Week Ending August 27

Well, we all earned our Free Dress day!!  These kids are working hard to rise to some pretty high expectations, so I felt everyone deserved to wear what they wanted on Friday.  We had an extremely busy week full of new lessons and materials.  The children were introduced to the Geometric Solids, specifically the sphere, cube, square-based pyramid, and cone.  Next week we'll cover rectangular prism, ovoid, and ellipsoid.  I'll also give a lesson on understanding maps, and introduce the World Map.  As a supplement, we'll begin work on Global Address packets. 

In Literacy, we'll continue to cover sayings, poems, nursery rhymes, Aesop fables, and fairy tales.  We started with the Three Little Pigs and Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The children noticed the difference between an orginal translation that was read to them and the 1933 Disney version.  Ask them about it!

Setting Expectations (it's hard work!)

We've been writing classroom rules complete with rationales for "why" it's a good idea to follow this rule. We're still working hard on using "inside voices", walking quietly down the halls, keeping hands to ourselves, cleaning up in the cafeteria before we leave, raising silent hands to speak in group, taking turns, following playgground rules and boundaries, and general community building. This past week they were introduced to the "Golden Rule". On Monday, we'll have a group discussion again about the Golden Rule and respect for others. We'll also go over the newly instituted "Green/Yellow/Red" behavior sheets and how to get free/game time at the end of the week. Also, our Positive Behavior Support model, which we've named the BECS Way will be discussed during large group time.

Originally Posted August 23, 2010