Cardinal's Blog 2013-14

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Math Workshops: Shapes! Shapes! Shapes!

Shapes! Shapes! Shapes! During our Math Workshops we continued our focus on shapes. The Cardinals continue to explore with two-dimensional basic geometric shapes, their names and their attributes. We read Marilyn Burn’s book, The Greedy Triangle, and learned that if we add another line to a triangle it is called a quadrilateral. Wow! That’s a big word just to say it has four sides.

For our workshops, two new shapes were introduced into the mix. We learned that a trapezoid and a rhombus are also quadrilateral which just means four sides. A trapezoid looks like a triangle with “two squished sides” and the rhombus is the same as a “diamond.”

The Playdough Shape Sculpting Workshop:

The Shape Tracing Workshop:

The Rock Shape Sculpting Workshop:

New Twist to Morning Journals

In order to heighten the Cardinal’s Morning Journal experience, we decided to “change” the setting. To challenge them to the next level, we changed the environment so that the Cardinals will become inspired to expand their writing and draw more detailed pictures in their journaling. Whether they’re writing their own words or not, this is a great tool that the Cardinals can use to communicate, each at his or her own developmental level.

We want to foster an early love of writing therefore “writing” time should be relaxed and fun. During our Morning Meeting, we posed the question “If you could eat something yucky, what would it be?” We encouraged the Cardinals to think of the many yucky things they would eat and how will they draw it on their journal.

We then invited the Cardinals to find a comfortable spot anywhere in the classroom. We asked that they choose a spot where they could sit or lay down and concentrate on doing their best work....ever! We then suggested that if they’d like, we would give out a snack which they could eat as they worked. As an added relaxer, ambient music was played in the background and a scented candle was lit to which many Cardinals responded, “Ahhh! That’s nice!” Ahhh indeed! The Cardinals’ intrinsic enjoyment was certainly witnessed.

Friday, November 1, 2013

¡Noticias de Alicia! - ¡Bienvenidos!

¡Bienvenidos familia, amigas, y amigos de los Cardenales! Welcome Cardinal families and friends! For this school year, 2013-14, I will be teaching Spanish to the youngest members of our AFS community and I couldn’t be more excited. In fact, our journey has already begun.

The Cardinals will be having (official J) Spanish classes every Monday morning at 8:30 and they are super excited! This week I paid them a visit and began by introducing the program as a refresher to old friends and to familiarize our new friends. During my introduction, the question was raised of how they can tell when it’s Alicia the Cardinals’ teacher and when is it Alicia the Spanish teacher. “I know! I know! I know! How about Ms. Hola?” Quite clever, huh? Stay tuned .....

Acquisition happens naturally and subconsciously when we are surrounded by another language. My goal is to spend the first few minutes of each class speaking in English to the children, as I explain the day’s activity. As the children gain some comprehension of the Spanish language, I will then present the introduction of the day’s activity in Spanish.

I explained to the Cardinals that there are twenty-one countries that speak Spanish and at the beginning of each class, someone will pick where we will visit for that day. Once we determine our destination, we will fly to that country. I presented to the Cardinals my red sequin vest and explained that when I put this vest on, it indicates that I am the Spanish teacher and therefore I will be speaking solely in Spanish.. When we land, we will do our best to only speak in Spanish, the official language of the country. And, at the end of our visit we will have a special friend see us off back to the United States. Ask your child who this special friend is.