Busy Writers, Musicians, and Mathematicians

The Whales having been getting so excited to prepare for their Whale Winter play. They decided to do the play on the book The Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi. The Whales picked their parts and they are all very excited to practice their lines. Each of them got a script and their homework is the practice they lines over the weekend. So far the Whales have practiced a few times in class saying their lines. We have been talking about how to perform in front of an audience and what it will look like backstage when you are not performing. Next week the Whales will start working on creating their costumes and making the back drops for their play. They are so excited to perform for the ELC and for their families.

This week we had our last music session with Ms. McKenzie until the Spring. The Whales so enjoyed their time with Ms. McKenzie. On Wednesday, they were telling Ms. McKenzie their favorite parts of music. Many Whales like singing Firefly Firefly, others liked singing about different holidays. They worked so hard the last 8 weeks and they were so proud to perform for families at pick-up.

The Whales have been practicing addition and will soon be working on subtraction. This week, we played rainbow to 10 addition BINGO. We would give them an addition problem and they would have to solve it to figure out what number they can cross off. Many Whales were being so kind and helping friends around them if they asked for help. The Whales are huge supporters of one another and teachers throughout our day. We also practiced counting by tens and adding little ones. We have been doing this during our classroom choice activity of speedy bugs love to race to 50, as well as during calendar time. Can you believe we have had 60 days of school! WOW! The Whales counted, and figured out that we have 40 more school days until the 100th day of school.

Writers workshop has been very busy! The Whales are working incredibly hard getting their stories published. The Whales are writing their own sentences now! It is so exciting to hear them sounding out their words and creating fun and magical stories. The Whales are so excited to share their stories with their families during our Authors Celebration/Winter Read-In. The Whales are spelling phonetically in their stories. They are listening to the sounds they hear to help them decipher how to spell their words. This week we learned a new rule. When we hear the /k/ sound at the end of the word it is most often spelled with a CK. For example; duck, luck, pack, snack, chick, etc. We are seeing progress and growth every day in their writing!

This group of Whales are creative, loving, inquisitive, and hard-working. They are stretching them selfs and not giving up when things get hard. Walking into the Whales classroom, you can feel a community that learns together, plays together, and works together. What amazing students, human-beings, and friends they are.