It has been great to be back together again after our vacation! Chalav students have been busy learning about so many new subjects. We began our study of geometry with the concept of an attribute. Learning to recognize and differentiate various 2-D and 3-D shapes requires an ability to identify the attributes of those shapes. At the beginning of the week, had fun looking at buttons, identifying their characteristics and sorting them accordingly. We played a game called “Guess My Rule.” In that game, each child chose an attribute (color, number of button holes, shape, size etc) and then sorted his/her buttons accordingly. Other children then had to examine the sorted piles to determine how they were sorted. At the end of the week, we played this game with attribute blocks (ie blocks that come in different sizes and shapes and are designed for the study of geometry). The children were able to identify the triangles, squares, trapezoids, circles and pentagons. We began to use the terms: polygon and quadrilateral.
In Fundations, we finished our unit on base words and the suffix “s.” We will be moving on to learning more glued sounds.
Chalav students have been preparing to celebrate Martin Luther King day. We have been reading stories about Dr. King and today watched footage of his famous “I have a dream” speech and the march on Washington. Children are writing about their own dreams for making the world a better place.
In Writer’s Workshop, chalav students have started writing stories about their vacations. We have been talking about how writers begin stories. We looked a the beginnings of a number of books by our favorite authors including Kevin Henkes and Dr. Seus to learn how they began their books. We have been trying to answer the questions: who, what, where and when at the beginning of our stories to help our readers better understand what we are trying to say.
Shabbat Shalom,
Hamorah Joanne