It's been awhile since I had time to post to the blog. But that just means 1 thing... lots of time to save up a bunch of goodies to share with you all! The (somewhat unintentional) themes in November and December were tradition and kindness. Throughout the month of November we prepared for Thanksgiving, as we learned about students' family heritage and traditions. During the month of December we were busy little elves, preparing for the holidays and practicing kindness during a time when it matters most. Throughout this time we also learned about persuasive writing, magnets, partook in some fun word-work activities, and much more!
I love learning about each student's heritage during our family ancestry unit. The students really take pride in their work, as they share what they have learned about the ancestors at home and learn about the continents and other students' families here at school. This is also a great time for them to understand what it meant to be an immigrant during difficult times, as well as the Pilgrims and Native Americans and the first Thanksgiving. After reading a story about a little girl, who was forced to immigrate into America without any family, we discuss the important belongings that the girl chose to take with her to America. Then, the students share what they would take in their luggage. It is always interesting to see what their choices are!
Here are a couple of the kids' family trees and other ancestry assignments as well.
In preparation for Thanksgiving, we made our cranberry relish with my grandma's old fashioned meat grinder. The kids have a lot of fun with this and I love that I can keep the tradition going with a special family heirloom. Thanks Gram!
During our Thanksgiving feast we enjoyed eating more of the cranberry relish, as well as eating our sharing soup. We also finished our paper bag Thankful Turkeys. Be sure to check out the cute turkey drumstick hats that we made! They are my favorite. :)
My little Turkey did a great job helping me with my Thanksgiving prep as well! He was my assistant in the cart, while I grabbed all the necessary items at the store.
I am all about switching things up and finding fun and creative activities when it comes to everyday routines, such as practicing spelling words. This helps to keep the students engaged and on their toes! We did a few different word- work activities throughout the last two months that the kids seemed to really enjoy. One of those activities was magic spelling. The students write their spelling words and go over them with a Bingo dabber. And just like magic the words appear! Another one of those activities was contraction surgery. The kiddos had to pretend that they were doctors performing surgery on their words in the Miakisz hospital. They wear masks and we can only refer to them as Doctor (fill in last name here). Fun and easy and gets the point across!!
Our Science unit throughout the month of December was magnets. We did all sorts of activities based on magnets, but one of my favorites is the magnet maze, where the students put their player piece (with a paperclip attached) at the start of the maze. Then they use a big magnet underneath the paper to guide the piece through the maze. During this activity the students learn that the magnetic force can go through different objects. They also enjoy testing out how magnets can attract and repel one another based on which poles are put together (I think the repelling part is their favorite).
Then we made this fun magnet craft, which lists facts about magnets.
Another activity that we worked on during November and December was persuasive writing. This writing came in handy in many different situations. The students were able to use their skills when they wrote recommendation letters for our student teacher, Miss DeVito (who we were very sad to see go) and when they filled out their applications and wrote cover letters to Santa to be considered to be an elf. Take a look at both of these letters... they came out so cute!
I think that it is so important to discuss what kindness means during the month of December. We spent the week before Christmas reading books, having discussions, and completing activities all based around kindness. The first book we read was We are all Wonders. This book is based on the book and movie Wonder. Afterwards, each student was assigned another student in class and had to them why they are a "wonder." The students couldn't wait to read their letters from their friends. I wrote mine to Mrs. Darling.
The students also wrote about a time that they chose kindness. They wrote them on their wonder helmets that they decorated. These helmets and writing assignments fit really well on our "Choose Kind" bulletin board.
We also talked a great deal about empathy. We read a book called Stand in my Shoes and we talked about what the word empathy means. Then we created different scenarios and discussed how we could show empathy during those times. We also passed around a heart that says, "Before you speak think and be smart. It's hard to fix a wrinkled heart!" Each student crumbled it a little. Each crumble represented something mean that someone might say. Afterwards when I unfolded it, the students could see that the wrinkles never really went away.
We had such a blast at our Holiday craft center day. Thank you to all of the parents for creating and bringing such cute crafts to share with the class. I know it's hard work and everyone loved them! By the end of the day the students had all of their gift bags filled with their crafts. The classroom looked so cheerful and festive!
Clark and Cruz were very festive during this holiday season as well. They enjoyed sitting on "Hoho's" (as Clark calls him) lap, going to Christmas parties, and, of course, opening presents Christmas morning!
I can't wait to see what the New Year brings with all of you!
