The 100th day of school
Dear Families,
Happy Friday! Sometimes I think that cold bound teachers in the Northeast got together to brainstorm a bunch of random celebrations in February and March to help them get through winter. I know that I can choose not to celebrate them, and I did take it easy for Groundhog's Day this year compared to some years past, but I really do like a little extra fun at this time of year when I find that children hit the "sibling" stage of classroom development. They all know each other so well at this point that they can play beautifully together. They also know how to aggravate each other. Extra fun events give us a chance to play, be silly, and celebrate as a group.
100th Day of School
What a cool group of collections came into the 100 Museum today, and each one was unique. Everyone was fascinated to see how little 100 looks when the object being counted is macaroni or sunflower seeds. We looked at what everyone brought in and made labels so that visitors to the museum could appreciate what they were seeing. Putting a rubber band around the 10 bundles of 10 popsicle sticks brought a cheer from the class. My 100 pieces of pineapple disappeared at snack time. We made glasses shaped like 100, and even counted out 50 pairs of socks to bounce on our parachute. My paper birds from my 100s collection flew all around the classroom while we were at recess, and we sorted them out into groups of 10 to try to figure out if we found them all. We didn't, but we know that we only have 3 left to find.
Next Week - Tuesday and Wednesday Fun
On Tuesday, we're going back to Proctors. This time we'll see Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy. To help get ready, we read both the original Ladybug Girl book andLadybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy. I'll be curious to see how the play is similar and different to the book - I sense a compare and contrast in our future.
On Wednesday, it's Read Across America Day, also known as the birthday of Dr. Seuss. It's a day to celebrate reading in general, and Dr. Seuss in particular. To help make us all feel especially cozy as we cuddle down with some great books, I invite children to come to school in their PAJAMAS! Please send your children with any favorite Dr. Seuss books (with your name in them to avoid confusion), and we'll do a whole bunch of reading.
Theme: Birds
We have a whole bunch of bird lovers in our class! When we activated our current knowledge on the topic, I was impressed by how much the children already know about birds. There were some of the obvious facts like "they can fly," but there were also some very specific facts like "blue jays like to eat on the ground while other birds like chickadees and cardinals like to eat up in trees." Each child has picked one bird to study in depth. We'll be making models of our birds, writing about them, and hopefully catching sight of them outside. This week we learned about John James Audubon and Roger Tory Peterson, two famous birders who helped to get even more people excited about birds. We started to listen to the calls of some of our more familiar birds, and we read the book Have You Heard the Nesting Bird?
A mysterious "Rainbow Bird" came to the classroom during math to lay different combinations of eggs all around the classroom. She always lays a total of 10, but sometimes there are more purple ones or more green ones. We practiced the language and symbols of greater than, less than, and equal.
911
You may have heard that we spent some time talking about 911. We drew phones on our lap chalkboards and practiced dialing the number 911. Then I gave the children a variety of situations to figure out if we should call 911 or not. When we talk about emergency preparedness, I always try to hit the balance of remembering that this is serious and important stuff, but we don't need to feel scared. Please let me know if your child finds any of our conversations scary.
I hope you have a great weekend, and I'll see you on Monday!
- Tracy
