STEM Week in the Cub Cadets

This past week our class conducted a variety of STEM activities:
In an effort to boost students’ interest and raise awareness of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, Massachusetts has declared a statewide STEM Week from October 21-25, 2019, and is asking educators at all grade levels to participate by planning lessons, events, and activities focused on science, technology, engineering, and math throughout the week. Students from pre-kindergarten through high school and postsecondary institutions will be encouraged to take part in hands-on learning that aligns topics across STEM subjects and connects to other curricula.

Exploring Gravity

We looked around our classroom for materials to use in an experiment.  A teacher held the object out and then we observed the speed it fell to the ground.  For example, the block fell quickly and made a loud sound, the feather took longer to fall to the ground.) We talked about why we think the objects fell differently. We notice the heavier the object was the quicker it fell like the block. The lighter objects like the feather and tissue took longer to fall to the ground.

Marble Mazes in the Sensory Table

-We constructed marble mazes in the sensory table this week.  They enjoyed watching the marbles on-ramps, marble wheels, and marble drops.  

Ramp Racing

-We talked about ramps in the whole group. We talked about how ramps are simple machines and they help us move objects from one place to another. We then made predictions which ramp would make the car go further. (long, medium, or short ramp) The children raced the cars down the ramps and we marked the spot where the cars stopped. We discovered the longer ramp made the car go the furthest distance and the short ramp made the car go the shortest distance. We then added cars and ramps to the block center.  We explored on our own how to build ramps and how to change the speed of the cars.  When the ramps were diagonal, the cars moved. When the ramps were flat, the cars did not move.

Building Towers

-We used shaving cream to build block towers.  We used shaving cream to help hold the blocks together.  We counted to see how many blocks we could build in our towers before they fell.  We recorded the colors we used on our papers too.

Pumpkin Volcano
First, we cut a hole at the top of a pumpkin. Then we added the chemical baking soda inside.  We made predictions about what would happen if we added a new chemical like vinegar. A teacher poured in vinegar and we discussed what happened.  We learned that when some chemicals are mixed together it can cause a chemical reaction.



Class Pets
To conclude our week of science, we went to the science center on Friday to bring back gerbils to visit our classroom. We will be observing them over the next few weeks. Ask your child about them.

If you have not requested to follow our classroom on Instagram please look us up. We post pictures from our classroom more frequently than our blog. Search "cubcadetclassroom" and request to follow.

Family Week 2 October 28-Nov 1

Reminder: Our Harvest Parade will be on October 31.  
Please have your child wear their costume to school if they wish to dress up. Wearing a costume is not required to participate in the parade.  We will parade in the high school visiting the cafe, central offices, high school guidance, etc.  This is a fun school-wide event. 

Unit Book
Oonga Boonga/Quinto Day and Night

Read Aloud:Keisha Then and Now

 Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:

How do family members care for one another?
(lullaby, sob, tear, care, baby, pediatrician)

Meet our Letterlander of the Week

Impy Ink and his Ink Pen

This week we will be doing the following letter activities in small groups: 
Sorting Uppercase and Lowercase:I  and i
Fine motor activity to reinforce letter this week: Dry Erase Markers and Boards
Handwriting Without Tears: Letter H
We will be reinforcing "alligator fingers" and "always start your letters at the top.
(How to make an I: " Start at the Top in the Center (I is a center starter), Big Line Down, Frog Jump up to the corner, Little Line at the top, Little Line at the bottom")

Small Group Letter Book: Decorating I to look like Impy Ink
(Each week we will be adding a page to our letter book which will be staying at school until we complete all of our letters.  We are creating our own individual Letterlander book

Small Groups

-Family Member Syllables- We will draw members of our family and then recording the number of syllables for each member. Ask your child to show you who has the most "claps" in their name.  Who has the same

- Sequencing our storybook- We will sequence our story of The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by writing numbers, rainbow writing words,  and discussing the ordinal position of each element. To extend this activity we will take turns to retell the story to our small groups. 

-5 Little Emotional Pumpkins- We cut and arranged a 5 frame of pumpkins on a fence. Then we discussed each emotion of the pumpkin and retold the song using ordinal terms. " The first little pumpkin said I'm feeling scared".

-Scarecrow Math- We cut and placed 5 black crows on our scarecrow in different positions by listening to verbal directions. We counted each time we changed the position of the crows to reinforce the concept of 5. We can move objects to different spots and we always have 5.

Centers

Art Table- Pumpkins Heads (from the Little Old Lady book)

Block Area- House and families 

Sensory Table- washing babies with soap
Book Area- Exploring Books about families
Dramatic Play-Taking care of babies/Pediatrician
Science -Making Sound Harmonicas
Rug- farms (animal farmilies)

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-How do we grow up?

- Math Concept- Stack & Take Down Four Cubes-We will work on understanding that no matter the order we count them, objects in a set remain the same.  We will use a set of blocks to build a house and counted them carefully.  Then, we used the same set of blocks to build a new house.  Each time, we counted the blocks to find the quantity stayed the same no matter what order we counted them in.  

Gravity Concept Today

This week our class will be exploring STEM concepts to participate in STEM week. Today we discussed gravity. We learned that the Earth has a force that pulls us down “like a magnet”. Using two different objects we observed how a heavy and a light object fell to the ground. (A weighted blanket and a balloon) We learned the heavier an object the fast it fell and the lighter object fell slower. We also explored gravity during choice time. We painted on a straight surface and observed how the paint went down. We also watched marbles roll down marble ramps.  Ask your child today about these activities.

Family Week 1

Unit Books
Quinito, Day and and Night
Noisy Nora

Read Aloud:A Family is a family
*We will also have a special reading of The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything to go along with seasonal happenings

 Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:

Who is in my family?
(Family, messy, neat, busy, hush, sticky, loud)

Meet our Letterlander of the Week

Harry Hat

This week we will be doing the following letter activities in small groups: 
Sorting Uppercase and Lowercase: H and h
Fine motor activity to reinforce letter this week: Dry Erase Markers and Boards
Handwriting Without Tears: Letter H
We will be reinforcing "alligator fingers" and "always start your letters at the top.
(How to make an H: " Start at the Top, Big Line Down, Frog Jump up to the corner, Big Line Down, Little Line in the Middle")

Small Group Letter Book: Decorating H to look like Harry
(Each week we will be adding a page to our letter book which will be staying at school until we complete all of our letters.  We are creating our own individual Letterlander books

Small Groups

-Sound Eggs- In our unit story, Nora made a variety of different sounds.  We will be listening to different mystery sounds in eggs and trying to match them to objects we think are inside of them.  We will cut and glue our results.
-What's in My Bag- We will be listening to parts of words(onset-rime) We will be listening to 2 parts of word and saying the word together. (ie C- AR). We will have an object in the bag and having them guess what is in the bag by presenting it in onset-rime.
-Block Towers- We will be creating sets of 5 by building towers of 5 and recording the colors we used for each set.  We will be using shaving cream in order to construct our towers as well.  We reinforced 1:1 correspondence and the concept of "total" (in all).

-Subitize How Many?- We will be subitizing (knowing the total of how many without counting) with quantities 1, 2, and 3. We will try to know how many are hiding under a bucket quickly before the teacher covers the total. This is an important skill to learn in both math and reading readiness. We will be using fly swatters to show our answers too for a fun twist.
-Matching Quantities- We will be recognizing sets quickly they sorting quantities onto our charts. Try sorting these cards at home with your child (we call this subitizing)

-Kate will continue to talk to us about our emotions

Centers
Art Table- Marble Painting

Block Area- Blocks

Sand Table- marble mazes
Book Area- Exploring Books about family
Writing Table- Playdough with Family mats (We will create our families faces using play dough)
Dramatic Play- Musical instruments
Rug- legos

Science/Social StudiesCircle Concepts
Everyone Has A Home (People and Animals)
Science Exploration Activities (STEM week)

Friend Unit Week 4 Oct. 14-18

Reminder: No School Monday, October 14


Unit Book
Matthew and Tilly

Read Aloud:We Are Friends

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:

How Do Friends Get Along?
(happy, apologize, argue, accident, sad, mad)

Meet our Letterlander of the Week

Talking Tess

This week we will be doing the following letter activities in small groups: 
Sorting Uppercase and Lowercase: T and t
Fine motor activity to reinforce letter this week: Salt Trays with Talking Tess inside
Handwriting Without Tears: Letter T
We will be reinforcing "alligator fingers" and "always start your letters at the top.
(How to make an E: " Start at the Top in the Middle (It's a center starter), Big Line Down, Frog Jump up to the corner, Little Line at the Top")

Small Group Letter Book: Decorating T to look like Tess
(Each week we will be adding a page to our letter book which will be staying at school until we complete all of our letters.  We are creating our own individual Letterlander books

Small Groups
-Social Small Group-We will discuss ways to be a good friend.  We will relate our conversations to events from our unit book Matthew and Tilly.  Then we will cut, sort and paste pictures of things we discussed. 

-Sequences Unit Book- We will rainbow numbers in a frame then sequence the events in our story.  We will each take turns retelling the story to our group.  We will also use our book to look for details in the book. 

-Syllable Sorting-We will be clapping the sounds we hear in words by clapping. We will remind them that we tap words in a sentence we hear but we clap the individual sounds we hear in only one word. We will use unit words from our story to reinforce vocabulary development. 

-Emotions Whole Group Activity with Kate: Kate (Social Worker) will talk to us about our Emotions. She will discuss how we feel and also how we can react appropriate to situations. 

Centers
Art Table- Chalk drawing/"Friendship Bracelets"

Block Area- blocks and people

Sand Table- Searching in colored rice for uppercase and lowercase letters
Book Area- Exploring Books about friends
Manipualtive Table: Playdough to make Ice Cream
Dramatic Play- Ice Cream Stand
Rug- Legos (working together theme)

Friends Unit Week 3 Oct 7-11

Unit Books
Oscar is Cold

Read Aloud:We Are Friends
-We will reenact the story of Oscar is Cold with props

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:

How Do Friends Help Each Other?
(listen, arrive, exclaim, share, help, shiver)

Meet our Letterlander of the Week

Eddy Elephant

This week we will be doing the following letter activities in small groups: 
Sorting Uppercase and Lowercase: E and e
Fine motor activity to reinforce letter this week: Salt inside writing trays
We will be reinforcing "alligator fingers" and "always start your letters at the top.
(How to make an E: " Start at the Top, Big Line Down, Frog Jump up, Little Line at the Top, Little Line in the Middle, Little Line a the Bottom")

Small Group Letter Book: Decorating E to look like an elephant

(Each week we will be adding a page to our letter book which will be staying at school until we complete all of our letters.  We are creating our own individual Letterlander books

Small Groups

-Letters in our name class book- We will be creating a class book to show the number of letters we each have in our names. Before assembling the book we will be comparing who has the most, least and equal number of letters.

-Sequencing The Story Oscar is Cold - We will book browse the story Oscar is Cold at our tables. We will discuss elements of the story and sequence the events to retell the story.

-Oscar is Cold Vocabulary and Positional Activity- We will be using an Oscar prop to place him on a variety of objects based on positional terms.  (ie: put Oscar on the blanket) See details on the paper to try this at home.

-Your name/My name- We will be cutting the letters in our names and then creating a chart with a friend to show the letters that are the same and different. 

-Syllables in My Friends Names-In small groups, we will practice clapping the sounds/syllables each of our friends have when we say their name. (ie.Li-sa   Lisa has 2 claps in her name) Then we completed a chart below for the friends in our small groups. Try this at home with family members with your child.   

How Many Friends are in the bus? We will use people counters to practice counting to five using school bus stories. (ie. “Four friends came on the bus.  The bus will stop and one friend came on. Let’s count to see how many friends are on the bus?) After putting the people in different places, we will count them to discover that the quantity stayed the same each time no matter what order we count them.  We then will glue pictures of our friends to fill the school bus “five frame”. We will move pictures of our friends and every time we count 5.

Centers
Art Table- Color color painting (blue shades)

Block Area- blocks to build bear caves for hibernation

Sand Table- Artic Animals  
Book Area- Exploring Books about friends
Easel-Markers and paper
Dramatic Play- Camping (Making Smores)/ Role play of story
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Finding Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Rug- tracks and cars

Back To School Night Tonight October 3

Back To School Night Tonight (6:30-7:00)

Tonight is our back to school night when parents are welcome to visit our classroom.  I will have a classroom presentation beginning at 6:30. This is a time when we will discuss our day and skills we are learning to prepare us for kindergarten.  We look forward to seeing you.