The children will find fewer illustrations as they progress to more challenging chapter books. It is critical that they learn to visualize as they read. We have been learning how to form mental pictures to help strengthen comprehension. After we read a short descriptive paragraph about an elf, we drew what we visualized.
We had fun finishing the Sioux and Pueblo villages. The Sioux lived on the plains. They were nomadic and followed the buffalo. Their homes were tepees which always faced East. The Sioux traveled by horseback.
The Pueblo were from the Southwest and built their pueblos from adobe. They farmed and made clothes from cotton. The Pueblo learned how to irrigate their crops. Notice the mesas in the background.
Pam shared the story of Sinter Klaas and Christmas traditions of the Netherlands. On December 5th, children leave their shoes out for Sinter Klaas to fill with gifts. The children placed their shoes in front of the fireplace and were surprised to find treats in them at the end of our Parent Spot. Candy was also hiding around the border of the fireplace and the children enjoyed traditional treats with hot chocolate. What fun to learn about Christmas around the world!
We started our geometry unit with an introduction to polygons. Polygons are flat (2-D), closed figures with three or more straight sides that don’t cross. We sorted polygons on the Activboard.
Then we read the The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns. Bored and dissatisfied with his life, a triangle visits a local shapeshifter to add another side and angle to his shape. Poof! He becomes a quadrilateral. But then he gets greedy and keeps adding angles until he’s completely transformed. As we read the story, the children used Popsicle sticks to make each polygon.
