This week, we've been learning about what sound the letter "H" makes. Once we learned that H makes a 'hot' sound, we practiced on mirrors. Once we had breathed on the mirrors, we practiced writing the letter H in the fog our breathe makes.
One of our favorite books is The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. This also happens to be an excellent book about advocating for things that are important (other than advocating for oneself). Today, we read the book once again, but this time discussed all the different ways we saw the Lorax advocating. Later, we asked some of the children about the book.
""The Lorax is advocating! He was knocking on the door."- Nada "The Lorax speaks for the trees!"- Fatima "He said the trees don't have any tongues, so he speaks for them."-Miguel "He was advocating for the swans and bears and fish. He told them to go somewhere else" -Sa'Mya "Advocate means to speak up- the Lorax was speaking up."- Izzy "The Lorax was speaking for the trees."-Sari "He said, 'I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees,' and then he sent the bears away because they don't have no food. And they have gas in their tummies"- Neriyah "He was nice! He speaks for the trees, he was protecting them." -June "The Lorax was speaking up for the trees- he was advocating."- Amya "The Lorax was the little guy who speaks up for himself and he doesn't want anybody to chop the trees."- Ayan "The Lorax helped the animals."- Baruel "The Lorax speaks for the trees- he stops the monsters from cutting the trees down."- Shobitha Advocate (verb): to stand up for yourself or an important idea
Every year in the Spring, we begin talking about a very important word: Advocate. While we use this word in conversation all year with the students, in March we take time to dive into what it means to advocate. This week, we are talking about what it means to advocate for yourself (or a friend), and next week we will talk about advocating for important ideas. Because this is a new word and a new idea, many students are still wrapping their heads around what it means to advocate versus to be nice to others. Take time to talk to your child about how they can (or already do!) advocate for themselves at home (asking for more food at dinner, asking a sibling to share a toy, etc) and to point out how you advocate for yourself as an adult. Here are a few ideas (from this website) to help encourage children advocating for themselves: 5 Ways to Begin Building Self-Advocacy Skills with Young Children
Here is another website that explains why it's self-advocacy is a crucial skill to teach children. As mentioned previously, the students really enjoy talking about the weather each morning. To help them understand what exactly a weather report is, we have been watching the 9 News weather report in the mornings after our meeting. We're talking to the students in small groups to see what we want to learn about weather.
Today, we were pretty excited when we heard there would be a thunderstorm and rain showers around lunchtime. Although we couldn't hear the rain in our classroom, in the hall right outside our room there is a ceiling vent. We took the students in small groups to listen to the rain fall. As June said, "It sounds like beans falling!" Each Thursday, rather than taking turns leading yoga poses we already know, each student is given the opportunity to make up their own pose. We've noticed a theme recently- sometimes almost half of the poses are called "Balancing" (or some variation of such). We decided to explore the theme of balancing even further with these birds. We're excited to see what else we can balance the birds on, and how we can move while keeping the bird balanced. How to Build A HouseIn dramatic play, the children are often moving the furniture around to create separate rooms or spaces for their play. We had these puzzle floor mats and offered them to the students at the end of last week. Each day, they use them to create something new. Sometimes, they are used to make a bed, sometimes a bedroom, or a doghouse, or even a tiny house for just two or three children.
|
Denver Green School Home page
Archives
October 2016
|