What a great beginning to the year! Our first few days kept us very busy getting to know each other and learning some of the routines of the classroom. We’ve been reading a book about a boy who turned into a TV set called “The Boy Who Turned into a TV Set.” We decided that the title fit the book very well.
On the second day, we took a math test and near the end of the day we became scientists and observed some worms. We drew our worm while it was on a wet paper towel. On Thursday and Friday of the first week we did more experiments with the worms, including observing and drawing a “Worm Hotel.” We noticed that worms like to mix up the dirt. At the end of the week we released our worms into the garden area outside our windows on the east side of the building. Speaking of that area, it is rumored that a duck has chosen that space to make a nest and lay its eggs there in the early spring. That’s something we are all looking forward to seeing. After we got cleaned up from the real worms we sampled some gummi worms.
We started another book called “How to Eat Fried Worms” which is kind of gross in some parts, but it’s a fun book.
We sang/learned a couple songs during the week. “This Pretty Planet” (the lyrics are at http://64.23.8.93/lyrics/TPP.pdf ) is a round by Tom Chapin that went over well. We also did ”Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” a song that is just over a hundred years old. Most of the songs I will do with the kids will tie in with subjects we are studying, but a few are just for fun. Two that I am really looking forward to teaching are Woody Guthrie’s “Roll On, Columbia” and Oregon’s state song, “Oregon, My Oregon.” There are interesting histories behind both of those songs that I will share when we get to them.
We have been doing reading assessments and some informal writing assessments to help us get ready for groups next week.
