Monday
Spanish class with Alicia was as wonderful as usual. Alicia greets everyone individually by saying, "Buenos dias, (Cardinal's name)". They respond, "Buenos dias, Alicia." She then asks them, "?Como estas?" and then they answer, "Bien," "Asi-asi," or "No muy bien". What is happening now is also amazing: the Cardinals are identifying other feelings they are having - such as if they are hungry or tired and then asking Alicia how to say those words in Spanish!
After going over the calendar and counting how many days we've been in school, Alicia explained how to play Color Bingo. They then reviewed all the colors and played the game partnered with a friend. Everyone did a fabulous job of sharing and taking a turn with their partner. The energy in the room was contagious! Talk about making learning fun:). Quite a few High Fives were observed! There were silent celebrations for team "Bingo!" and then the whole group celebrated "Bingo!" when everyone's card was covered.
Also a class favorite is singing the "Adios" song. Ask your Cardinal how the song goes. Today was Willow's turn to squeeze La vaca.
Today friends began to work on our first journal entry which was titled, "What do you like to do at school?" While working on our journals, friends drew a picture of what they like to do at school, followed by each friend giving detailed dictation about what they drew. As the year progresses, we will begin the process of working with the older Cardinals and friends who are ready to begin kid-writing. Kid-writing is when friends work with a teacher one on one, say what they want to write about, a teacher stretches each word out and friends write the letters they hear.
Tuesday
Library class with Michelle began with the amazing Cardinals returning their library books and settling down for a read aloud! Today friends listened and took part in the actions to the book Going on a Bear Hunt. Upon finishing the book, Michelle asked friends what was their favorite part of the book? Friends then pretend to go through grass as they make their way to pick and check out a book.
Another beautiful day in October had us outside on the field for gym class with Josh - he always makes friends laugh so hard! Wish we could bottle that energy! Josh then gave each Cardinal a ball. He demonstrated each action he wanted friends to do: first, Josh had friends all throwing the ball in the air and trying to catch it. Secondly, they practiced kicking the ball (the class favorite!) and lastly, they practiced rolling the ball on the ground like a bowling ball.
After gathering together again, many Cardinals had the chance to name an animal that everyone had to go scatter and behave like! They had so much fun acting like a Hippo, Cheetah, Kangaroo, Gorilla, Horse, Giraffe, Tortoise and a Polar bear. The finale was that friends acted out whatever animal they wanted before gym class ended. Many smiles were seen!
Wednesday
Our Meeting for Worship began with Carol lighting a candle and placing it in the center of our circle. We fell into silence followed by Eileen reading the book Reach Out and Give by Cheri J. Meiners, M.Ed. We fell back into silence after a few minutes. We broke our silence with the Cardinals singing Make New Friends but keep the Old to the Catbirds and Hummingbirds classes! Yay Cardinals!! Ask your Cardinal to sing Make New Friends but keep the Old for you? We finished up Meeting for Worship by singing This Little Light of Mine all together!!
After our class morning meeting and snack time, the Cardinals engaged in a Literacy Workshop. We set up three literacy stations in which friends rotated through. Erica, our lower school learning specialist came to work with us as well. The Cardinals worked on recognizing uppercase letters in random order, connecting letters to their sounds and matching uppercase letters to pictures objects. We will make these groups smaller and do one on one work as well. Ask your Cardinal what they like about doing this work?
Taking advantage of the gorgeous day on Wednesday, we went outside for some unstructured time on the playground. After working so hard on letters and sounds, the Cardinals enjoyed running and using their imaginations while playing with friends. There were many trips to "the market" for those playing on the bus!
Art class with Johanna allowed for some more time practicing scissor skills. The Cardinals were reminded to put their thumb in the smaller hole and to put two or three fingers in the larger hole. They were also reminded to hold their thumbs up when cutting. Each Cardinal used their cuttings to create a picture. Some Cardinals created a moon, a truck, or a flower. There is always plenty of joy any time that a Cardinal gets to use a glue stick:)
Thursday
Friends were overheard having many conversations this morning as they enjoyed coming to school all dressed up!! The Cardinals had much fun taking part in our Harvest Fest activities and playing on the playground was such a highlight!! We also enjoyed and appreciated our special snack which was organized by our Home and school parents and provided by our Cardinal parents! Thank you all very much!!
Alicia came in and read us a book called Mi Familia (My Family) before we headed out to enjoy our Harvest Fest activities!
What a fun time we had at Harvest Fest!!
Friday
Annie led us into music class today. We began by dancing with scarves and shaky eggs to Bamboleo by the Gypsy Kings. What a fun, upbeat song! After a moment of silence and stillness, the Cardinals sang, "Jambo" and practiced their Bunny poem: "Here is a bunny with ears so funny and here is a hole - big and round. At the first sound she hears, she pricks up her ears and hops right into the ground! Schwooop! Ask your Cardinal to sing this song to you?
The Cardinals used bells to learn a new song/game: Bell Horses. They had to listen to the rhythm/beat and the directions given at the end of the song. They had to run away, jump away, tip toe away, fly away, march away, wiggle away, hop on one foot away, and gallop away. So much fun! The energy was contagious!
The Ant Song was practiced with actions. Friends are getting so good at it! Another class favorite was then acted out - Five Little Pumpkins. There were a few requests for it! It was then time to sing the Goodbye song. Another fabulous Music Class - everyone walked back to our classroom with big smiles!
Two weeks ago, we invited our second grade buddies to come visit us. Today the Cardinals were invited by our buddies to come visit their classroom!
Enjoy the weekend!
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