Everywhere a Sign

Dear Parents,

We began our week reading Signs by Tana Hoban. The class knew most of the signs in the book. Railroad Crossing, Stop, One Way, Children Crossing, and Playground were some pictures in the book. We have some of the same signs to use in the big room. We assembled them and placed them around the big room to use while riding our wheels and axles. Some children were enforcing the new regulations heavily.  Others, not so much.

We added a map mat in the classroom to drive our cars on. It caused quite a stir the first day with a few traffic jams. 

Gym with Casey was exciting as usual. While friends were in gym class, the other half worked using pencils and stencils to trace shapes. We also did the Feely Box on Wednesday. Many people guessed it was a coin, some specified a dime or a penny. Two guessed it was a button, and one wondered if it was a bonnet. Before the big reveal, we told the class it was something that started with the letter P. "Penny!" shouted half the class. Who knew they still knew about coins. We placed the letter P on our alphabet chart and promptly brainstormed more P words. 

On Friday Peter came to talk to us about rock climbing. He a 250 foot long rope, and many simple machines that help him go up and down the rope. He showed us his rock climbing shoes and we saw wheels and axles, pulleys, levers, and wedges in the equipment. We found out that he also has climbed the masts of ships and buildings in Manhattan!

Welcome to planet Earth baby Elliot!

Have a glorious weekend,

Therese

Wheels and Axles and Inclined Planes

Dear Parents,

We started our week identifying wheels and axles. We found them in our math manipulatives, in our books, and in the big room. We discovered that many of us use wheels and axles to get to school, on bikes, scooters, buses, trains, and strollers. We counted how many wheels and axles are on a car. We made an eighteen wheeler vehicle using our manipulatives. We counted the wheels as we added them.

We talked about inclined planes being a ramp. One person said, “…for a wheelchair!”  We assembled cars using our math manipulatives, and made inclined planes using tables in the big room. Everyone took turns rolling the cars down the inclined planes. We guessed which cars would roll the farthest- the longer or heavier cars? 

On Wednesday we set up two pulleys in the big room. We used another simple machine, clothespins, to clip scarves to a rope and pull them back-and-forth from pulley to pulley. We alternated turns between our pulleys and our inclined planes and cars. 

We read Machines again and took turns turning a screw into a piece of wood. Some children thought it was harder than using a hammer. It was. 

In the yard this week we saw many birds and insects. We noticed more blooming flowers and new buds on trees and bushes. 

Zhubin came in on Friday and told us about how they celebrate the Iranian New Year. Everyone got a picture of things to place on a special tablecloth which they do at the beginning of the month-long celebration. He told us what each item symbolizes. Then everyone took turns jumping over (pretend) fire saying: “Take my yellow (old and tired), give me your red (strength and vitality)!” This is done on Red Wednesday. The class was so excited about jumping over the fire that we did it twice. Except for two friends who declined. 

Have a simple weekend,

Therese