Life in a Tree

As we begin to study trees and the important parts of a tree (roots, trunk, branches, leaves) we are also learning about how these tree parts are so useful to animals. Mice make nests in piles of tree leaves, foxes live in holes in low parts of the tree trunk or near the roots. Bees live in hives that hang from tree branches. Trees are a home to many living things, even snails! We read a variety of non-fiction books on this topic and then began some work to create our own mural display of living things that make their home in the shelter of a tree. Our work shows the natural connection between science and art!

Symbols of fall for nature sketching

Our own tree drawings

Who's living in this tree?

Billy made our fox

Drew is making a cute little mouse

We all worked together to decide where to place our animals

Our Life in a Tree mural

Some books we read as we learned

Enjoying Picture Books

We read "The Very Best Pumpkin" By Mark Moulton and illustrator Karen Good.
We were captivated by the unique illustration style which combines watercolor paint with instant coffee to give a brown faded wash look to the pages. The story is one of friendship and giving efforts to take care of a growing pumpkin. We created our own torn tissue paper collage pumpkins as we connect our own art back to literature. 

Learning about 3D Shapes

The children are learning about the attributes of 3D shapes as we build them using a variety of materials and tools. It's been fun to explore all of the real world examples of 3D shapes as we count the vertices, edges, and faces. The children have explored a variety of "shape center activities" working with both flat 2D shapes and 3D shapes as shown in the photographs below. We love exploring math concepts in meaningful and active ways!

3D picture sorting game

Billy made a robot using 2D shape templates

Helen made a sphere using 3D shape connectors

Kailtin is using a new geoboard to make squares

Mallory is working hard to make a cube

Emma's 2D shape designs

Making 3D shape with magnet tiles

Part of our 3D shape museum

Mallory is using mini 3D shapes to guide her work in her shape booklet

Learning about 2D Shapes

After having some hands on fun with shape blocks and reading several picture books about shapes in our world the children and I worked together to create a chart about 2D shapes and their attributes with examples of real world items that are each shape. The children made their own shape "flip books" to share what they know about shapes. We have been busy exploring a variety of math stations using shape materials such as, shape templates, shape stampers, pattern block shapes, and connecting shapes. Next week we will explore 3D shapes and characteristics. 

Connecting Literacy and Art

This week we have been enjoying the picture books "Little Cloud" by Eric Carle and "Apple" by Nikki McClure. Both of these books connect to our math study of shapes. The children have been able to use the flannel set for "Little Cloud" to retell the story. We also made our own cloud shape designs to connect back to our reading. This week we added a cloud poem into our poetry notebooks. 

In reading "Apple" by Nikki McClure, the children were able to experience the artist's beautiful illustrations created out of black paper using an exacto knife using red as an accent color. We talked about the word choice used in this book and how the author used just one word on each page to connect back to her illustration. Even with just one word per page, this book tells a full story of the life cycle of an apple and apple tree. We will be reading many other books by Nikki McClure so we can fully study and enjoy her illustration style. Today we used black and red oil pastels to create our own depiction of "Apple."

Exploring Shapes with "Little Cloud"

Friday Math Stations

Today we set up some math stations and worked on sorting buttons and acorns by size, shape, and color! We also explored 2D shapes to preview for our shape unit to begin next week.

 We had so much fun sorting acorns today!

Reading Station Choices

The children have enjoyed using our reading stations independently during part of our literacy hour.
They are doing an amazing job and have been so engaged in their work!  

 Billy has just finished his poetry journal entry for today.

 More poetry journal work...

 Drew is doing a word matching game

 Monet's mini book story is amazing!

 Luca is proud of his mini book work

 Retelling Little Red Riding Hood with the flannel set

 Listening station fun with the book "Nuts to You" about a silly squirrel.