Yummy Apples!

Theme: Apples

Our theme for the rest of the month is "Apples". We have begun learning a poem called "Apples, Apples".

There were many sight words in this poem. We mainly focussed on red and yellow this week. 

The other sight words we will review often as the year progresses.

To start our unit we discussed what we already knew about apples and what we wanted to learn.

At the end of the unit we will write down all that we have learned. It is a wonderful way to see their growth.

We learned about the parts of an apple:

We made apple sauce! The children helped cut and mash up the apples and then we seasoned them with some brown sugar and cinnamon. 

We had a taste test to see what we preferred: apple sauce or apple juice.

Apple juice won!

Math

We played the game "match it" where the students had to match what their partner had. We practiced counting to make sure it was right. When we count we touch the object and say the number to make sure we don't miss any.

Our final lesson of the week was creating groups and then towers for numbers 1-5.  This is to teach one to one correspondence. Then we talked about length (longest and shortest). 

Social Studies:
We talked about how it is important to help each other and discussed how people help us.

Reading:

I am using Deanna Jump and Deedee Willis' resource called "Guiding Readers: Read AloudLessons and Activities" as part of my Language Arts program for the year. I am very excited about this resource because you read the same book all week but then look at it in different ways to learn reading concepts. This week I read the story "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr. 

Throughout the week we looked at:

Predicting: what do you think will happen next?

Retelling: Telling what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story. 

Connections: How can I connect to the text or characters?

  

Problem Solving: There is a problem in the story, how can we solve it?

Opinions: Did you like the story? Why or why not?

Animated Literacy:
On Monday we learned about Uncle Upton who hangs upside down from an umbrella tree while being a baseball umpire.

We read our first two words!

On Wednesday we drew a pup. The children follow step-by-step directions. I love this activity because each drawing is unique and it promotes writing and listening skills.

The Uncle Upton character page was sent home, please go over the handout with your child to review the sound and letter. They can colour the picture and then circle the special sound within the song at the bottom.

On Friday we used word substitution and learned the song "I Caught A Fish Alive". We replaced the word fish with other animals such as snake, shark, lion and dinosaur. To hear the song please click on the link: Caught A Fish Alive

For more information on this program please visit http://www.animated-literacy.com/Animated_Literacy_Home.html

Finger Gym:
This week for our finger gym activity we moved pompoms (apples) with clothespins onto a tree. 

Art:
For our art activity this week we created Line Sculptures. The children loved this idea and the art looks wonderful on the walls! I got the idea from Cassie Stephens.

Science:
We learned about how scientists complete experiments and then we tried one of our own. We put apple slices into different types of liquid to see how it changed the apples. I found this idea from Pre-K Pages. 

We made guesses about what might happen.

*many children thought the apples would explode

Our experiment before

             Club Soda Before                                                         Club Soda After

                     Lemon Juice Before                                 Lemon Juice After

                      Vinegar Before                             Vinegar After

 
                         Coke Before                               Coke After

                   
                    Air and Water Before                               Air and Water After

The purpose of this experiment was to demonstrate the scientific process and to see how scientists complete experiments. 
For your information or to talk about more at home:
* this experiment showed how to prevent oxidization in apples "(Oxidizing happens when the apples come in contact with the oxygen in the air and begin to react, turning brown.)" 
* club soda and lemon juice both showed little change, proving to work well for keeping apples from oxidizing
* the children tried the apples after and found that the lemon juice gave the apples a lemon taste but the club soda did not change the taste
* I also learned that you can use salt water to help keep apples fresh

French:

We have begun learning French. The children have learned "Bonjour" (hello).

Don't Forget:

Send a healthy snack with your child. A list has been sent home or you can visit 100 Days of Real Food for some awesome ideas.

Each child needs to have indoor shoes, a backpack and appropriate clothing for the weather.

Feel free to contact me anytime with any questions or concerns. I can be reached at the school, by email or just drop in (I am usually around before school).