May Update

Unit of Inquiry- Structures

Our unit on Structures ended with the Prep Exhibition.  After the students worked hard planning, designing, and building their playgrounds, they presented all their hard work to the other EC students.  First they rehearsed in class by presenting to the other Prep children, and then showed the younger EC children their work during the Prep Exhibition.  

    The Fun Playground

    The Jungle Playground

    Super Pizza Land

    Sharing the structures with other Prep students

Unit of Inquiry- Stories

Prep A students began this project following the Hearts for Haiti Bake Sale when they decided as a class to make a book for the children in Haiti.  It was a class effort as the children made the story orally and then turned it into a storybook, The Princess and the Sea Animals. The children then created a digital version with our help, and it is now available on iBooks accessible on the EC iPads.  Each child recorded their voice telling the story.

The Princess and the Sea Animals

As we began discussing our end of the year class play, Prep A decided to turn their story into a play.  They came up with a list of characters and settings, and chose their parts.  In the following days, they wrote the screenplay. Each child wrote their speaking part and chose how much they wanted to say. Finally, they completed a character analysis to help better understand their characters.

   Characters and Setting Lists

    Writing about our characters in the play

Unit of Inquiry-  Documenting Histories

The students in Prep began their final unit of inquiry- Documenting Histories.  The unit kicked off with a special visitor. Ms. Samantha's dad came in to share about her as a young girl. He shared photos, stories, and some of her artwork and writing from when she was little.  The students asked questions to learn more about how she has changed.

The following day, the class spoke with Ms. Amy's mom via FaceTime. She shared photos and stories about Ms. Amy as a child along with important objects that help document her life.

    FaceTime call with Ms. Amy's mom

The students brought in photos and objects from home to share with their classmates.  They enjoyed sharing about their past and learning about each other.

    

Then we made a list of ways we can learn about the past.

    Making the List  

    Asking questions, pictures, videos, books, toys

Language Arts

Read, read, read!  In Prep A we have been reading every day! We read with friends, by ourselves, and we listen to others read.  We also write every day. Sometimes it is to tell a story, create a card, make a list, or label something in the room. The students enjoy sharing their writing with each other!

    Reading a variety of stories

    Writing stories

    Building CVC words

    Reading books

    Spelling words with wooden letters

     Playing Memory with Sight Words

    Playing Sight Word Uno

Math

This week we began our unit on Measurement. We started by exploring capacity.  The students are given a question each day that they have to solve.  For example, what holds more than my bottle of water and If Ms. Amy is really thirsty, which container should she use to drink water?  Through exploring and questioning, each team tries to solve the problem.  Finally they record their answers in their math journals.  

    How much does it hold?

    Trying to figure out which containers hold more

    We did it!

Dance Festival Pictures

Preparing for the show

Show Time

In our Garden

Our new playhouse finally arrived!  The children enjoyed watching Mr. Max and Mr. Ghin build the house. It is almost done and they can't wait to play in it!