SOLVEIG'S BIRTHDAY

Señor Geffen helped us practice our numbers in Spanish by playing Bingo.  He would call a number out and show us the card then the class would have to check their bingo board and trace over the number if they found it.



We started mixing paints to create a match with our skin color.  Ike mixed white and a hint of magenta and peach together and named his skin color 'Strawberry ripple'. 





Yesterday when we returned from our trip to the Falls, Ella created her version of Minnehaha Falls with Polar bears. Many friends joined in throughout the morning.













Before P.E.  we celebrated Solveig's 5th birthday.  Everyone enjoyed popsicles to help celebrate the occasion.

We also had time to start brainstorming animals .  Every year we create a list of all the animals we can think of to help us come up with one that each child wants to study.  Some of the students have already expressed an interest in certain animals but we will wait till next week to finalize their choice.

QUESTIONS
What did you name your skin color?
Can you remember the joke printed on the popsicle stick ?

MINNEHAHA FALLS IN WINTER

HIGHCROFT FIELDTRIP

QUESTIONS
What special treat did they make for you?
What was the same or different about your playground and the Highcroft PK playground?
What was the same or different about your classroom and the Highcroft PK classroom?

ANIMAL STORIES

Señor Geffen read a story today called Mono y yo by Emily gravett.  A fun story containing lots of animals.

Ms. Lane continued working with the class on their tiles.  They had been placed in the kiln to dry.
Q:What  is different?
FANG: "It's white."
LUCA:"It's solid." (not soft clay)
LUCA:"What would happen if you drilled in it?"
Ms. Lane explained it would probably crack, even though it is solid it is fragile. She also showed everyone the different colored glazes the class could choose to decorate their tile.

Ella decided to play polar bears and a few friends started to show interest.

Leonard the butterfly fox (half butterfly half fox) decided to come and visit but polar bear was asleep.

Then Valentina and Evy decided they wanted to be part of the polar bear family and joined Ella.

Butterfly fox fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Beatrix and Grace were busy baking.

They also decided to join Ella as polar bears, and bring their baking with them as everyone was hungry.

Valentina polar bear visited Leonard the butterfly fox.

They all decided to go fishing as they were all hungry fortunately they had fishing poles and there were lots of fish in the ocean.

THE END 

During story time we read 'M is for Melanin, A celebration of the black child by Tiffany Rose.

We didn't get to discuss the book as we had a Lockdown drill.  We have practiced this a few times but we had a few students voice concerns around someone getting into the school so we spent quite some time addressing their concerns.

The other class had a birthday celebration and the weather was too cold to go out so we went for a tour of the middle school and visited the Library.  On the way we met a group of 8th grade students asking people to fill in post-it notes for Parkland school.  I told them  that something had happened at the school and that the students were filling in post it notes to let them know they cared about them.  Some of our students drew pictures and wrote from PK.

QUESTIONS
Can you remember one animal from Señor Geffen's book?
What color did you paint your tile?
What was your favorite part of the tour?

ME AND MY FRIENDS

The picture above shows all the colored paint chips our class looked at to find a color that matched as close as possible to their skin color.

The names on paint chips are always fun to read and adds to our vocabulary of describing words when it comes to mixing our skin color and naming it.

Before P.E. we read 'I like myself' by Karen Beaumont.  The book is a fun way to look at the different ways we like who we are.

After reading the book I challenged everyone to pick a stick out of the name jar and say one thing they like about that person. 

EVY: Beatrix is nice.

LEONARD: I like how you have a lot of ballet shirts, Grace.

MARGOTt: Nolan is good at doing things at the writing center.

NOLAN: Ike is good at inventions!

IKE: Ella is good at dress-up.

LUCA: The thing I like about Margot is that she’s my friend.

AUSTIN: I like that Evy’s my friend, she’s nice. She plays with me.

VALENTINA: I like that Luca is good at construction.

FANG: I like that Leonard is my friend when we play in dress-up.

ELLA: I like when Austin plays in dress-up.

BEATRIX: Solveig is good at dress-up.

GRACE: Fang's my best friend.

We also received invitations from the PK children at the Highcroft campus in Wayzata. We are visiting them on Friday (don't worry no parents needed for this field trip).

QUESTIONS

Can you remember the name of the color on the paint sample?

What games did you play in P.E.?

Can you remember some of the ways the little girl in the book liked herself?

I LOVE MYSELF

Thank you to those people who volunteered t to come on the field trip today, sorry it didn't work out.  Hopefully next Monday the weather will cooperate and the roads will be clear.

We continued with  our self identity work.  I asked the class what do you love about your self? What makes you special and unique?



AUSTIN:"I love my face.  I love my cheeks, they are pushy."
BEATRIX:"I love Imogen and my eyes.  I love the color."
ELLA:"I love my hands because they grab stuff."
EVY:"I love that I have friends."
FANG:"I love my lungs because they help me breathe."
GRACE:"I love my eyes because they make me see, I like the color."
IKE:"I love my shoulders because they need sunscreen so they don't get burnt."
LEONARD:"I love building because I am good at building."
LUCA:"I love that on my home days I take a nap with my dog, Charlie."
MARGOT:"I love wiggling my loose teeth."
NOLAN:"I love my eyes because I can see everything, the things, my car, my remote, and I know where my home is."
SOLVEIG:"I love my hair.  I like the color."
VALENTINA:" I love my hair when I wash it, it looks so sparkly.  It is sparkly and black."

After work choices we read 'I love my hair' by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley. 

Q:What do you notice about your hair?

ELLA: It’s big - it’s growing.

BEATRIX: It’s soft and curly.

GRACE: It’s brown and light.

LEONARD: When mom cuts my hair, it doesn’t really hurt.

LUCA: Does hair grow through little holes in your head? My grandpa is bald now.

ELLA: When I have my hair long, it will be like her hair (the girl in the book).

We ended our morning in Lundholm woods.

QUESTIONS

What is different about dress-up?

Can you remember any 'H' words?