Morning Message for Friday, May 29

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

*** I said in the message that we were going to make vegetable soup -- I meant ALPHABET soup. oops!***

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Theo! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Theo, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother and sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has 2 e 's somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an a somewhere in their name. 
Clue #3.  Our mystery friend has an r somewhere in their name.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the Dramatic Play or Lego Centre! 

Alphabet Soup!

Earlier in the week we talked about vegetables. In this book a girl and her mom make some vegetable soup. They put some alphabet noodles in it. That's my favourite soup. Alphabet soup! In this story, what is the season? How do you know? 

Soup Day by Melissa Iwai 

We are going to make a picture of alphabet soup!

You will need:

Paper

scissors

Crayons
Markers or paint (watered-down tempera paint or watercolours)

First, you have to make your bowl. 

Find the biggest bowl that will fit on your paper, then trace around it. Cut out your circle. That is your bowl, as if you are looking down at it.

There are different instructions for what colouring tools you have.

Crayons and paint. 

Take a crayon that is the colour of alphabet pasta. That would be a yellow or white or a very light brown. Write small letters of the alphabet all over your bowl. Try not to get too close to the edge of your bowl.

Then take some watery paint, the colour of your soup liquid (something darker, maybe red, or orange) and lightly paint all over your bowl. The paint won't stick to the crayon. That is called a resist.

When your paint is dry, you could colour around the edge of your bowl so your bowl doesn't look too full! This should be a different colour. The colour of your favourite bowl. In Soup Day, the girls bowl is blue.

Markers and Crayons. 

Follow the instructions for Crayons and Paint, except when it is time to paint, use a marker. If you use washable markers, you can take a paintbrush or a Q-Tip and "paint" with water after you have coloured with the markers.

Crayons only
If you only have crayons, it might be harder. You can write the alphabet with crayons - and then use something else to "paint with" - food colouring, real soup, juice....

Markers only

If you only have markers, then colour the "soup" first with a lighter marker (yellow or orange), and write your alphabet with a darker marker.

Put a spoon on top of your finished bowl and take a picture!

Morning Message for Thursday, May 28

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Jack! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Jack, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has a t somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an a somewhere in their name. 
Clue #3.  Our mystery friend has an n  somewhere in their name. 
Clue #4.  Our mystery friend has 4 letters in their name.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the Dramatic Play Centre!

What if Everybody Did That?

It is important to be responsible in our community.

It is important to think about what you are going to do before you do it.  
Parents: if you have time, this is a good book to press pause on each page (spread) and talk about what is happening in each picture. 

This book helps to show how you can be a good member of your community. You can show respect to people, and your environment, whether inside or outside, at school, at home, or around your neighbourhood. It helps to keep everyone happy and safe.

Think About It! 

• What would happen if everyone left the lids off the markers?
• What would happen if everybody left their chair out and didn't push it in? 
• What would happen if everybody forgot... to flush the toilet after they used it????
• What would happen if everyone spit their gum out on the sidewalk?
  
• What would happen if.......? (think up some more)
  

Morning Message for Wednesday, May 27

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Sadie! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Sadie, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Happy Birthday Andrew!!!

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has an h somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an a somewhere in their name. 
Clue #3.  Our mystery friend has a t somewhere in their name. 
Clue #4. Our mystery friend has 5 letters in their name.  
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend building with Lego or snap cubes!

Comparing Three Little Pig versions (Making Text to Text Connections)

Today we will be making text to text connections. That is when we relate one book to another book. The easiest way to start is to read two versions of the same or similar story. 

The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.

How is The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig the same as
The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf?
 Were the characters the same?

Was the story the same (or almost)?
Were the words that the pigs and wolves say the same (or almost)? 
Was the ending the same?

Word Family "ap"

 Let's try the word family "ap"
 

Please remember that some of the JK's might not know their letter sounds yet (and that's okay, and as it should be -- it is developmental!). We can still do word family work and focus on naming the letter as well as the sound before we put the letter to the word family ending. For example:
"This is a t, it makes the sound t, t, t. Can you make that sound? Now put that t sound at the front of "ap" -- t,ap; tap. 

 We have now finished  the most common short a word families. I have sent you a link to play a "short a" Boom Card Game. You have to click on the sound symbol under read it will say the word.  Then you have to drag and drop to build it using the sounds that you know. And then in find it, click to choose the picture of what was said out loud. then click the blue check mark (submit) and a new word will pop up.  In teacher language, these are called CVC words - consonant, vowel, consonant. Learning our word families is a building block to reading.

Morning Message for Tuesday, May 26

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

*** Hi Parents! If you have any kind of announcement that you would like me to read in my morning message, please email it to me (and the day that you would like it read).


Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Vivian! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Vivian, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?
 

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has an e somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an s somewhere in their name. 
Clue #3.  Our mystery friend has 3 letters in their name.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the Lego Centre!

Healthy Eating / Healthy Living

We learned that people need food, water, air and shelter to stay alive. 
We need to eat healthy food to keep our bodies healthy and strong.

(Parents - in the class, we never say that certain foods are "bad" or good for you. We don't want children to feel bad for their choices! We also say that for some people, meat and/ or milk is a healthy choice, and for some people, it is not -- feel free to leave meat or milk out of the healthy equation if it is not a choice that your family makes! I also try not to say unhealthy -- we make "healthy" choices or "sometimes" choices)

Today we have two books by Lois Ehlert! 
The first one is called Eating the Alphabet. 

 The next book is Growing Vegetable Soup. I know that some of you have planted so many vegetable seeds! We eat fruits and vegetables to make our bodies strong, fast and smart!

 

Vegetables and fruit are very healthy for you to eat! Usually, our meals have lots of vegetables in them! They are also a great snack. We also eat healthy grains (breads, cereals, crackers, and pasta), nuts or seeds. It is healthy for some people to drink milk or eat cheese or yogurt, but not everybody does, and that is okay, they eat and drink other things instead. Some people eat eggs, fish and meat. It is up to your parents to decide if these are healthy for you or not. 

If you want to hear a catchy tune about vegetables, watch the video below:

We should eat fruits and vegetables every day. But sometimes, we might like a special snack like a cookie, cake, or candy. Or a special treat cereal that is sugary. Or we might like salty and fatty snacks like chips. These are "sometimes  treats". If we only ate sugary food for every meal, our bodies wouldn't grow strong because we need the vitamins that are in fruits and vegetables. So eat your vegetables and fruits please!

Try it! 
I have sent a link to your parents for a Google slideshow. You can tell them if you think the foods are healthy to eat every day, or if they should be a "sometimes treat" .

Try it!
What is your favourite healthy snack? What is your favourite "sometimes treat?" Can you make a chart and draw a picture of them? Don't forget to label them!

Ms Brown's favourite snacks!

Morning Message for Monday, May 25

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the temperature is! Is it Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say how the temperature feels.

Henry! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Henry, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has a v somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an e somewhere in their name. 
Clue #3.  Our mystery friend has 5 letters in their name.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend building with Lego!

Higher and Lower! Number Lines

Number lines are great for showing numbers as linear, and showing magnitude of numbers. 

You can make a "post it" number line - Read how this mom made one and how she used it with her children. Click on the picture to read how!

 Higher and Lower is great for problem solving too!

 

Say, "I am thinking of a number between 1 and 10" ( you should write the number down on a piece of paper that is face down - my number is 6)

They might guess 2 - you say higher. To make this very visual, I start by using arrows.

They might say 10! You say "Lower", and place another arrow.  Continue, and the arrows get closer together.

If they guess a number that is out of the boundaries of the arrows (for example if they say 1 now), remind them that 1 is lower than 2 and we already said that the number is higher than 2.(if they continue to make random guesses, set aside this game, and revisit at a later date!)

Next, they guess 4, you say "higher" and put the 2 arrow onto the 4... etc

Continue moving the arrows until they guess the number. Flip the paper over and show that they guessed it!

This simple game is a crowd favourite in K-2. If you have older children (or a bit younger), you can play as a group - but take turns guessing, so your K student doesn't get left behind :) (and if your child knows teen numbers, add them to the number line)(or more!)

Morning Message for Friday, May 22

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the temperature is! Is it Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say how the temperature feels.

Evren! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Evren, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has an e at the end of their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an a somewhere in their name. 
Clue #3.  Our mystery friend has a d somewhere in their name.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the Dramatic Play Centre! 

Designing an imaginary playground!

My favourite places in the neighbourhood are the parks and playgrounds. Are they yours too? 

Today we are going to learn about playgrounds and make an imaginary playground!!!!

We read this book in September, but it shows a lot of the equipment and structures that are in playgrounds.  It is called Please Play Safe: Penguins Guide to Playground Safety by Margery Cuyler.

 
What different structures are in playgrounds? Can you think of any that were not in the book? What is your favourite thing to do in a playground? Think about the different playgrounds that you go to -- Earl Beatty has 3 playgrounds (2 at the front and then 1 at the back), and you might also go to East Lynn Park or to Monarch Park - or other playgrounds. 

 

Let's build an imaginary playground!
 

   (Thank you to Art With Jenny for the images!

What you need:

•  paper for the base -  construction paper (9x12 ish) will be great! But if you only have white paper, that will be fine.  I used card stock because my construction paper is all at school!
• strips of coloured paper.  If you don't have coloured paper, colour some paper and then cut it into strips. These should be about 1/4 to 1" wide (about 1-3cm) and a variety of lengths. (Parents, please cut the strips for this activity!)
• glue (or tape)
• scissors -- or just tear the paper! 

If you could build your own playground what would it look like?
First, lets think about what you would like in your playground. My favourite thing is the big circular thing that spins around and around! I also like swings and slides. Be creative! You might want tunnels! or large play structures or paths, or sandpits! You can plan your playground in your head, or draw a picture.

I'm going to build my slide first. I had to bend the paper to make the steps. Parents - please show your child how to make this accordion / zig zag fold!  To glue it to the"ground" you need to bend some little "tabs", or glue some extra tabs on (see the circle tab, below. Then you have to put a bit of glue on the tab (TINY dots not lots) and hold it to the "ground". Press and hold while you count to 10. If you are using glue stick, rub some glue on both surfaces and it will stick MUCH better. 

 

I'm still working on mine, but it is time for you to make yours!

 

Morning Message for Thursday, May 21

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

*** Parents - I am beginning to do some morning announcements! If you would like me to announce anything (really -- anything --) send me an email. I'm going to say hello to about 5 students a day in addition to the announcements***

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the temperature is! Is it Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say how the temperature feels.

Suzannah! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Suzannah, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has a s at the end of their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an r somewhere in their name.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the Dramatic Play Centre! 

Community Helpers

Our community is made up of people who help each other. We have talked a lot about how we can help each other in our families and in our classroom. 

A community helper is anyone in the community that keeps our community safe, healthy and happy!

Read along and answer some questions with an interactive reading of  Whose Hands Are These? by Miranda Paul.

Think about it!
How many community helpers can you think of?
 You can write a list, or tell your parent. Can you think of some that were not in the book?


Helpers in our Community: 
Walk around our neighbourhood and see if you can find some places where community helpers work! You can talk about what helpers work in each place. If you find any other ones not on the list,  you can add them to the list!



 If we were in the classroom, we would be setting up our dramatic play area to different community helper spaces! You could set up one at home. The Veterinarian's Office is always a winner!

Morning Message for Wednesday, May 20

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the temperature is! Is it Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say how the temperature feels.

Levi! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Levi, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1.  Our mystery friend has a n somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an r somewhere in their name. 
Clue #3.  Our mystery friend has a y somewhere in their name. 
Clue #4.  Our mystery friend has a brother. 
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend building with Lego or snap cubes!

Retelling the Three Little Pigs

Once we have practiced retelling familiar routines, we can move onto retelling familiar stories. We want a child to attempt to communicate their understanding of the story, and what the story means to them.

Lets watch The Three Little Pigs again!

When learning to retell a familiar story, it is best to support and guide children by using props. We want to keep in mind the plot, the setting and the characters.  I have emailed out a few pages of props for you to print,  colour, and cut out. You can glue the characters to popsicle sticks if you have them, but it is not necessary!
  
 Your child can start by acting the story out while the video is playing (or while you are reading the book), and then move to doing it independently. Encourage them to use phrases from the story ("Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in", etc.), and to use emotion in their voices. Take a video of their retell! They are really fun to re-watch.  

If you don't have a printer, or don't wish to use one, or if your child prefers to draw their own, you will need:
3 pigs
1 wolf
some straw
some sticks
some bricks
a straw house
a stick house
a brick house 
(a fire or a pot over a fire might be useful!, but is not in the pdf I sent) 
If you have puppets or stuffies that can stand in, use them! You can use the house that you built last week, or make more from Lego, straws,  bricks.... whatever!

The Word Family ad

Let's try the word family "ad"

Please remember that some of the JK's might not know their letter sounds yet (and that's okay, and as it should be -- it is developmental!). We can still do word family work and focus on naming the letter as well as the sound before we put the letter to the word family ending. For example:
"This is a b, it makes the sound b, b, b. Can you make that sound? Now put that b sound at the front of "ad" -- b,ad; bad.

Morning Message for Tuesday, May 19

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the temperature is! Is it Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say how the temperature feels. 

 Sybil! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Sybil, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sisters! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has 2 a's somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an r somewhere in their name. 

Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the Writing and Drawing Centre! 

Living and Non Living Things

*** there are lots of links and activities today that are screen based and not hands-on (I am sorry!) you might want to stretch this out over a few days! *** 

We have learned what plants need and what animals need to stay alive. So all plants and animals are alive (or have been alive). 

What does it mean to be alive? Tell your parent (or whoever is reading this to you!) what you think "alive" means. They can write down all of your ideas on a piece of paper, just like I would on the big chart at the carpet :) (Parents -- write down all of the ideas, even the wild ones. If your child changes their mind later, then we will cross it off the list -- this is the part of the process)

Next, please watch our google slides presentation in the link that was emailed out to you!

Now, if you want to, you can change your list - cross things off or add things if you want to. 

Listen to Ms. Brown reading What's Alive by clicking HERE!
In the book it asks you to draw pictures and sort things into Living or Non-Living things.  If you want to draw them, you can! I would love to see them!

Try It! 
Now you can try to sort Living from Non Living things. You can do this by looking at the pictures that Ms. Brown sent to you -- OR by going to the Boom link that Ms. Brown sent, and testing out the Boom Cards! 

Try It!
Draw and Label a picture that has a living thing in it and a non living thing.  For example, if I drew the picture of the cover of the What's Alive book, I could label the cat as a living thing, and the trowel (little shovel) as a non-living thing.



 

Happy Victoria Day!

Victoria Day was made a holiday in Canada in 1845 to celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria, who was the Queen of England.... and also Canada. It now celebrates our current Queen --- Queen Elizabeth. We also celebrate the holiday to welcome summer. Even though summer doesn't start until June, our weather in the next few weeks will have some warm sunny days, like summer does!

This is Queen Elizabeth when she was crowned Queen:

Queen Elizabeth more recently:

(Queens don't wear their crowns everyday - they are very heavy!)

Ms. Brown dressed up as Queen Elizabeth:

Queen Elizabeth mini figure:

I hope that you were able to enjoy the sun this weekend!

 I took some time to trace some shadows:

Morning Message for Friday, May 15

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather. 

Jack! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Jack, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has 4 letters in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has 2 of the same letter in their name. 
Clue #3.  Our mystery friend has a e somewhere in their name.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend building and creating ramps for cars.

Today is Friday! Yay! Friyay! Remember to have a dance party! Also check out some drama with Ms. Tirkos and some Music with Ms. Stecyk and Ms. Donovan.

Light and Shadow

** there are enough activities to take you through many days! **

Lets read The Black Rabbit by Philippa Leathers

 Who was Black Rabbit? Why was he only there sometimes?

I wonder what a shadow is?  To understand shadows, first, we need to talk about light.

Where does light come from? Light comes from the sun, from fire and also from energy powered tools like a flashlight or a lightbulb. 

Light can only travel in straight lines. If light hits a solid object, it can't go around it! The object blocks the light, and a shadow is made behind the object. 
Where is your shadow? If the light shines on your back, then your shadow is in front of you. If the light is shining on your front (like in your face), then your shadow is behind you!

This book, Shadows by Suzy Lee is a wordless picture book. The girl in it uses her imagination to picture what the shadows might be.You might want to pause on every page to get a better look at the illustrations! We spend a lot of time looking when I show this book in the classroom! The joy of the actual paper book is that you can turn it over to see the "real" picture or the imagined shadow right side up. If you have an ipad, and lock the rotation, it might work!

Here is an image from the book:

Parents! you can set up a light and shadow centre at home for your child to explore. This is a great activity for a rainy day!
 you will need

• a room that can be made a bit dark, or a dark corner of a room (this was quite hard to find in our very bright, window filled classroom!)
• a source of light - a lamp, a projector, or a flashlight.

This is all you need to start!
Can you make a shadow puppet with your hand?
Can you make a story with light and shadows?

You can make some cut-out shadow puppets too. Just cut them out of heavy paper or cardboard and attach to a chopstick, straw or stick! You can click HERE if you need instructions.


You can add some objects for more exploration: 


*a light table, or make one with a clear or translucent bin and a battery operated light inside, or flip it over and put the light underneath it!(or a string of white Christmas lights!) (make sure you use small lightbulbs that don't get really hot)

For the light table:
- objects that can block OR reflect the light, OR that light can shine through. For example: any coloured plastic that is see- through (cups, plastic ice cubes, magnatiles, plastic alphabet fridge magnets), an old cd, a jar of clear water (lid screwed on tight!), small jars of coloured water (lids screwed on tight!), a mirror, translucent buttons, xrays, transparent lego, marble gems, gel window stickers, look around your house, im sure you have something.

• dark paper with some holes punched in it to shine the light through. You can even punch them in the designs of constellations and shine a flashlight through to make the constellations project onto your ceiling!

*** explore shining a flashlight at a cd or through a jar of water!


 Lets make some shadow drawings! You might need to wait for a sunny day to do this!  Shadow drawings are so fun. They are best done in the first part of the morning or the late afternoon, so the shadows are the longest. 
You can go outside with another person and trace around their shadow with chalk! You can make them pose in funny poses and then trace it! 

 You can also make a shadow drawing with a toy! You will need a place to draw near a sunny window, or go outside to do it. You might have to wait for a sunny day to do this, or you can use a flashlight.

Parents!After I had finished my blogpost, I found an excellent book about Light and Shadow. It has many activities (many similar ones are above), and goes into more depth about light and shadows. It is a great book to explore. If you click on the book, the link will take you to the ebook.

 

Morning Message for Thursday, May 14

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather. 

Kayleigh! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Kayleigh, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has 2 a 's somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an l somewhere in their name. 
Clue #3.  Our mystery friend has a n somewhere in their name.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend building at Lego or snap cubes!

Building Houses with the Three Pigs

Do you know the story of The Three Little Pigs? The pigs built some homes out of different materials. 

Read along while Ms. Brown reads The Three Little Pigs - or read your own copy at home if you have one! Click right HERE!

The first little pig wanted to get his house finished quickly. He didn't do much planning. Planning means that you think about what you are going to do before you do it. You might draw pictures, or write down words to help yourself remember your plans. What did the first little pig build his house out of? Do you know anything about straw? It is a dried plant stem, and it is hollow, like a drinking straw! 

The second little pig wanted to make a stronger house than a straw one. He thought about what he was going to use and how he was going to build his house before he started building. What did he use to build his house? Do you think that his house was stronger than the first little pig's house? Why?

The third pig didn't think that the stick house would be strong enough. So he thought about what he could use to make a strong house, and he searched everywhere until he found something strong to use.What did he choose?

Think about it!
 What was the strongest material that they used? How do you know that it was the strongest? Was the third little pig's hard work worth the trouble and time it took to build the house? Why? How did it help?

Can you plan and build a house that will be strong?  
Think about it first! 
Plan your house by drawing a picture on paper. Label it by writing what material you are going to use to create your house. (Parents! The planning is the most important part of today's lesson. Creating with intentionality is so important!)

You can use whatever you want! Blocks, bricks,  boxes, paper! You can make it so you can take it apart (blocks, Lego, etc) or you can glue or tape it. (boxes or paper). Don't glue your blocks or Lego!

Have the big bad wolf come and try to blow it down. You can be the Big Bad Wolf and use your own breath OR your parent can use a hair dryer! 

Morning Message for Wednesday, May 13

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather. 

Nate! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Nate, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has a y somewhere in their name.
Clue #2. Our mystery friend has an e somewhere in their name.
Clue #3. Our mystery friend has an r somewhere in their name.
Clue #4.  Our mystery friend has a sister.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend working with puzzles! 

Beginning to Retell familiar routines

In order to retell a story, a child needs to be able to think sequentially. They must be able to think backward to recall the events in the story, then think forward  to put the events in sequential order. Before we do this we have to practice pretelling. Pretelling is thinking about a familiar routine or activity and then identifying the steps involved and finally, retelling them.

To practice telling something in sequence, ask your child to tell you how to do a routine that they are familiar with. For example, ask them how to wash their hands. Encourage them to go into as much detail as they can. 
For example:
First, you need to go to the sink.
Next you have to turn on the water and get your hands a bit wet.

then you rub or squirt some soap on your hands.

Then rub your hands together while you say the alphabet.

Then, rinse your hands, and turn off the water.

Finally, dry your hands. 

Using the "order words" (first, next, then, finally) help to give mental prompts to help them recall the steps. 

Practice telling many different routines around your home. How to zip up your coat, how to turn on the ipad or tv, or how to brush your teeth would be great because your children can do the activities as they tell you the steps. 

In the classroom when I begin to teach retelling, I have the students tell me how to brush my teeth.  I have a bin that is the "sink" and a box full of supplies. When they tell me to put toothpaste on my brush, I take out a hair brush and put toothpaste on it! When they tell me to spit out the toothpaste, I pretend that I am going to spit it at them! They have to tell me to use a toothbrush, and to spit into the sink. They think that it is hilarious. 

There is a funny YouTube example HERE, of a dad who asks his children to write down the steps to make a peanut butter sandwich. He then attempts to follow the instructions exactly as written.

Ask your child to direct you to do a simple routine. It could be as easy as "how to walk from the kitchen to the bathroom". Do exactly as they say. Keep practicing different routines!

(Today's word family, ag,  is in another post, remember to scroll down in the blog!)