Baby Vowels, Doubles +1, and Pumpkins!

Can you believe we have had over 30 days of school?!  We have been so busy and have learned and grown so much together!  It feels great to be solid in our routines as we flow through our day.  Our time together is always so sweet!

Math
We continue working on our math facts and practicing different strategies to help us solve addition equations.  For example, if we know our 10 + __ really well, then 9 + ___ is just one less.  Or, if we know our doubles, 4 + 4 then 5 +4 is just one more.  Some are working on adding double digits and adding the ones before adding up the tens (which is a tricky habit to get into sometimes, since when we count, we add up our big 10s and then add on the little ones!).  We have been playing memory games, BINGO, making fact books, dice games, and working on our addition packets to help us strengthen these skills.

Language
In centers, we are working on our vowel key and have begun with the "baby" vowels (short vowels).  They are babies and make baby sounds (don't know how to say their name yet!) and always need a babysitter.  We went through our consonant sound board and found all the really good babysitters, those that sometimes have trouble, and those that should never ever babysit(!!).  Our time with the short vowels is focused on playing with different word families.  Some put beginning consonants in front of chunks (like __op) and other put in consonant blends to help find the words that belong in the family. This last week we focused on "o" and this week we will made flip books, will do our first word/sound sorts this week and play other word games that help us recognize sounds we hear at the beginning or ending of a word to make new words.

Special Guest
We had a wonderful student from Evergreen visit to share a few fun science experiments with us. We tested for sugar content in different drinks, played with acids and bases, and checked out how well we wash our hands (a great reminder to really do a thorough job!)

Theme
We had fun creating our own basic map of Washington (including major mountain ranges, largest rivers, big cities) the week before last.  This past week, we learned a few interesting fact about our state.  Ask your child if they know the state fruit, bird, insect, fish, vegetable, tree or flower. Or, what is our state's nickname or some of our state's industry (what we sell).

Art
Look for our art decorating the walls at Samhain!

Friday Workshops

Field Trip
Lattin's continues to be a favorite field trip!