Happy Halloween!

We had a fabulous week that was literally filled to the brim with learning and fun! 

Here are the highlights!

 Looking through our classroom window into the courtyard, we noticed some spectacular changes to our class tree! It is slowly being transformed from a green tree into a red tree! We also found several of our new red leaves on the ground!

 During science, we participated in several hands-on learning explorations. After learning about and discussing the concept of friction, the children predicted what would happen to a penny as it slid down a ramp onto various surfaces. These surfaces included newsprint, wax paper, the carpet, the shiny floor, and sandpaper. Then they tested it out! The children did a terrific job of observing that the "bumpier" the surface was, the more friction there was, and the slower the penny moved- IF the penny moved at all!

 One of our writing lessons this week focused on writing a thank you note. The children learned that a thank you note follows typical friendly letter format (date, greeting, body, closing, signature). They learned that it also includes mentioning the gift or kind gesture, sharing what you liked about it or how it made you feel, and being sure to include courteous words and phrases. The children really enjoyed writing thank you notes! Several of the children chose to continue writing thank you notes on their own time during indoor recess on our rainy days this week! (<--i loved="" nbsp="" p="" particularly="" that="">

 If the children chose to write their thank you note to someone outside of the building (and to someone we had an address for, they had the opportunity to practice addressing an envelope so it could be mailed, too!

 It was so wonderful to read the kind, warm messages that the children wrote. I was so happy to see how well the children applied their learning to their writing. It made them feel so good to write a message to someone else!

 In our math lessons this week, we reviewed the value of money amounts. The children went on to "buy" items from the fruit and vegetable stand in their math journals using more than one coin combination.

 Back to science! Another friction lesson this week led us to a very exciting shoe race. The children raced in pairs, by placing one of their shoes on a slanted table. Before letting it go, we looked at the bottom of both shoes and tried to decide which shoe we thought would have more friction. We looked for shoes that had more bumps or grips, and shoes that were less "flat" to show the most friction, and to move the slowest down the table.

 You can see how excited the children became when we got down to the "championship" rounds! :)

 Our writing lessons continue! After writing so many uplifting thank you notes, it was time to learn how to write a proper invitation. We created our own imaginary event, a "Fall Festival," and then we practiced including the most important details in our invitation so our guests would have all of the necessary information. This information included the name of the event, who was invited, where it will take place, what is being celebrated, and when. We also made sure to include RSVP information (Répondez s'il vous plaît) as well as any other important details such as what to bring, how to dress, or special food that will be served.

 The children practiced writing an invitation one more time by planning their own winter event, and including all of the details we learned about.

 Many of the children are reaching the end of their first classroom incentive chart! Joe selected a day at the teacher's desk. It looks like my desk has been reserved through much of next week! The children are enjoying choosing a fun classroom award to celebrate their hard work!

Another science concept we worked on this week was gravity! The children looked at a small cork ball that was hanging from our ceiling. I asked them to think about if there was any force on the ball. They pretty unanimously agreed that there was no force on the ball since it wasn't moving. That was until Jovanni volunteered to come up to the ball and cut the string it was hanging from! It fell right to the floor. We learned about the invisible force of GRAVITY that is constantly pulling objects toward the center of the earth.

 An additional experiment with gravity involved dropping two balls made of different materials into a container of sand. We watched as the two balls fell at the exact same rate of speed| Based on what they were made from (metal, glass, or sand) the impact they made in the sand varied. The metal ball landed deep in the sand, while the cork ball landed right on top!

 Our reading lessons this week had us reading the traditional fiction story of "The Ugly Duckling" to practice the concept of visualizing. We also took some time to look at the reading goals the children made for themselves for the month of October. The children dated and assessed their reading goal. Several of the children felt that they achieved their goal, which is great! All of us thought of another reading goal that we would like to work on to make us better readers, as well as a few ways we plan to achieve this goal, during the month of November.

 Here, Alexandra and Kurt are sharing their goals with each other!

 The children took a few assessments this week. We pulled out our class set of "privacy offices" to help the children really focus on their work. They were making me laugh to see their little faces popping over the top when they were ready to go on. I just had to take a picture!

 Samantha was our star student this week! We welcomed Mrs. Phillips to celebrate Samantha's week with us!

 Together, Samantha and Mrs. Phillips demonstrated how hot air expands by placing a 2 liter bottle with a balloon attached to the top into a container of steaming hot water. The balloon expanded! When they transferred the bottle to icy cold water, the balloon deflated. What a great experiment!

 Samantha read a cute story to her classmates called "The Day the Crayons Came Home" which was a series of letters from crayons that had been lost or left behind. It was so funny to think about life from the perspective of a crayon!

 We had so much fun sharing why our Samantha is a star! She is one of the brightest and happiest kids in our class! Samantha is hardworking, always willing to volunteer to share her thoughts and ideas, and a kind friend to everyone! We are very lucky to have her in our class this year!

 Here is a picture of us on Halloween with our class tree! :)

 Below are some pictures of all of our fun on Halloween! It began with a parade through the neighborhood!

 After a brief recess, we headed inside for an afternoon of fun thanks to our room moms! A HUGE thank you to Mrs. Schmidt and Mrs. Arellano for preparing so many exciting Halloween treats, activities and games for the children to enjoy. They had a blast!

 We decorated pumpkins!

 We snacked on healthy and sweet treats! What an amazing array!

 After participating in a fun "Eyeball" relay race, the children giggled as they dressed each other as mummies!

We are so grateful that Mrs. Schneider and Mrs. Peterson were able to come in and spend the afternoon helping us celebrate! All of the moms helped make our party so much fun for the children. A special thank you to all of the parents for the donations of treats, drinks, games, and materials!

I hope you all had a happy Halloween!