Trogglehumpers and Phizzwizards

We have all been enjoying our read-aloud book, The BFG by Roald Dahl. The first 15 minutes of each day is spent with me reading my copy of this book while the children follow along in their very own copy. On Friday mornings, we can read even longer, which is a nice treat.

The Big Friendly Giant has a lot of his own funny language (or "langwich", as he would say). This definitely adds to the humor of the story. The BFG has jars and jars of trogglehumpers and phizzwizards in his cave - these are the good dreams and bad dreams that he collects.

After our morning reading time today, I started telling a story about a very good dream. After setting the story up, I handed it over to each child in turn to add a sentence or two. Great fun! Then I started a story about a horrible dream and did the same thing. It was very interesting and challenging to do this type of group story telling activity - sometimes the story took some unusual twists and turns.

Then the children had a few moments to tell their tablemates some real dreams and/or nightmares they have had. After a few minutes, I turned them loose with paper and pencils and each child wrote a good dream or a bad dream. They rolled up their papers when they were done and put them in the appropriate jar.

Finally, we spent a good deal of time acting out each dream (if the author wanted to, and most everyone did).

This was a valuable exercise and one that I hope to do many times this year. It encompassed listening, group storytelling, writing, illustrating, and theater! How wonderful is that? I know the children want to make this a regular event - yes, they are begging to write!

Heifer Heroes: Everyday Heroes

Read to Feed - An Update

Today was the big day! Children came into the room in a rush, excited to give me their reading logs and pledge sheets! This afternoon, we shared the book Beatrice's Goat with Elaine's class, and then we all watched a short Heifer DVD called Everyday Heroes. The DVD told about several different families from various places in the world who had their lives changed dramatically by the gift of one or two animals.

Then, we tallied the money. Including the money that I pledged (10 cents per book per child), we raised $500.00. A discussion followed about what we should donate - bees, sheep, goats, and a heifer were read about and thought about. We finally all decided on giving what is called a "Knitting Basket":

A “Knitting Basket” includes two llamas and two sheep—animals famous for their warm, income- producing wool. From shearing to spinning to finally selling woolen goods at market, a “Knitting Basket” can help families earn enough income to weave a new future full of hope and self-sufficiency.

This type of project was important for so many reasons. Not only did we learn about social responsibility and the importance of giving to others, we also got mini lessons in math and geography. And, of course, it gave families the chance to emphasize reading, reading, reading.

Sponsoring a Raptor at Leslie Science Center

This is the perfect month to think of our feathered friends. Leonardo Da Vinci loved birds all his life. He studied them, drew them, and dreamed of flying like one. In honor of Leonardo, our Eco-Heros will be raising money to sponsor a raptor at Leslie Science Center!

This is still in the initial planning stages, but I was thinking that we could make various bird treats and sell them (like a bake sale, but for birds). We could string popped popcorn, cranberries and cereal. Perhaps we could make bird feeders out of pine cones, melted lard and bird seed.

More information coming soon, but a bird treat sale will be held soon - stay tuned for details! Also, if you would like to donate bird seed, lard, cereal, etc. it would be most appreciated! (Please remember to check for nuts in bird seed mixes. Also, as popular as peanut butter is for making bird feeders, we cannot use it at our school. Lard or vegetable shortening will do just fine.) And if you have a collection of pine cones, I would love to have them. Thank you!

Leonardo da Vinci

It's November 1st, and new month means a new theme! This month, we will learn about a most fascinating individual who lived in the time of the Italian Renaissance. This gives us a chance to revisit September’s theme as it relates to Leonardo da Vinci. However, in our classroom we will also continue learning about flight. I honestly feel we gave it short shrift last month, and there are a few more scientific explorations I have in mind. So Science Friday activities will all revolve around flight this month, and we may even go on a flight related field trip!

Children will learn who Leonardo da Vinci was and how he reflected the spirit of the Renaissance. We will discuss his many achievements and describe some of his inventions and contributions. His works are intriguing even in modern times, and we will examine why this is so.

Happy Eco-Fair Day

The kids are having a WONDERFUL Eco-Fair! This morning, groups of kids visited four different stations. At my station, we used recycled paper (old maps and pages from a flower book) to make beautiful paper beads. With Elaine they made picture frames that they decorated - these were fitted with a picture of the child in his/her costume (these are now in cubbies, please take them home to enjoy!). In Renata's room, they used Scrapbox materials to make Hunter Moons. And Christine Hume, Juna's mom, helped the students make felted balls out of wool roving.

This afternoon, we've been enjoying a relaxed end to our hectic day - reading, illustrating poems and some free play with the dress-up clothes. We enjoyed healthy pumpkin muffins for snack, and will end the day with a viewing of The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss.

Have a great weekend, Everyone, and have fun trick-or-treating! Remember, there is no school for students on Monday.

Education World ® Lesson Planning: Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks Math Game: A - Ten - Tion

Education World ® Lesson Planning: Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks Math Game: A - Ten - Tion

I really like Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks math games, and use them a lot in the classroom. They do a great job in making practice fun and make new concepts much clearer.

But I really like them because they can be done with just cards and/or dice. This means that parents and children can play them too - you don't need game boards or expensive math manipulatives. Grab a pair of dice from a game and a pack of cards from the drawer, and you are set to go!

The game I will be teaching my math group tomorrow is called A-Ten-Tion. You can read the rules by clicking the above link. We've been working hard on understanding place value and this is one tool that I will use. I hope you will consider playing math games with your children - they will LOVE it, and you will be amazed how much children learn when they are having fun.