Getting Into the Swing of Things...

This week marks our 17th day of school and we are starting to hit our stride.  After learning about the Creed and creating our through lines (Respect Yourself, Respect Each Other, and Respect Your Environment), we developed classroom jobs.  Each week, your daughter will have a different job- ask her what it was this week!

We also began to talk about conflicts and what to do if they occur.  We introduced a conflict resolution strategy called Hands-on-Hands.

Hands-on-Hands is a "must" in our class:  if someone asks you to do it, you must.  The person who feels that they were hurt says, "Put your hands on my hands so I know we're connected and I know you're listening."  This forces the girls to face and focus on each other and the situation.  The girl then says how they felt when the conflict occurred, for example, "I felt mad when you cut in line."  She is also then entitled to say what she wants to make the situation better:  she might ask her friend to not do it again or she may ask her to apologize.  The other girl then has a chance to respond.   They know that the teachers are always there to help them through, but we want to empower the girls to use their words and try to talk through their conflicts before coming to a teacher.

The girls also made a Hands-on-Hands book with the sentence starter:  You can do Hands-on-Hands when...

"someone takes a book away from you"
"you get in an argument"
"someone draws on your drawing"
"my sister knocks down my building!"
"someone says, 'I don't like your dog'"
"your friend makes a hole in your stuffed animal"

This week we also started Writer's Workshop.  We explained that we are all going to be authors this year and write many stories.  We introduced their special writing folders and they were eager to get started.  Our first workshop was open and they could write about anything they wanted, real or pretend.    Writing was also a center during literacy centers this week and the girls couldn't wait to continue the stories they had begun.

H, C, and M writing about rainbows, unicorns, and dragons.

During our math and science centers, we focused on fall and all the leaves we collected during our leaf walk earlier this week.  In the Leaf Sort and Graph center, the girls organized a basket of leaves and counted and graphed the results.  Each group ended up sorting them by a different attribute:  color, texture, size, and type.  This center built upon the sorting we did in math last week of attribute blocks, buttons, and shells.

T, C, and C graphing leaves by color:  brown, yellow, green,  and multicolor.

In the Torn Paper Picture center, the girls used their fingers as scissors and created a fall scene.

G, C, E, A, and M using the colors of fall in their pictures.

The Leaf Partner Picture had the girls collaborating with another k'er to create a fall picture using the leaves we collected.  They were able to glue the leaves down on poster board and design a picture around it.  This center had the girls listening to each other's ideas, problem-solving and compromising as they created their masterpieces.

L and N, working together.

Scientists were at work in the Eye and Magnify center.  Each girl chose a leaf and recorded what it looked like using just their eye and also what it looked like under a magnifying glass.   The girls noticed that you could see more details such as veins and spots when using a magnifying glass.

A, looking closely.