November 17th, 2009

Today we started our study of the beloved book Stone Soup! We read the book and then read a poem based on the book. We reflected on our reading during afternoon centers by using felt board pieces. We started with a pot and added the vegetables and spices referenced in the poem.



We also had music with Ms. Shelley. Here is a video of us singing one of our favorite songs with leaves!

We also made stone soup with play dough in the Atelier. We built pinch pots and added mushrooms, broccoli, and tomatoes to our soup.





Some of us had a problem when making our stone soup. Some students used up all their play dough building their bowl and had no play dough left. They were able to problem solve and decided to ask their friends for extra pieces of play dough to make vegetables. Some chefs offered to make vegetables for their friends' pots! It felt good to work together to make stone soup.

"I had to share because I didn't have enough playdough to make vegetables. Renee and Justin made vegetables for me. There was enough soup for the Whales and the Sharks. I built a big pot of Stone Soup." -Naomi

We are adding a new job to our job chart. Starting soon, two writers will help Ms. Katie write the blog and respond to comments. Today, Jacob, Naomi and Sam R. were our blog managers!



We also had a problem today. The computers were "broken" and a few problem solvers felt it would be beneficial to put signs saying "Off Limits" on the computer station.

We helped each other sound out the words...

And taped the signs to the computer station...

"Off Limits!"

We are looking forward to cooking our Stone Soup this Thursday (don't forget your vegetable!)

Monday, November 9th

Today we acted as scientists and mathematicians! First, we sorted the many leaves we found on our nature walks. We observed the shape of the leaves and compared them to pictures of different types of leaves found around Oregon.

Does it fit here?

I found a match!

Maple leaf.

Fir leaf.

Each scientist picked a leaf (or several) and sorted it according to leaf identification sheets. We observed how many points the leaves had, whether their sides were bumpy or smooth, and whether they were wide or thin. Here are two videos showing some of some of our decision making and thought processes!

On Friday, we will use our sorted leaves and place them in a pictograph! We hope to figure out the most common type of leaf found around our community!

We also had treasured buddy reading time. We always begin our special time reading and discussing books with our buddies, and then we usually enjoy a different learning activity such as building with the blocks or using puzzles.




We are also writers in the Dolphin classroom! Today, we started using new alphabet sheets to help us write the sounds we hear in the words we write. We have the most wonderful, creative stories, and we are excited to get them down on paper!