Last week flew by! Many of us were very busy trying to get well and stay well. We have been taking extra care to wash our hands and cough/sneeze into our elbows. We want to keep all of our friends healthy so that we can play together at school each day. Here are some highlights of last week:

We started our individual book boxes. Each day we spend time reading special books from our book boxes.  These books are beginning reader books, which contain simple texts with sight words and words that can be sounded out.

We started discussing the different seasons and why we have different seasons.  We also began thinking about why animals might have difficulties finding food in the winter. To illustrate this point we gave each student a piece of pineapple that was frozen in an ice cube. Students tried various strategies to get to their chunk of pineapple. We discovered that it’s very difficult to eat food that is frozen and we discussed how animals might have a similar problem getting food in winter when things are frozen outside. Soon we will begin discussing ways animals deal with the harsh winter weather (adaptation, migration, hibernation, etc.). 

We had a music makers session with Ms. Shelley on Tuesday. We sang songs, did movement activities, and played instruments.

We began getting ready for our authors’ celebration. We read through all the writing pieces in our writing folders. Then we each selected a favorite piece to publish.  We talked about the process authors go through to publish their writing. We worked hard to edit and add pages to our stories. We added to our illustrations and designed special covers for our stories.

Of course we spent time playing and exploring in the Atelier and in Creative Play. In Creative Play we have been making animal habitats and role-playing animal behaviors.  The Creation Station has been very popular and several scientists have been hard at work making new inventions. Last week we even designed, tested, and modifed “launchers”. 

Best of all, we spent time enjoying our friends and the beautiful Oregon sunshine!

View more photos from last week in our Feb 1-5 Photo Gallery