Monday, November 24th

The Magic Trains…
Today we:
1.) Worked very hard with Ms. Melissa to construct a collage of Thanksgiving items. The boys searched magazines, and cut out favorite things they were thankful for. Then they pasted their items on construction paper and discussed the whole project using Thanksgiving words they have learned (turkey, stuffing, pie, corn, family).
2.) Used their language arts skills to complete pages of Explode the Code (short a sound). Then they cut out a small book entitled There’s a Turkey in My Hand and put it together (sequence strengthening). Afterward, they read the pages out loud to the teacher.
3.) Played a game of Topple with Ms. Kathy during O.T. time. Our students used their listening skills, worked on their ability to play by the rules and learned to control and speak about their emotions in a calm manner.
4.) Completed an art project (each student made a turkey by using a pinecone, feathers and a cotton ball). Enjoy this mini turkey on Thansgiving.

The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a magnificent Monday! Today we:
1.) Did a great activity called ‘Give me 5’ with Miss Jen! We learned about how to listen with our whole bodies and made really cool pictures of the 5 things we need to do to be ready to learn.
2.) Went on a scavenger hunt for things that start with the letter B and then created graphs of our data using shapes!
3.) Started learning about rainforests – we each made our own rainforest coloring books!*Our homework tonight is to complete the sheet that Miss Jen made about our new ‘Give me 5’ strategy!*

The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Math, we worked on the concept of more than and less than. Each student picked a number from a bag and built the number with blocks. We then figured out whether the number was more or less than other numbers that students had picked!
2.) In Social Studies, we talked about where the Pilgrims came from and used a map to figure out where they traveled from and where they landed. We also colored in the ocean on a map that they sailed over!
3.) In Fitness, we played “step-in-throw” or otherwise known as, a live version of Tic-Tac-Toe. We also played a game where we threw a ball into a hoop!
4.) In full-group language arts we talked more about nouns, particularly those that are Thanksgiving words!

The Golden Owls:
1.) Today we continued working on our comprehension strategies when reading; predicting, thinking aloud, making connections, and picturing.
2.) In math we introduced the four step process we will use when solving word problems; read, plan, solve and check.
3.) We also worked on teamwork while brainstorming words that we will add to our word wall.
4.) We had OT with Ms. Kathy where we worked in movement based groups which focused on body awareness and motor planning skills. Individually, the children focused on both fine motor and visual motor skills.

From the Office:
This is a short week, and we are planning to have a few days of special arts and crafts for Thanksgiving. We will have a feast in the classrooms on Wednesday at noon with dismissal at 1PM. The Diener School will be closed Thursday, and Friday.