The Water Cycle, Lei Day, The Wind Blew Play

It is never a dull moment in the Whales classroom! The Whales continued on their study of weather, looking at the Water Cycle. They learned the Hawaiian celebration of Lei Day, by making Leis. And they worked on a small play performance that connects to our Weather study.

In creative expression the Whales worked on their props for their play of The Wind Blew. Each Whale either made props for their character or they helped their peers engineer the props for other characters. They created an umbrella, a wig for a judge, a kite, and more all out of paper! By working together they finished their props and started to practice the play. We used a high powered fan to create the wind we needed for this play. Look below to see a recording of The Wind Blew play. The Whales had such a blast having their props fly out of their hands. To see the video of our wonderful The Wind Blew play, look below.

In literacy this week, the Whales are studying the spelling -es at the end of some words. The Whales practiced using -es at the end of noun words they want to pluralize. The rule is that the word has to end with a -ch, -sh, -s, -x, -z. Some example words are; glasses, bunches, foxes, buzzes, dishes. We have talked about the e in the spelling -es says the schwa sound. The s in the -es spelling makes the /z/ sound. If the noun word does not end in those endings than it is usually pluralized with a -s such as, lights.

In math this week the Whales worked on a game called “Make that Number”. Starting with one die the Whales would roll to get a number. They would then roll two more dice and decide to add or subtract to get a number that they could find on their board. The goal was to get 4 numbers that connected in row. The Whales worked on thinking about the different answers they could get if they did adding-adding-adding, adding-subtracting-adding, subtracting-adding-adding, and more. This had the Whales thinking outside the box and strategizing about how they wanted to make their number sentence.

On Wednesday, the Whales learned about the Hawaiian celebration of Lei Day. The Whales learned that Lei Day is a time for people to celebrate the culture of Hawaiian storytelling, dance, music, and food. One way that the Whales celebrated was by making their very own Leis. The Whales also made a Strawberry and Guava Cake, that they got to eat at the end of our day. The Whales also got to watch videos of Hawaiian dances, including a Hawaiian dance with Ms. Aimee! A big thank you to Ms. Aimee for bringing a little piece of her Hawaiian culture into our classroom for the Whales to experience.

On Thursday, the Whales explored the water cycle. We read a nonfiction book that taught us all about the different stages of the water cycle. The Whales learned that water can be in 3 different states; liquid, gas, and solid. In the first stage of the water cycle (evaporation), the water on our earth gets heated up by the sun and turns into water vapor, a gas! In the second stage of the water cycle, the Whales learned about condensation. This is the process of water vapor going high in the air and getting so cold it turns back into water droplets, a liquid! These water droplets come together and form clouds. When these clouds get so heavy from all of the water droplets, it begins to rain. That rain falls back to our land and goes underground to water our plants, or finds its way back to our oceans, lakes, and rivers. The Whales were so excited to learn that water is reused and recycled and there is a possibility that we are drinking the same water that dinosaurs drank many years ago! WOW! Weather is so cool!

On Friday, the Whales had a mystery reader. Our mystery reader was a bear! Just kidding! It was Mr. Mark! He read a great book, Amos and Boris, that connected to our conversations of what makes a good friend. We got to go on an adventure with a little mouse that came across a giant whale friend. What a great story! Thank you Mr. Mark!