We continued to review the alphabet letters, getting to the letter "i" by Friday. I talked about how there are 3 kinds of lower case letters, the small ones that stay on the ground, the tall ones that reach up to the sky, and the drop-down ones that put their toes in the lake.
In Daily 5, we continued to practice "read to self" and by the end of the week the kids could do it successfully for 8 minutes. Each time we do it we review the expectations. We also talked about how to choose a "just right" book. The kids are encouraged to choose a book they're interested in, that they can read (mostly) and that they can understand.
We spent the week talking about feelings and needs. During read-alouds we guessed how different characters were feeling. I introduced French feeling words and the kids practiced using them. We had a "talking circle" in which we passed a "talking piece" and the person with the talking piece told the class how they were feeling just now.
I asked the kids to choose one feeling and illustrate it, completing the sentence in French "je me sens..."
We worked more with the feelings vocabulary in our visual art project. The kids made weavings using strips of ribbon. I asked the kids to choose a feeling, and make their weaving reflect that feeling. It was a tricky connection for some, but we talked about how some feelings have colours associated with them, and how certain textures suggest one feeling or another. I told the kids that as artists they would be making choices about colour and texture, and to try to keep their chosen feeling in mind with those decisions. The weaving technique also meant using vocabulary for over/under.
The learning around feelings and needs culminated in a special event on Friday morning: a visit from author Melanie Whitham.
Melanie is a teacher and trainer in non-violent communication for parents, educators and youth. She read her book to the class, in which the child and mom learn to listen with "magic ears," that is to listen with empathy. Using empathic listening, they are able to guess the feelings and needs behind each other's (not so nice) statements, and connect in points of conflict. Then Melanie showed us her game, "Tout le Monde Gagne" (Everybody Wins). This game board guides players through a discussion of any problem or conflict they have, where they place tokens and share in successive steps: observations about what happened; how each was feeling at the time; the needs behind those feelings; any requests they have for each other; and how they're feeling now. She told the kids that she would help us make our very own Tout le Monde Gagne game. The kids got a feeling or need card to colour, and then they pasted them onto the game board. They also coloured in the board.
Then we got in a circle on the carpet, and Melanie showed us how to use the board. She asked for 2 student volunteers, who had recently had a problem that they were willing to talk about in front of the class. Two kids volunteered to talk about a disagreement they had had this morning over soccer rules. Melanie guided them through telling what happened, how they had felt, and what needs were behind those feelings. They finished by asking each other to talk about the rules first and to play games they both like. When asked how they felt at the end, they both felt happy. I explained that we will keep this game in our class, and use it when people have problems or disagreements together.
In math, we continued to work with 10 frames and number names, and began comparing numbers using "greater than" and "less than." We did more 10 frame flash activities, with kids trying to recognize the numbers visually rather than needing to count. The kids practised filling 10 frames for given numbers. Using a timer, we tried to get everyone's 10 frame filled as fast as we could. We did this first with numerals on the board, and then with just the number name given orally.
I introduced a new math game, Terrific Ten Snake. Taking turns in partners, the kids roll a ten-sided die and then cover that 10 frame on the board with their coloured token. It provides good practice recognizing 10 frames. Next week I will add the strategic element of the game, which is that the person with the most tokens in a line wins the game - the choice of which 10 frame to cover becomes important. If you would like to play this game at home, the board can be printed at this link: http://k1pte.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/7/5/13759413/terrific_ten_snake.pdf
We also learned the symbols for "greater than" and "less than" (>, <). We compared sets of dots in our carpet circle, and then compared actual numbers. We looked at our classroom number line, and talked about which direction has the numbers getting bigger or smaller. Then the kids worked individually, comparing numbers with these new symbols.
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