Learning Fun!

Unit

The week before break was a busy one!  It started with preparation for our field trip to the farm.  We shared what we already knew about farms and what we wanted to learn.  When we arrived, we learned how ricotta and mozzarella cheeses are made.  We also helped make these two types of cheese!  Then we toured the farm and learned interesting facts about the pig, ducks, peacocks, and ostriches.  After that, we met the cows.  Everyone had the opportunity to milk a cow and feed the cows! After milking the cow, we toured the building where the cows are milked by machine.  We learned all about how the milk is treated, processed, and stored.  What an eventful and exciting trip!

 

The day after, we reflected on the systems we observed on our field trip to the farm.  Each group chose a system to act out and explain to the class.  It was a great opportunity to share our knowledge and some laughs!

During Prep activities, students have been following different systems relating to food.  The groups do the following activities: learn how to make play dough by following a recipe; plant vegetables outside in our garden which will be eaten by the students when they grow; turn cream into butter using a jar; follow a recipe to make fruit salad; and learn where popcorn comes from and then make popcorn using a popcorn machine.

In our outdoor garden we planted turnips, radish, and lettuce

     Making play dough

Last week, we read the story Honey Biscuits.  After reading where all the ingredients came from, we decided to follow the recipe provided at the end of the book and make them together.  The students enjoyed measuring all of the ingredients and mixing them together.  The end result was delicious!

Math

We practiced buying and selling items using money in the classroom to prepare for the Halloween bake sale.  The prep students were cashiers for the day.  It was a big responsibility, and was extremely successful!

 

During the past week, we combined groups, and discussed the concept of addition.  We have played games such as Roll and Record, Racing Bears, Build On, and One More,One Fewer to help us understand.  

 

      Racing Bears                                                         Roll and Record 2

      Racing Bears                                                                  Count and Combine

             Count and Combine

Language Arts

We started to build our word wall for unit related vocabulary words.  We discussed the vocabulary words we wanted posted and wrote them on paper.

All the reading groups took home their first book.  The groups developed comprehension and vocabulary skills as they told the story in class.  They used the pictures and background knowledge to tell the story.

In writing, the class explored "How To" writings by focusing on recipes.  They analyzed the similarities between recipes as they explored a plethora of recipe books.  They wrote their own recipes which included two sections: ingredients and steps to follow.  They used either words and/or pictures to write their own recipes.

The students learned two new letters g and d along with the sight words go, to, and.  

A Bit of Science Fun

On Halloween, the students discovered who were wizards by trying to make a magic potion.  The mad scientists explained that wizards need to know their chemicals and powders, make tough choices, and know their magic words!  The student had to choose between acidic acid and dihydrogen monoxide. Then they made the tough decision about what color their potion should be and added a pigmenting agent. Finally, they had to say their choice of magic words just before adding sodium bicarbonate.  We discovered we had a class full of wizards!  Those that were not wizards demonstrated excellent scientific thinking by explaining why some of the mixtures turned into magic potions while others did not.

Home Connections

Unit of Inquiry

• Continue to discuss food systems when you eat, cook, shop etc. Key questions: Where does this come from? How was it made? What ingredients did we use? Does it come from the farm? From a factory?

• Discuss recipes, look at recipes and recipe books. What is the recipe title/name? Can you see the ingredients? the directions.

• Cook or bake together! Follow a recipe, and discuss where each ingredient comes from. If you like, make 'honey biscuits' at home! Easy and delicious. Here is the recipe:

Maths

• Practice adding small quantities, using real objects. For example, use M&Ms, fruit , nuts.  Count how many you have (e.g. 5). Add some more (3). Ask: how many altogether? How can we find out? Children need many opportunities to practice composing and decomposing numbers to really understand the concepts of addition and subtraction.

Language Arts

• Continue to practice writing in connection to our unit: help write the shopping list or the ingredients for a recipe. Write a dream shopping list!
• Try to read or recognize beginning sounds, especially for food-related words (e.g. at the supermarket, even if words are in Italian).
• Please read/tell the story of the reading books sent home each week. Parents, please remember to listen to your child read and sign the reading log. Your help is very important for your child to develop reading skills and enjoy this activity.

Important dates/reminders

Prep Potluck: Friday 20th November, 1:45 pm in the EC lunchroom. Further details will follow. Please send in your recipe as soon as possible!