Monday, December 14

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. The kids were a bit crazy at times, but it's the last week of school before Winter break, so I get it. 

In the morning, the class continued to work on their 'Identity Art', which we started on Friday. Most students are just about finished now, even the ones who were away last week. Students who finishes early got to write in their weekend journals. 

In math, we have started learning about patterns! Patterns are another topics, like shapes, that students don't always consider to be part of "math". However, they always tend to pick up the concepts fairly quickly.

Today, I introduced the class to the idea of 'Ab', 'AAB', 'ABC', and 'ABCD' patterns. These letters basically just refer to what elements are are in a pattern, and what order they go in. For example, the pattern, "red, blue green, red, blue, green" is an ABC pattern. There are a few awesome pattern videos that I use every year to teach pattern basics:

Jack Hartmann Pattern Pump:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoFhVdYsmPg

Banana Banana Meatball:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ9q4U2P3ig

Pattern Palace Number Blocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U__EFzinbA8

Those should be enough to get everyone started! Once kids know what patterns are, they can start finding them everywhere. They could be as simple as "Day, Night, Day, Night" or as complicated as our weekly schedules at school.

In the afternoon, we practiced our wacky spelling words, went to gym, and did Daily 5.

I also showed the students how to Make Salt Dough, for a mystery science project we're working on this week. The students got to use cookie cutters with the dough. Here's the recipe, if you're interested:

https://wholefully.com/make-salt-dough-ornaments/

Have a nice night!

Zac