This week felt a little crazy but we still had a great time enjoying and exploring with the letter J.  We started out the week with our book flood, of which I have no pictures (whomp whomp).  However, trust that our classroom bookshelf hosted many interesting books about jaguars, jellyfish, jumps, jellybeans, jack-o-lanterns and more!

We practiced our letter J formation with q-tip painting, jewels, stickers, magnets, and pretend jellybeans.   

Using jellybeans we did lots of math work, estimating, comparing, sorting, patterning, and graphing.

 

After reading and watching a video about jellyfish, we created our own using paper plate bodies and yarn tentacles.

While we waited for them to dry, we made an ABAB pattern together out of purple and pink jellyfish.

Next week, we will kick it with K!

 

This week is one of my favorite weeks for two reasons.  One is because we make ice cream (yum!) and the other is because we start to use the word “imagine”.  Every year the students begin saying “I imagine that…” or “I used my imagination.” this week and it continues for the rest of our time together.  I find it to be inspiring and incredible to get a glimpse into their minds.

Like every week, we began with a book flood.  Our bookshelf this week featured lots of insects and igloos, with a few imagination, ice cream and iguana books thrown in.

We practiced letter I formation using q-tips and paint,

insects,

and pattern blocks.

After reading, About Insects, we drew six legs on our insects, graphed a few different kinds and created a pattern.

It was awfully cold in our classroom this week thanks to the ice painting,

   

igloos,

and the delicious ice cream!

We had a softer, warmer kind of “ice cream” in our sensory bin.

 

H week was full of happy learning!  Instead of taking pictures of our book flood, I managed a short video this week.  Every week it warms my heart how much they start talking and get excited about new books!

After we saw how many interesting words started with the letter H, we practiced making Hs different ways.  We used paint and q-tips,

toothpicks,

do a dot markers,

and stickers.

It was a lot of fun to read stories about horses!  We made our own horses with torn paper and yarn for the tail.

We also played with horses and hay in sensory bin.

For cooking this week, we even made little “haystacks”!  We liked those just as much as horses like real ones!

Jack taught us a lot about building a house in The House That Jack Built.  We built our own houses out of shapes.

Using magnets, we completed pictures of houses.

Most importantly, we used some building skills to play in our new dramatic play area!

H week was a great time to familiarize ourselves with the heart shape.  We colored hearts with numbers inside,

put heart stickers on the letter H,

made patterns out of red and white hearts,

and used markers to trace different sized hearts.

One of my favorite books of the whole year is The Queen’s Hat, where the queen chases her hat all around London.  After learning about her journey, we decorated our own special hats.

    

H week was a heap of happiness!

 

This week we had so much fun with the letter G!

We began the week with our customary book flood.  The students enjoyed reading about gardens, glasses, giraffes, gorillas, grapes and more!

Throughout the week, we used many different mediums to make the letter G: paint and q-tips,

pattern blocks,

dot markers,

glitter glue,

playdough,

toothpicks,

and stickers.

We also explored lots of letter G words!  Using different green craft items, we made green collages.

After reading about The Starry Giraffe, we made our own mixed media giraffes

 

and colored spots on plain yellow giraffes.

We used magnets to complete the goat picture

and filled our gumball machine with colored circle stickers.

In Douglas, You Need Glasses!, we saw lots of different styles of glasses, some even for dogs!  We were inspired to draw glasses on all our smiley faces during stations.

We also cut grass, painted grapes and colored guitars!

    

The letter G even made an appearance in our math work with geoboards, counting gems, and patterns with green and gold.

Our tastiest G word this week was granola!  It was delicious!