We had a chilly start to our new year in 2014. Despite the bitter cold weather outside, we had lots of warm and bright smiles inside our classrooms. Our first day back from our winter break, we celebrated snow!
We read books about snowmen, snowflakes, snowballs and snowy days. We enjoyed a cooking activity where the children made snowmen our of marshmallows and miniature chocolate chips. We then melted their snowmen on individual graham crackers for a tasty treat. Then at the end of the day, we all took home a small bottle containing a melted snowman.
We began our new year with a renewed interest in building our math, reading and writing activities. And parent volunteers have come in to lend a helping hand. Our preschool readers are busy spelling, reading and labeling. About a half dozen of our pre-K children have already read our forty-five phonetic readers. They are now working on reading their first hundred Dr. Seuss and I Can Read books which they will complete in the next six weeks.
In our elementary class, our students all wrote thank-you notes to Santa. They are busy practicing their new cursive skills and zipping through their math and reading workbooks. Our second graders are busy working on their year-long creative writing assignment. One of our students used his creativity to write a series of adventure stories about his pets. In each story, his pets visit a well known place of interest to make scientific discoveries. Some children have also used this assignment to look inward at themselves and their families to describe who they are, and what they enjoy at this point in their lives. Some also write about qualities they share with their parents or siblings, and about the activities they enjoy together.
Our third graders are reading four books in the Sarah Plain and Tall series and writing a diary for one of the books. Their assignment: Write from your heart! Take on the character of an observer looking on as the story unfolds. Create journal entries, one chapter at a time, reflecting the activities and feelings of the characters you observe.
Later in the month, we all celebrated our hundredth day of school with a special craft project. We also made snowflakes, long-legged snowmen, and a soft and cuddly stuffed snow buddy of our own. We're looking forward to more fun next month!
