January 4th, 2010

Today we were so thankful to be back at school after winter break. We took turns sharing with a buddy about how we spent the special "snow day." We had so many wonderful stories about our snow day over the break that we had to get them down on paper! We talked about the many ways that authors record their stories - some authors just draw pictures to get their ideas down on paper (they are called illustrators) and some authors draw and might add some labels, too! Both are good ways to make sure stories aren't told and then "disappear into the atmosphere!" When we write our wonderful stories down, we'll have them always.

Ms. Katie modeled the story of her snow day after seeing TWO Trimet buses stuck in the snow! We helped her sound out the word "Sno" (snow).

In centers, we illustrated our stories about the snow! Ms. Katie wrote down the stories we dictated to match our illustrations. Some of us used the alphabet sheets to sound out labels like "snow" and "snowman." We are real Writers and though we read and write all day, every day, this is an area that we will be focusing on intensely as out "theme" for the next three weeks.

We use alphabet sheets and other authors (good authors work together!) to help us sound out words!

"Snow Man"

In art, we read a story (Mouse Paint) about mice who dip themselves in paint and then stomp in paint puddles to mix beautiful colors. As we read, we made predictions about what colors the mice would mix next. We predicted many colors (including black and brown) would be produced from primary colors, and some Readers were surprised to "read on" and find out that red (or magenta) and yellow make orange, blue (or cyan) and magenta make purple, and yellow and cyan produce green. We talked about how magenta, cyan and yellow are the primary colors, or the three colors from which all other colors can be created .

After we read Mouse Paint we got to mix our own colors! Today we just experimented with magenta and yellow to make orange. Some of us painted specific pictures, some of us just enjoyed mixing and experimenting with the colors.


We added more yellow or more magenta to create varying hues of orange.

We also used our paint brushes to create different textures (splotchy, smooth) and talked about the strokes we used (straight line, jagged line, circles). Not only does art give us an expressive outlet, it also gives us an opportunity to learn new vocabulary and hone our fine and gross motor skills!

As we continue on the next few weeks, expect to see more experimentation with color and further growth in our literacy skills!