Marshmallows, tooth picks and a challenge! Make a cube. How many blocks can you balance on a single card?
Step one: Make the cube
Step two: Start balancing
Step three: Detect a problem? Yes, definite leaning!
Step four: Get four more toothpicks and . . .
Step five: Give credit to the triangle! It is the strongest structure!
This fun activity and more can be found in this book: Build it! Structures, Systems and You written by Adrienne Mason and illustrated by Claudia Davila.
Life has been busy at Seymour School! But lots of great learning and working together has been going on. Some highlights of the past week!
Buddy reading with our little buddies in Division 7 (K/1) is always a highlight of our week. This week we broke out the rhyme and repetition bin and enjoyed the repeating parts of stories we could share together.
Sometimes books call to you, “Come into the story!”
In math we have been working on skip counting. We find that physically moving numbers into sequence helps us practice the patterns really well. With 25s, we chanted “25, 50, 75, double zero!”
Our reading group shared a fantastic book called Clever Beatrice written by Margaret Willey and illustrated by Heather Solomon.
As we read, we charted the character traits we noticed in Beatrice and at the end of the story, took turns sharing examples from the text that illustrated each point. Soon, we will be doing this with a partner and then eventually, on our own, as we read a picture book.
In Science, we have been studying structures. Today we learned some new vocabulary to help us talk about bridges: approaches, foundation, supports and span. The task was then to build a bridge using just blocks and rulers.
This group attempted to make the longest bridge possible and even test drove matchbox cars up the approaches and along the bridge.
Another group wasn’t interested in the longest bridge, they were all about interesting! This bridge had multiple approaches and reinforced supports. (And options for multilane traffic)
All over the classroom, bridge construction and team work could be observed. The adults loved listening to small group presentations about bridge design and how the groups worked together. One self assessment: “Next time, I will work harder at team work.” We really do depend on each other!
This week our BLG reader Maria brought in a fun read aloud – Sneaky Sheep written and illustrator by the talented Chris Monroe.
Rocky and Blossom are two sheep among 147 others who are all watched over by Murphy the sheepdog in a large meadow. Rocky and Blossom are determined to explore the meadow on the mountain far away. Despite their sneakiest attempts at escape from Murphy’s supervision, Murphy always seems able to bring them home. One day however, they do manage to get away and are threatened by a wolf. Murphy turns up at a critical moment and helps them to safety.
This story had lots of drama and funny bits but our classroom experience brought even more humour to the story. Early on in the story, there was a page that showed our two sneaky sheep juggling fire. Jacky in our class was convinced that the picture showed wrestling chickens. The rest of the story seemed to take on a completely bizarre twist as Jacky wondered if the wrestling chickens would come back. It was a kind of “you had to be there to understand” experience but I don’t know if any of us will ever pick up this book again without thinking about the wrestling chickens!
Our Student Reviewers report:
Khai: I like the designs and drawings because it was colourful and really nice. I liked the part where the wolf comes and scares them because it was kind of funny.
Catriona: The drawings were good but their sheep dog Murphy, does not look like a sheep dog should. Otherwise, it was a very funny and good book.
What a fun and exciting day we had today!
We started with a spooky read aloud, The Soup Bone written by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Margot Tomes.
This book is about a little lonely old woman who goes in search of a bone to make her soup a little more tasty. No bones in the the cupboards or the drawers or on the shelves. Not one bone anywhere. So the little old woman decides to go digging for a bone. This struck us as quite disgusting! “Eeew! The bone will be dirty!” ” Will it be a dino bone?” “Maybe a skeleton bone?” Well a skeleton was exactly what she found. The little old lady shrieked and ran away. When the skeleton decided to “skittle- skattle” into the house, Markus piped up “So finally she’s got some company!” And as we read on, we decided this story was a friendship story after all!
Following a spooky story time in the library with Ms. S after recess, we did math.
Today it was Pumpkin Patch Glyphs. Everyone had to design a pumpkin in a way that answered four questions.
Then everyone else had to look at the legend to learn more about their classmates as they examined the features of each pumpkin: stem, eyes, nose and mouth.
For example, someone who loves chocolate would have a pumpkin with triangle eyes.
Is your favourite treat chips? Well then circle eyes for you. Lots of fun to look at all of the pumpkins up on the wall and make conclusions – most people like scary costumes for example. Glyphs are a way of organizing and representing data!
Some completed pumpkins:
Hailey is a chocolate lover who is not so sure about pumpkin pie.
Shae-Lynn does NOT like pumpkin pie and has yet to try pumpkin seeds.
Truman likes sweet treats and strange costumes.
In the afternoon, it was all about pumpkins!
These unsuspecting pumpkins donated by the Rotary Club . . .
turned into fabulous jack o’ lanterns with the help of our Big Buddies from Division 1.
Even a little bride on her way to a wedding stopped in to do some carving!
Final results looked something like this: successful carving and a big mess 🙂
Happy Halloween 2011!
I am a huge fan of author/illustrator Patricia Polacco. Her book Thunder Cake helped us continue our discussion about how to be courageous and how to manage our fears.
The little girl in this story is very afraid of thunderstorms – hide under the bed afraid. Grandma soothes her explaining that summer storms full of thunder and lightning are made for baking Thunder Cake. The mention of ThunderCake gets some attention and Grandma is able to explain how to count seconds when you see lightning and stop counting when you hear the thunder to help figure out how far away the storm is.
My students loved counting along and then laughing when I read out Polacco’s different versions of thunder:
“BAROOOOOOM”
“CRACKLE, CRACKLE BOOOOM, KA-BOOOM”
“KA-BANG BOOOOOOAROOOOM”
It was all very exciting and almost like a storm was descending on us as we read through the pages.
This whole Thunder Cake idea seemed quite intriguing. I asked what magical ingredient it might contain that would take away fear? We had watched our little character collect eggs from the mean Peck-Hen and milk from Kick Cow and then chocolate, sugar and flour from the dry shed. What was going to be the magic fear dissolver? Well, maybe it was something else entirely going on? It didn’t take long for someone to talk out their thoughts on this:
“It is really just a normal cake but because she had to go get the ingredients from things that scared her (the hen and the cow) she started to realize that she is actually brave”
“Yeah,” someone else agreed. “She is trusting herself to be brave.”
“The ingredients aren’t special! It is making the cake that helps her realize that thunder is just a sound because she stops worrying about it. She wants to ice the cake!”
We had a great discussion about how once we don’t hide from our fears, we can face them and realize they don’t have power over us. Sometimes being brave isn’t doing some amazingly courageous act. Sometimes being brave is just being calm and thinking about something else.
An ideal book to let us look at something that is often very scary and remove the “fear” by watching our character have success in celebrating her ability to be brave. And saying KABOOOOOOOOM in a really loud booming voice sure is satisfying!
Bill, our BLG reader this week brought in a fun and engaging story, ideal for reading aloud: Dog in Boots written by Greg Gormley and illustrated by Roberta Angaramo. And yes, you are right to be thinking, “Hey this reminds me of another story . . .” The dog in Dog in Boots is reading a story about a cat who wore a pair of “truly magnificent boots” and it inspires him to take a trip to his local shoe store.
Dog first finds some absolutely magnificent boots just like the ones in the book but finds out that when digging, the boots got muddy and looked quite awful. Rain boots seemed great but filled up with water and made him sink to the bottom of the pond. Next he tried flippers (not so great for scratching), then high heels (“Oh I would like those,” commented one student), then skis (not practical) until the shopkeeper finally pointed out to him that paws were the perfect thing he needed for everything! Dog was thrilled! Then later when reading a book, a lovely red hood on the main character of his storybook caught his eye . . .
Our student reviewers report:
Truman: I like it when the dog kept changing shoes. I wonder if the dog is going to go to a coat shop and keep changing coats?
Catriona: It was very funny about a dog who wanted boots to do one thing and then finds out they can’t do another. So he gets boots to do that instead. The lesson was sometimes what you have is best.
We have continued to read books that help us explore what it is to be brave. Louder, Lili written by Gennifer Choldenko and illustrated by S. D. Schindler was the perfect book to help us talk about what motivates us to stand up and be brave.
Lily has a voice that is so soft, it just doesn’t ask to be heard. Lili often gets missed and often feels alone. Some students connected to her immediately. Shae-Lynn commented, “I used to be like Lily in my old school. It’s a scary feeling. I learned now that I don’t have to be shy.”
In the story, Cassidy begins selecting Lili to be her partner for everything but Cassidy’s version of sharing doesn’t seem very fair. She has Lili do the work and she takes the credit. When they share, Cassidy takes the cake and gives Lili all the carrots. My students were on to Cassidy pretty quickly!
Purity commented, “I think Cassidy is using Lili. She takes stuff and gives nothing back.”
Catriona pointed out, “Lili doesn’t say no to her.”
Shae-Lynn had a prediction. “Maybe, Cassidy might make Lili so mad that she might yell so she will realize that she can be loud.”
Jacky wondered, “Maybe Cassidy will use her and blame her.”
When Cassidy took Lois the guinea pig out of her cage and gave her a hair cut, everyone was very upset.
This story really had Shae-Lynn thinking. “I don’t think Cassidy has respect for anyone which means she doesn’t have respect for herself.”
When Cassidy suggested putting glue in Lois’ water bottle, Lili yelled. So loud that everyone stopped. In the classroom, all of us also quieted too and just let the moment of Lili’s outrage resonate.
Then all hands were up wanting to share how Lili had been courageous.
“She was courageous to take care of the guinea pig.”
“Courageous to talk so loudly finally!”
“Lily learned that she could be loud when she wanted to be.”
“Sometimes it takes love to make you courageous.”
And after that, what else needed to be said?
BLG readers are back!! Deborah was in today with a fun book – Zoomer’s Summer Snowstorm written and illustrated by Ned Young (who brought us Zoomer) Read more about Ned Young on his blog.
In this Zoomer adventure, our silly dog has a bit of a snow-cone machine mishap. As more and more “snow” flows from the machine, summer seems to turn to winter and the snow sculpting begins. Readers won’t believe their eyes!
Our student reviewers report:
Raymond: I like the castle because it is big and large. I like the train and the animals. I will build a large snowman!
Catriona: A very funny book. In the whole book it was bright, colourful and fun (though short).
Truman: I like the book because Zoomer made a big palace and made a wonderland.
Khai: I like the book because it was funny. The funniest part was when the machine exploded!
Today we invited our little buddies in K/1 up for some actual book sharing! We read favourites like:
Alphabet Adventure by Audrey and Bruce Wood
How do Dinosaurs Count to Ten by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
The engagement, the smiles and the chattering said it all! What a fun experience! We can’t wait until next week 🙂
Reading an alphabet adventure story.
Reading about dump trucks and zooming cars.
A quiet few minutes on the carpet
Time to stop and discuss what is happening.
Searching for letters!
Today we read I wish I had a Dinosaur. This little title written by Ian Anggabrata (with Mingga Anggawan) and illustrated by Peter Sheehan provided lots of inspiration.
It begins simply: I wish I had a dinosaur and goes on to tell us all of the ways life might be changed if a dino really did take up residence. A dino could make you braver, stronger and faster. But would everything be perfect? Hmm. . .
We did some of our own writing in response to this book.
Khai wrote a mini story called I wish I had an Elephant.
My elephant could clean the house and my car. It could spray my garden so no more hose for me! It could guard my house. It could give me a ride to school. But he would go in the mud and get dirty and then I got to spend all my time giving it baths!
Catriona’s mini story was called I wish I had a Horse.
My horse could give me rides whenever I wanted. When I go to my aunt and uncle’s I ride horses. I could practice riding my horse. I could ride to school and I could have a lot of time on the playground. But I wouldn’t have anywhere to keep him. My backyard isn’t big enough and it would eat all the grass! I couldn’t keep it in the house – he would knock over everything over. And how would I feed it? I guess I won’t have a horse after all.
There's a Book for That 