News from the Moon Toons

Reminders

Field Trip
Friday, November 13th - Pick up at the Olympia Library

Friday Workshops
November 20th: Sequoia and Owen

As you may or may not know, Mistress Wonka came in for a surprise visit last week. She worked with her little Oompas in creating the most fantastic buildings and elevators. Buildings with caramel rivers on one floor, and a chocolate forest on another - crazy! These buildings could go as high as they like as well as below ground. After she left, the children and I played in the elevator of these buildings. Floors above ground were positive numbers and floors below were negative. We put together combinations of positive and negative numbers, which we called changes, to see what results we would get. Most of this work was done through games, some of which involve imaginary trips in Mistress Wonka’s elevator, up and down her fantastic building. Thinking about ups and downs helps children learn how to describe mathematical changes. They will use these skills in both science and math as they describe and graph how things change. Here is an example of a problem we might do:

I got on the elevator on the +2 floor. I pushed the +3 button and then the -6 button. What floor am I on?

Some did a little algebra when solving a problem like this:

I got on the elevator on the +3 floor. I pushed a button and then I pushed the +1 button. I ended up on the - 4 floor. What was the other button I pushed?

We also read "Centipede’s 100 Shoes" and used our problem solving skills to answer the question, is the author’s math correct? As everyone went to work to answer this question, I witnessed so much creative and thoughtful problem solving. From using repeating addition, multiplication, subtractions and pictures everyone was able to answer this question in their own way.

During language arts we have all been serious writers these past weeks as we dedicate ourselves to our stories. Over the past weeks, we had fun exploring how an idiom, a simile, or an onomatopoeia can add description to our stories. The children have already begun using some of these techniques. Yesterday I read a few examples, like "Vroom!" and "...as green as a leaf."

We have officially begun our literacy centers! While some children read with me in reading groups others are making choices around the room. Currently choices include: reading poetry and recording one that we particularly like or authoring our own , reading a magazine article and writing a summary, reading a space book and recording facts, journaling, reading jokes and riddles and sharing a favorite, and word sorts. The children keep track of their choices and work in their Literacy Folder.

Buddy reading has begun with our friends, the Marvelous Martians. Readers are paired up so that one child may help another as they practice reading. Buddy reading is a wonderful opportunity for the elder children to share their skills and help teach their younger friends.

In our journey through the universe we are currently in our solar system planet hopping. You can find on us Venus but we will moving along as the smell, heat, and atmosphere are a little overwhelming! We were fortunate to meet the beautiful Greek Goddess Aphrodite and her magical girdle. You will find our incredible portraits of her on our door.

We have read several short folktales from around the world that tell stories of seasons, stars, and planets. The children have selected "Day and Night" as their favorite and we are in the process of creating a play based on this tale. We will create a script and work on memorizing our lines. Stay tuned for a performance date!

On Thursday we will practice making a triorama (similar to a diorama). We will use a scene from our "Day and Night" story as our inspiration. This will also be a tool the children can use in future book responses.