General News
We had so much fun on Halloween it was downright spooky. 😁Kids participated in an “Escape the Zombie Apocalypse” math activity and a “Show Not Tell” scary story writing activity in language arts. In the afternoon, we conducted a “Dissolving Candy Corns” lab and a “Build Your Own Catapult” for candy pumpkins. The Gammas did an excellent job throughout the entire crazy day!
It happens that the Austin Public library is hosting a whole bunch of very cool speakers/activities at various branches around town to celebrate indigenous cultures of the Americas. Ms. Ansley and Ms. Lorrie will be at the downtown location tomorrow afternoon to attend a guest speaker and flute performance. And we’d love to get a few more parent chaperones for a potential upcoming field trip we are trying to make happen. Email the teachers if you are interested! (Check your email for details on any of these events.)
Reading/Writing Update
This week in writing we filled out our bibliography template and made sure everyone had at least 3 resources. We continued to talk about the importance of having multiple sources and being able to show where our information came from. We also got busy with drafting this week! We started by reviewing the sections for our biography essay and the questions we should answer and then moved on to turning our bullet pointed facts into paragraphs. Be on the lookout for a fun art project that will be coming home as P&P on Monday that will go along with our biography writing!
Math Update
Both math groups are making their way through fractions. Both groups worked on creating a “Name Riddle” using fractions to express their first names using fractions and Canva. Year 1 students played some fraction games with these very cool fraction tiles that come from Math Pentathlon. We also prepped for a fun cooking activity where kids use their fraction know-how to unscramble the amounts needed to cook a recipe. (Vegan, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.) We plan to use our answers to cook the recipe next week. Year 2 kids did a fraction review to start the week and then moved into multiplication with fractions (namely, finding a fraction of a set.) Next week, we’ll start dividing fractions!
Theme Update
This week we took some time to finish up our regional tribe crafts from last week. Gammas really showed off their talents and made some truly amazing artifacts! Please feel free to stop by the room and ask them to show you what they’ve made! We then moved on to learning about storytelling and art in indigenous cultures. We learned about the importance of oral storytelling and creation myths. We focused on the art of the Pacific Northwest region – fun fact: because the tribes in this region had so many bountiful resources they had some of the most intricate and developed art in North America. Gammas chose to either focus on creating art in this style or writing a creation myth in partnerships. They brought their trademarked enthusiasm to the task! On Thursday we learned about spiritual beliefs that many indigenous tribes shared, finished up our storytelling and art projects, and completed a crossword puzzle about spiritual beliefs.
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