Where in the World...?

In social studies this week, the lesson has been on geography. The students were introduced to the idea of the world through the visual prop of a globe. We are working on being able to identify the different contients and learn some basic facts about them. They have really enjoyed being able to individually use the globe and point to different places in the world.

All School Cookout

Who: All students, families, faculty and staff of Washington Elementary School
What: Cookout Dinner
When: Thursday, October 14 at 6pm
Where: In the field on the southside of the school (Rain location in the gym)
Why: Food, Fun, and Games!

*requested that families bring the following

     A-L: Appetizer
     M-Z: Dessert

Hope to see you all there!!

Money Madness

We are starting our money unit in math. The objectives for this unit are that your student will be able to recognize the different coins, know the monetary values for these coins, and begin to understand how different coins make up different values of money. Here is a video that I showed in class concerning how different combinations of coins lead to different money values.

Days of the Week

To learn the days of the week, we sing a song to help the students remember the order better. I would encourage you parents to have the child practice this song at home or practice saying the days of the week. You can even ask questions like this to get your child to recognize the order of the days: "What day is it today?" "What day was it yesterday?" "What day will it be tommorow?" "What is the first day of the week?" "What is the last day of the week?" If you want to practice singing the days of the week song at home, here is a link to listen to how the song goes. Happy singing!

http://www.mamalisa.com/mp3/daysoftheweek.mp3

Meet Corduroy

Today during Circle Time, I read the book Corduroy. This book is about a stuffed bear, Corduroy, who is on sale in a department store, but no one buys him because he is missing a button on his overalls. Finally one day, a little girl buys him, despite her mother's oberservation about the missing button.

We have a stuffed bear named Corduroy in our classroom. Starting this week, one child is going to bring him home for the week. The child may add any accesory they wish to Corduroy and then bring him back to class the following Monday. The child will then get a chance to tell their own story about the adventures Corduroy went on while at the child's home. Each student will have the chance to bring Corduroy home for a week this year, so have fun with it and be as creative as you want!

Alphabet Adventures

What can be more fun than learning the ABC's? How about learning them in shaving cream?!! For our handwriting lesson today, student's practiced writing the alpahbet in shaving cream! This messy, but fun, activity provided them a chance to really concentrate on the way each letter looked and provided an easy way for them to fix any of their mistakes simply by moving the shaving cream around. This activity can also be practiced at home, but if you want to avoid some mess, simply use rice instead!

Circle Time

During every class, we have what I like to call "Circle Time". This is when the students gather on the big circle rug in the corner of the classroom and we read a story together. I read them the story aloud, and then they answer questions about the story or do some other activity that relates to the content of the story. We also have time set aside to have the kids tell their own story about something that is going on in their own lives.

We're Going to the Zoo!!!

That's right! On October 17th, we are taking a fieldtrip to the Brookfield Zoo! We will be leaving at 9:30am from the front of the school and returning at 3:30pm. Students may bring a sack lunch, or bring money to buy some snacks at the zoo. I sent home a permission slip in your student's homework folder today, so be sure to sign it and get it back to me by October 13th at the latest. I am also looking for 3 parent volunteers that would like to travel with us. Please email me at rdix@washington.edu if you have any questions or would like to help out. Thanks!

http://www.czs.org/czs/Brookfield/Zoo-Home.aspx

Munchie Math

Who would have ever thought that math could taste so good? Today during our math unit, we learned the basic skill of counting by using M&Ms! This tasty lesson really helped the students visualize numbers and how the child that counted 25 M&Ms had more candies than the child that only counted 10 M&Ms. The best part of this lessons was that the students were able to enjoy their own M&Ms after the lesson was over!

Pumpkin Party

FALL IS HERE! Today we celebrate the first day of fall by throwing a pumpkin party! Since we are learning about plants in science, our theme of pumpkins fit very well with our unit. We looked at pictures of pumpkins, read many books about pumpkins, and even had the chance to paint our own pumpkin patches' using finger paint!