Saying Au Revoir to Emi

Thursday, December 16th, will be Emi's last day at Summers-Knoll until next year. She, Ella and the rest of the family will be spending the remainder of the school year in Canada. We will miss Emi so, so much. Please make sure to say "au revoir" in the next week, which doesn't mean goodbye forever, but "until we meet again". I know she will seem so grown up when we see her in September as a big 3rd grader!

Wild Swan Theater on Friday

As you know, we will be heading once again to Wild Swan Theater for one of their numerous productions. We are very lucky to have such a great children's theater in our city! On Friday, we will be seeing Firebird, which is described on the Wild Swan materials:

Young Ivan, Prince of Russia, must outwit one evil character after another in his quest to find the Firebird who has been stealing the Czar's golden apples. A thrilling version of the classic Russian folktale, Wild Swan's production features a host of fantastical creatures including the witch Baba Yaga, Nurl the Gnome, and Sistchik the Snake King as well as swirling Russian folk dancing set to a lively balalaika score.


I found an interesting article called Why Children's Theater Matters. Click on the highlighted text to read why we take children to the theater - it is an important part of our curriculum, for good reason!

Many thanks to Gabrielle and Jeff for driving and chaperoning!

Math Time Symmetry

We had so much fun doing this project on symmetry this morning! We will continue this "mini-theme" in math until Winter Break. Enjoy!

The Minpins

Although we are studying the works of Eve Bunting this month, I couldn't resist continuing our tradition of reading a bit of Roald Dahl to start our day.This time, I am reading a shorter work - in fact, we are nearly through. The Minpins is about a little boy who disobeys his mother and goes into The Forest of Sin. While there, he meets up with a terrible monster and a whole community of teeny tiny people who live inside the trees. It is a wonderful book, with lovely illustrations. It starts our morning off with a shiver!



This weekend, I went to a craft sale and met a woman who made these amazing little fairy houses. I wish I could have purchased the whole lot, but ended up with only one. It took me a while to choose, but I really loved this one. The children are enchanted, and agree it is an abode fit for the finest Minpin.

Science Friday/Phases of Matter

Today's Science Friday activity was very fun...and messy! After learning about the 3 phases of matter, we set out to make "oobleck". Oobleck acts like a liquid and like a solid, depending on how it is handled. Children discovered that it acted like a solid when it was pushed or hit, but acted like a liquid when they moved their hands slowly through it or held it. In other words, oobleck acts like a solid when pressure is applied, but like a liquid when little or no pressure is applied.

If you don't mind a little mess, oobleck is so easy to make at home. Simply supply your child a box of cornstarch, a jug of water, a bowl, a spoon for mixing (although we all much preferred to use our hands), and a cookie sheet. One cup of cornstarch will take about 1/2 cup of water.

Here is a little Bill Nye for you to enjoy. He is someone we all really enjoy!

Environmental Superhero Project for December

I had originally thought we would decorate our own wrapping paper for our monthly project, but had a better (and more practical) idea in the meantime. This month, our class will be entirely responsible for all the recycling for the whole school! Tribes will take turns doing this important task. This picture shows The Rainbow Caterpillars taking out bags of paper, plastic and aluminum. Go, Heroes, Go!

Listening For and Writing with "Voice"

I've been using a couple of Eve Bunting books to expose the students in the 1st/2nd grade class to texts with strong voice. They are learning to identify compelling voice in her picture books by determining the emotions Bunting wanted to impart.

Yesterday, I wrote on the board that writing has voice if

* it shows the writer's personality
* it sounds different from everyone else's
* it contains feelings and emotions
* the words come to life
* it comes from the heart

I then "read" a book called The Red Balloon. I didn't actually read the words, but told the story in a very dry, emotionless way. I then read the book as Bunting had written it. For example, my rendition of

I let go of the balloon became

I watch it go up and up. I try to shout, but it doesn't come out right. "Help!" I wail. "Mom! My balloon!" My heart's punching inside of me.

Children discussed how much more interesting and compelling Eve Bunting's story was - it definitely had emotion and very strong voice!

Then I read The Memory String. In this story, the protagonist is a little girl struggling with accepting her new stepmother. As I stopped at certain points of the story, the children talked together and then held up little signs with the emotion they felt was being evoked. Often there were multiple emotions, and we talked about how this true in a lot of situations - one can feel happy and excited and maybe a bit anxious all at the same time.

Today, we took off where we left off, remembering the ways that authors can demonstrate strong voice through letting emotions shine through and writing from the heart. We played Emotion Statues - as I called out an emotion, the class had 5 seconds to get into a statue position that represented that emotion. We talked about how our faces were, our shoulders, our hands. My personal favorite was "Horrified!" I wish I could have taken pictures of that!

Then each child picked an emotion stick and wrote a bit of a story that portrayed that emotion. This was done in secret so we could play a guessing game later. The one rule was that they couldn't actually use that word in the story, but that they must reveal the emotion solely through the thoughts, words, or actions in their writing. Some of the children were quite successful at this task, and all enjoyed listening to the others' stories and guessing the emotions!