Monday
Thanksgiving Weekend News
James M. - I went to my cousin Mikey and cousin Kayla's house for thanksgiving. I saw a light-up cat there. Yea, it was so cool. I play in the play house and also I set up my Christmas tree. Also I did a lot of other things for my weekend.
Olivia - I went grandma and grandpa house. I go home in evening. I go to bed.
Ekin - I went to my aunty's house for thanksgiving. I eat candy and watch tv.
Ada - I go to grandma's house for thanksgiving and see lots of mommy's and grandma's friends. I have three grandma's.
Surai - I go to my uncle and I eat a lot of food. And I go to park with mommy and grandma. I have fun in park.
Jackson - I play Violet which is my friend and I play with her in the basement. I watch a lot of tv kids.
Ellery - I play, have dinner with mom and dad. I get my Christmas tree and decorate it.
Shanaya - I went to the hotel and I watch my ipad. It was my mommy's birthday.
Cooper - When we done dessert and when we done dinner, I play with Isabelle. My G-mom and Gee and Isabelle come my house at thanksgiving.
James V. - So I cooked thanksgiving dinner with mommy. And we also start to decorate for Christmas, yay. I forget the rest.
Zoey - I playdate Olivia.
Willow - I stay at my house. I watch odd squad. I play sesame cat and sesame panda.
Julian -Everyone come to my house to dinner and I stay home. I play with my brother back and forth. We take a break and I eat a bit of bread.
Lydia -
Grant - We did our Christmas tree. We put Christmas balls on the tree. We play with Christmas toy. We put on tv and Christmas song on it.
Spanish class began with the Cardinals each greeting Alicia in Spanish. Followed by the Cardinals repeating after Alicia as they went over the Calendar and Hundred chart work in Spanish. We went over some of the different kinds of feelings in Spanish and Alicia read us the book, Everybody Has Feelings - The Moods of Children illustrated by Charles E. Avery. Friends willingly gave examples of when their have certain feelings. Here is what a few friends had to say Solo - Alone (Went my mom and dad go downstairs and I am upstair by myself. Went I am in my bed by myself). ASUSTADO - scared- Went I walk in my room and the lights are off). (FELIZ - Happy- everyday I feel love). (ENOJADO - angry- Went I ask my brother to leave me alone. Went I don't get to watch my show). Today it was Olivia's turn to squeeze la vaca!
Gym class with Josh began by him explaining our task for the day. Today we work on kicking, rolling and dribbling with a soccer ball. This helped us to work on our focus, coordination, gross motor, team building, listening and problem solving skills. We also worked with different size balls and had fun coming up with different games with them. Ask your Cardinal what did you do in gym class?.
Tuesday
Early this morning the whole AFS community practice an evacuation to the meetinghouse. We explained to the Cardinals that it is a practice like our fire drill practice but this time the fire alarms will not make noise. We also explained that they will be a lots of big kids. Alicia our Spanish teacher joined us for this practice evacuation. We walked out our classroom back door and walked as a group over to the meetinghouse. There we sat and waited with the rest of lower school students and teacher for what comes next. (This was like our meeting for worship time in the meeting house on Wednesdays.) In about 5 minutes it was all over. We let the middle and upper schoolers go first as they were outside and the lower schoolers we in the meetinghouse.
Back in the classroom we took some time to ask, "How did you feel about our practice evacuation? and to answer any questions friends may have. Here is what our Cardinals had to say:
Willow - I feel worried. I don't know why.
Ellery - Scared it was snowing.
Olivia - Happy cause it snowing.
Grant - Sad, I don't know.
James M. - Happy cause you know it was snowing.
Ekin - Happy cause it was snowing. I got snow on my tongue.
Cooper - I was a little bit nervous and a little bit happy because I was afraid of all the bigger people I don't know. I was happy because it was snowing and snow was on my face.
James V. - Well, I loved it because it was snowing and I had my tongue out.
Julian - Happy when it was snowing.
Zoey - Sad because it was snowing.
Shanaya - Happy cause it was snowing.
Ada - Happy because it was snowing and sad because all the people.
Surai - I was sad cause it was snowing.
Jackson - I was nervous and happy because all the people that was there and really happy because it was snowing. I was trying to get snow.
In Art class friends all worked to create a big Cardinal bird. This work was done by each friend making a section of the bird. Friends each had a picture of a red Cardinal bird to look at as they worked. Before we began, Johanna asked friends, "to name parts of a Cardinal? Friends said, "a tail, wings, eyes, it's red and has black on it, a beak, a head, yellow eyes". Johanna then asked, "what shape does it have? Friends said, "triangle, round, oval". We then used cardboard, glue sticks, scissors, red construction paper, red tissue paper, pictures of strawberries, red pepper, raspberries, and cherries to create. Ask your Cardinal how did you make a Cardinal bird in art class?
Stay Tuned for next steps!!
Outdoor exploration
On this first really cold morning and first snow flakes, the Cardinals enjoyed a treat of warm hot chocolate!
Wednesday
We began our day by working on a journal entry titled, "What did you do over Thanksgiving break?" This work was done in small groups, while friends waited for their turn. They worked on cutting with scissors, manipulating play dough with their fingers and played a game of snail pace.
Keisha was out of school today and so we created our own music class. The Cardinals began by warming up to the songs Cat Party and Dinosaur Stomp. These are two of our Cardinals favorite songs. We then sang our hello sang Jambo followed by reading and acting out the book Animal Boogie. We finished music class by having a dance party.
Thursday
Alicia read us the book Tengo Sentimientos (I have feelings) by Bobbie Kalman. We then took turns playing a game of swatter in which we worked on identifying the Spanish words for feelings as Alicia called them out. Nice work Cardinals!! Today it was Shanaya's turn to squeeze la vaca!
We spend the rest of the morning working on individual surprises that will come home soon! The Cardinals also spend time outside enjoying large motor fun!
Friday
After our morning meeting and snack time, we had a class discussion to discuss the possibility of playing Board Games on Fridays like last year. The Cardinals loved this idea and had much to say about it. These cooperative and interactive board games help to foster turn taking, rule following, concepts of a team player, memory, eye - hand coordination, independence, cognitive, language, confidence and problem solving skills.
The board games we played today were Candy Land, Snail Pace Race and The Fishing Game. Friends played in small groups of four or five. The teachers explained that some Fridays, we may not have Board Games if all school participation arises that our class needs to attend.
Here are the Cardinal's thoughts about what we should call Fridays!
James V. - Game Play
Zoey - Games
Jackson - Friday Games
Julian - Game Store
Ekin - Game Play
Ellery - Game Friday
Surai - Fun Friends special
Ada - Game Friday
Shanaya - Game day
Olivia - Fun Games
Grant - Game Play
Willow - Fun Games
Shanaya - Game Store
Lydia - Fun Games
James M. - Friday Games
We took a look and there were 3 friends that said Game Play and 3 friends said Fun Games. We voted as a class and 3 friends wanted Fun Games, while 11 friends wanted Game Play. And so on Fridays we will have Game Play day!! We also talked about how we all will have fun playing games. Some friends stayed with a game for a long time while others explored all the games several times!
Have a nice weekend!!
