing our letters and letter sounds and singing a letter B song.
In math, we reviewed all of our shapes. After drawing a shape, we identified some of its properties including the number of sides and vertices or corners. Then we completed a worksheet on which we had to identify the number of sides and vertices of each shape. We also worked one on one with Ms. Torborg so she could check our progress on some of our skills.
In Religion, we talked about our sense. After discussing each of the sense, we talked about how we can use them to praise and honor God. On our worksheet, we cut apart the pictures to create a puzzle.
Thursday:
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 also listened to Sneezy the Snowman. He was so cold, but each time he did something to warm up he would melt. Finally the kids helped him get warm by giving him clothes. As we listened to the story, we identified some of the rhyming words we heard and then made predictions about what the next rhyme would be. We also completed a sorting worksheet- Things that helps Sneezy stay warm and things that melted Sneezy. We ended our reading time with the -ig word family. After watching the video, we created a list of real and nonsense -ig words and we made our -ig flip books that we read and added to our reading bins.
Our math lesson today was Bears on a Bus. We had to figure out all the different combination of red and green bears that could ride on our bus. Our bus (a tens frame) could only had 10 seats and each seat had to be filled each time the bus went on a trip. With a partner, we had to figure out all the different color combinations using two different color bears and a tens frame. We wrote down all of our combinations. When everyone was done, we took some time to compare our answers. We also wrote all of the combinations on the board. We found out that the combinations are called ten pairs. Ms. Torborg tested our ten pairs. She would call out a number and we had to figure out its ten pair.
After lunch, we created a picture of a snowman face looking at the sky at night to go along with our writing. The only things we could use were paper, glue and a white crayon. We couldn’t use our scissors. Together we brainstormed different ways we could create our picture. We decided to just tear the paper. When we were done with our snowman, our stories were glued on the paper with our snowman and we drew snowflakes with a white crayon.
We ended by learning about Saint John Neumann. John Neumann was a priest who started over 100 Catholic Schools in the late 1800’s. He is the patron saint of Catholic Education and his special feast day is January 5th.
Friday:
No School ~ Snow Day