Week of November 29, 2010

The holiday buzz is in the air! The students have started their countdowns to Christmas, and most have an elf visiting their homes that returned from the North Pole! Despite the excitement, we are still hard at work. We learned:

• Math: We completed a follow-up lesson on probability by using red cubes and blue cubes. The students had to determine if they would pick a red cube, could pick a red cube, or it would be impossible to pick a red cube when ten red cubes were placed in a box. The activity was repeated with all blue cubes. Then the red cubes and blue cubes were placed in the box together. The students then needed to identify that you could pick a red cube or a blue cube. The students also completed a follow-up lesson using the pan balance. The students had to compare the weight of teddy bear counters and playdough. We also completed a graph of our favorite colors.
• Phonics and Word Study: We are continuing to work on beginning consonants and sounds. The principles for this week's lesson are: 1) "You can hear the sound at the beginning of a word." 2) "You can match letters and sounds at the beginning of a word." To practice these principles, we matched pictures and letters by listening to the sound at the beginning of a word.
• Reader's Workshop: We read two versions of "The Gingerbread Man." After we read each story, we created a list of the characters. We compared the differences and similarities between the two stories.
• Writer's Workshop: We learned how to use our Alphabet Linking Chart to help spell words that we are trying to write. The students listened to the sound at the beginning of the word that they tried to write, then said the pictures on the Alphabet Linking Chart until they said the name of a picture that had the same sound as the word they tried to write.
• Handwriting: The students learned how to write W and X.
• Social Studies: We learned about a doctor and the tools that a doctor needs. We made books that show a variety of these tools.