Dear Parents,
We began our week brainstorming trees we know. We made a list: maple, oak, banana, coconut, plum, sweet gum, apple, and pine. We crossed a few off the list that have been family trees in recent years. We read Trees and A Tree Can Be…
We also read Good Days Bad Days, The Nice Book, When Sophie Gets Angry, and When I Feel Angry. We made a list of things we can do when we feel angry. The list included: run, take deep breaths, go be alone, play with toys, and talk to someone.
We asked the class if trees are alive. They responded, “Yes!” and “No!” We talked about how trees grow, what makes them move, and how they communicate through their roots.
On Wednesday while half the class posed in yoga class, in the classroom we took turns voting on which tree to create. Banana won by a landslide. It was a yellow tsunami! We looked at pictures of banana trees to get an idea of what they looked like. The children noticed the leaves were big, and that on some trees the bananas were green.
We read I Like It When…. and the children took turns telling us what they liked. The answers will be in their Me books when they bring them home.
We made our classroom rules on Friday. We asked the class to finish the sentence, I like when my friend_______. Most children said they liked when friends played with them. Someone said they liked it when their friend listened to them, and another said they liked it when friends share. We read My Friend and I, I Like Myself, and Yo! Yes?
We continue to work on listening to teachers' and friends' words, listening eyes and ears, using our own heads to make the right choices, and using our words to speak up.
We’ve been doing lots of investigating of leaves to figure out which trees they fell from. We played a leaf match game in circle. The first time there were too many leaves to choose between, the second time, everyone succeeded in matching. We used tiny clothes pins, and our fine motor skills, to try to pick up the leaves and put them in a box.
Next week, we’ll finish our Me books and begin building our family tree.
Have a wet weekend,
Therese