We are Authors

We have begun the process of bookmaking in 4k!  This is a very exciting time, as the children discover they are authors just like the authors of their favorite books!  The children are very familiar with what an author and illustrator do.  We have learned that the author write the words to a story and the illustrator creates the illustrations, or pictures, in a book. 

After reading a few different snowmen books, we put them all our on the carpet to explore the covers of the books.  The children discussed what they noticed on each of the covers.  Look at the cover of the book Snowmen at Night.  What do you see? 

  Our class discovered that all the books had a name on them, which we learned was the name of the author and/or illustrator.  They also noticed their were other letters and words on the cover.  They decided those words must be the title of the story, and the title gives us a hint of what the story might be about.  Each cover also had a picture.  The children decided that the picture gives us another hint about what the story is about.  After our discussion about book covers, we tried to create our own covers for our stories! Look at how hard we are working!

 Each child created the cover for their own book!  Each cover had a picture, to give us a hint about their story, and the name of the author/illustrator.  Some children even tried to write letters and words for a title!  Check back soon to see more from our very own authors!

Favorite Animal Graph

Throughout the 4k year we graph many things!  We have graphed our favorite color, the letters in our name, and favorite type of apple to eat.  This week, each child was given the opportunity to be in charge of their own graph.  A few children each day got to walk around the room during free choice time and ask their classmates what their favorite animal was.  They recorded the answers on their graph.  When they were finished collecting their data, they were excited to share what animal got the most votes as well as which animal or animals received the least amount of votes.  Enjoy the following pictures of our graphing adventure!

4k Snowmen

Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow!  As the weather outside got chilly, we created our own snowmen inside!  The 4k children used their fine motor skills to trace three circles on their paper.  A big circle, a medium circle, and a small circle.  Next, we filled in the circles with a shaving cream and glue mix to make puffy paint!

 Each child was given a variety of materials to use to personalize their snowman.  They chose where and how to use the materials.  I love how each snowman reflects each individual we have in our class! 

 To finalize our snowmen, we wrote a sentence about them!  Each child was given the prompt: My snowman likes to... and encouraged to write a word or phrase about what their snowman liked to do!  We talked like turtles so we could hear the sounds in the words we were trying to write and then wrote down the sounds that we could hear!  Stop by and see our snowmen on display in the hallway!

Shaving Cream Names

 

In 4k, one of the many things we learn is how to write our name.  We have been practicing writing our names with only the first letter being an uppercase letter.  All the rest of the letters in our name are lowercase.  This can be very tricky, so the more ways we can practice, the better! 

Last week, we brought out the shaving cream and got "messy!"  We spread the shaving cream around the table and got writing!  The class enjoyed using their fingers to write their name and then using their hands to erase it and do it again!

December Nights, December Lights

We are learning our song for our holiday program quickly approaching!! This years song title is December Nights, December Lights and discusses four special holidays that are celebrated all across the land in the month of December.

Hanukka~Lights the Menorah

Christmas~Lights the Christmas Tree and Advent Wreath

Kwanza~Lights the Kinara

La Fiesta de la Posada~Lights Luminarias (Lanterns)

Thank you for continuing to practice the words to our song at home so that we have confidence as we sing it at school.

The words are...

December nights, December lights.

Celebrations all across the land.
December nights, December lights.

Celebrate with others hand in hand.

Celebrate eight nights of Hanukkah

Celebrate the feast of lights.

Christmas colors that inspire us.

Shine by day and through the night.

(Repeat Chorus)

Light the flames of the kinara.

Kwanza holidays begin.

Twinkling light of la Posada.

Is there room left at the inn?

(Repeat Chorus)

The links below have been viewed in the classroom and are informative of the holidays mentioned in our song. We have looked at a few of the symbols of these holidays as well so that we have a greater understanding of the holiday.

Arthur Hanukkah Video Clip

Sesame Street Kwanzaa Video Clip

Disney's La Posadas

 

 

May all of our holidays be celebrated with open hearts and with others hand in hand!!

Tom Turkey

My name is Tom Turkey
And I’m afraid as I can be.
I’m wearing my disguise
So you won’t catch me!

 

In case you haven't had a chance to stop by, check out our awesome disguised turkeys!  They have made it safely past Thanksgiving, thanks to all your hard work!

 

In 4k, we have also been working on writing with labeling!  Each week, our bulletin board reflects the letter we are studying that week.  The children help label the parts of the picture on the bulletin board.  They are then encouraged to label their own picture, with the help of the bulletin board and parent volunteer! 

Keep up the great writing!

 

 The colorful feathers for our turkey were created by the children using feathers to paint with instead of paint brushes! 

 

Your child's writing is displayed on our writers showcase and then put in their portfolio, which you will receive at the end of the year.

T for toothbrush and teeth

Brushing your teeth is important!  For T week, we learned about trains, tigers and how to keep our teeth healthy!  One of our small group projects was to use a toothbrush and toothpaste (white paint) to brush away the cavities on our tooth.  After we counted the number of cavities on our tooth, we tried to brush them away!  Even though you can't really brush away cavities (wouldn't that be nice), it was a fun activity to remind us how important brushing your teeth is!  Through books and a visit from the dentist, we learned how important it is to brush and floss our teeth so "our teeth don't rot and fall out." 

Remember to brush and floss your teeth at least twice a day and visit the dentist every 6 months!