First Snow

I heard groans from adults and squeals of delight from children with the arrival of the first snow.


When it was time for "morning meeting",only about half the children had arrived.  I posed the question, "Where do you think everyone is?"  The children used their own experiences coming to school to speculate on why so many people were late.  Hands flew in the air to tell stories of seeing cars skidding on the road and slippery sidewalks.  

They discussed car doors that were frozen shut and windshields that needed to be scraped.  One child mentioned the bridge construction on Stadium as a possible reason for delays.



















Soon, all the children arrived.  The children really thought we should play in the snow immediately but I assured them it would still be there when it was time to go outside.

When we were in the snow, the children made tracks, snowballs and snowmen... 
and went fast down a slippery slide.

In order to maintain the thrilled faces, the adults have to work.  Every day the children need dry boots, snow pants, coats, and mittens.  An extra pair of mittens is helpful.  It is also important that there are extra clothes in cubbies for when clothes get wet.  


Even though it is a lot of work, it is worth it. 

Happy Thanksgiving

As I think of the things I am thankful for in my life, I immediately think of my parents.  Through out my life, my parents have been there to support and guide me.  They encouraged me to accept and celebrate the differences in people as well as their similarities.  They raised me to  be an independent thinker and to use my strengths to improve my life as well as the lives of others.   Maybe these are the things lead me to Summers-Knoll.


I am thankful to to be a teacher at  Summers-Knoll.  Here I am able to be the type of teacher and person I want to be.  I am able to use my talents and creativity in an unrestrictive setting.  I have the freedom and flexibility to create a classroom that to meet the needs of the children in my class.  I am able to work with an amazing group of educators who encourage and inspire me.

Tuesday, the children made bread to contribute to their Thanksgiving feast.  Hope you enjoy it, (even if it doesn't make it to Thursday).


I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Flea Market

Over the past weeks, in math class, the children have been preparing for the Flea Market.  


First, the children became acquainted with the names and values of coins.  


Then there was the pricing of merchandise.  This part was my personal favorite.  I loved listening to the children discuss the price of objects. 

The children did not take this job lightly.  They looked at the items and discussed if it should go in the 1, 5, 10, or 25 cent pile.
"Do you think this should be a penny?"
"I think this is 25, don't you?"
"Oh yes, that is definitely worth a quarter."


I tried to guess what price would be put on the toys but I could not determine the value.  The children however we almost always in agreement.


Finally it was time for the big event.  The day we had all been waiting for with anticipation. 


 Irma was in charge of the market.  She looked vaguely familiar but she sounded like she might have come from south of Michigan.

Four tables were covered with an amazing array of items.  There were so many choices, it was hard to decide what to buy.  


It was very sweet to hear many children picking out a special toy to give siblings when they got home.


I am sure you were amazed at all the treasures your child was able to buy with just $1.  

We will revisit counting money various times through out the year but it would be great to set up Flea Markets or other types of stores at home.  This is a fun way to work on math skills.

Special Collections Library

Thank you to Holly Sorscher at the University of Michigan's Special Collection Library.  Holly set up an amazing trip for us. 




We saw signed copies of the books that Joan Blos donated to the library.  


Holly showed us archival materials from the collection.   There was a notebook Joan Blos kept while on a trip to Colorado researching information for her book The Heroine of the Titanic.












We looked at rough drafts of some of her books.  This is a preliminary copy of Nellie Bly's Monkey.  We could see how Joan typed an original draft then covered it by hand written notes.  The children realized there were still further changes in the published copy.  

 Authors and illustrators rarely meet or talk to each other, but when Joan Blos was writing her books, illustrators and authors worked closely together.  There were letters that went back and forth with suggestions for changes.  The illustrator made sketches that the author saw before making a final colorful painting.

Another treat was to hear a passage from a book Joan thought about writing.  It was going to be a sequel to her book, Old Henry .  It was to be called "Old Henrietta".  It was in the same poetic style but unfortunately she never finished this version.  We are one of very few people have ever seen/heard this idea of Ms Blos.

Holly also told us that no one can take out the books in the Special Collections Library.  The only way to read these books is to make an appointment.  Then they will have what you want to read available for you to read in their reading room.  Many people come to the library to learn about the history of books, illustrators, and authors.  They even come to see how people in different eras advertised books.

Our trip ended, with Holly reading one of Joan Blos's books that is out of print:  Lottie's Circus.  Holly told us as we were leaving that Joan Blos is still living in Ann Arbor.  If we write her letters, Holly will make sure Joan will receive them.  

Your child might also mention that we went up to the 8th floor to look out the windows.  While we were there we saw my sister and Owen's mom.  After our visit with Holly, we went into one room of "the stacks" just to get a small feel for how many books there are in the library.  We estimated millions.  

Travel

Here is an example of planning,  following the children's interests, leading to a rich integrated curriculum covering a range of topics including: literature, history, geography, public speaking, and writing. 


We started the day by finishing the book about Nellie Bly by Joan Blos.  The class discussed some of the modes of transportation Nellie used on her trip around the world in 1889. Then we unrolled  maps of the United States and the world.



One child ask if he could show on the map a trip he had taken out west.  Children started raising their hands to tell about trips they had taken.  They pointed out places on the map they had visited, and told about transportation they had used, and how long it took them to get to their destinations.  




The children were so excited to tell their stories that  I decided to extend the activity with a writing project.  Each child wrote about a trip they had taken, or imagined taking.  


Here are a few examples of the writing. 




















As I mentioned in an earlier post, as part of our author study, I was trying to set up a trip to U-M's Special Collections Library.  The trip will be this Friday morning.  As we see some of the books by Joan Blos we will learn about a library that is dedicated to preserving books and other
materials for research.  The library has a  collection of Blos' books, many of
which are signed copies.  It also has archival materials that include artwork and early
drafts of picture books, with written comments by the author.  Personally, I can't wait for the trip.

Math class

The children decided that they wanted to give a copy of their number book to the library, so this week, we delivered a copy to Malletts Creek Library.  While we were there, each child selected a book about math to bring back to school.   
Finding our books was another math lesson.  We had to find the 500 section in the library.  When we got to the number section, things became a bit confusing.  Finding a 5 was easy but finding the 500's was a bit of a challenge.  When you are used to single digit numbers place value is not an issue.  In the months, to come we will be working more with place value, which should make this task a bit easier in the future.






Later in the week we made counting ropes.  Each child made one to take home.  


We will be making 20 bead counting ropes to assist us as we move into adding and subtracting numbers in the "teens".  For instructions on how to make and use counting ropes, click here.

(Thank you to Ms. Carpenter for sharing this site with us.)

EB classes

I am not teaching an EB this time so I have the luxury to walk around and see what others are doing this morning.  Everyone was completely engaged in activities.

Gabrielle, Arianna's mom, was a guest teacher in the cooking EB.  She helped the children make matza balls.

George was busy helping children with their robots .  Groups of children were working together on computers and with their legos.

Gabe and his grandmother were telling the story of Gabe's uncle who was adopted from Korea.

Val was reading a book about Andy Warhol, called Uncle Andy's Cats by James Warhola.

Author Study

With the "Our Backyard" theme in mind, I thought it would be interesting to choose an Ann Arbor author to study in November.  For author studies, I also try and find an author who has written both novels and picture books.  This lead me to an author named Joan Blos. 


In my research, I found out the Ms. Blos was a Children's Literature professor at the U of M.  In 1980 she won the Newbery Award for her novel A Gathering of Days.  

Her stories are often historic novels or fiction based on historic figures.  We will be reading, The Heroine of the Titanic, about Molly Brown and Nellie Bly's Monkey .  Nellie is a reporter, who in 1889,  who went around the world in 72 days.  This story is told by the monkey she picked up in Singapore.


In my pursuit of Joan Blos's books, I discovered that many of her books are out of print.  This problem will hopefully be serendipitous.  I am working to set up a visit U of M's  "Special Collections" Library.   Several of Blos books are in the "Special Collection".  They can be viewed by not taken out of the library.


Keep tuned into the blog for more information about this trip and other activities that we will be doing. along with more on the Joan Blos books.