Newsletter- Classroom 3

We just can’t get enough about Castles, knights, and horses!!!  We discussed how it takes years of training to become a knight and only boys could become knights. A boy would start training when he was around seven years old and they would have to leave their home and stay at a lord’s castle.  At that age the boy would become a page and then around fourteen, he became a squire and took care of the horses and had to learn how to ride the horse without using his hands.  Most squires became knights at the age of twenty-one.  Then they were usually knighted at a dubbing ceremony.  The children practice all day dubbing each other with a paper towel roll or their cardboard sword.  On Friday we made horses for the children to ride around in the classroom.

We Finished last week The Princess in Black takes a vacation which is the fourth book in the series.  I have been doing a lot of searching for new books to read.  The Princess in Black Series is coming to a halt soon.  The seventh book came out in November and  I placed a hold and request for the eighth book that just came out a couple of weeks ago. The good thing is the author is writing, but not fast enough for our class. LOL

This week we finished the book Humphrey’s Really Wheely Racing Day.  This book was very similar to the children taking home Ralph.  Humphrey is the classroom pet in room 26 he has a cage..like Ralph except there is a lock on Humphrey’s cage. Humphrey goes home with one of the students and gets to meet Winky and ride in his blue hamster car.  Now Humphrey wants his own car and decides they should have a race.  Ask your children about the race among the hamsters and the frogs.

We learned a new math game this week called Slap Jack. This game offers the challenge of speed and the recognition of the Jack card.  We also played a Concentration game in which you had to find the matching animal that had certain hats or scarfs, and then remembering where the other card is at, which was a little difficulty, but we strive every day to make it easier by playing each day.

I hope you have had the chance to read our “Once Upon a Time Story” this week it was about the Wizard and the Lizard.  We write these stories every Friday and have it posted outside our classroom until Friday and then we continue with a new story.

Our Science experiment the Walking Water experiment last week was a hit!!  We filled two tumblers and left the middle one empty.  We used paper towels and food dye. The end result was amazing.

I thought it would be fun to introduce idioms to our class, and what better way to get to know idioms then through Amelia Bedelia Books. Each week we will pick out through the stories of Amelia Bedelia books idioms and write them on the poster board and have fun with words.   So if the children start throwing out phrases such as “let the cat out of the bag” or please dress the chicken. You will know we are getting to know its “hidden” meaning.

Some of the books we read this week:

Princess, Princess by Penny Dale

Ella Bella Ballerina The Sleeping Beauty by James Mayhew

Once Upon A Cool Motorcycle Dude by O’Malley

Lovabye Dragon by Barbara Joosse

Princess Pig by Eileen Spinelli

Princess in Training by Tammi Sauer and Joe Berger

 

Sincerely,

Ms. Demetra

 

Newsletter-Room 3

We continue to explore the Medieval times!! We talked about how it took longer to build a stone castle than a wooden one and it also cost much more. We looked at the different kinds of Suit of Armor.  There were so many pieces in a full suit of steel armor that it would take over an hour for a knight to get dressed.  Included were steel gloves and steel shoes.  The children were interested in The Dungeon. We looked at dungeons.  The dungeon was a prison in the dark and we discussed how it usually was in the basement of the castle where it was dark, damp and cold.  We also saw that prisoners in the dungeon might be chained to the wall.  We also discussed the Great hall was the biggest room in the castle.  This is where people ate their meals and had met with important visitors.

We finish The Adventures of Sophie Mouse Forget-Me-Not-Lake by Poppy Green.  The children were so excited to be done.  The adventures of Sophie, Hattie, and Owen has come to a halt, but I don’t think they are quite through with these stories yet, but we will see.

Moving on to our next story The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde #3  by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale The Princess Magnolia and her Unicorn Frimplepants run at the sound of the monster alarm and hurry to the goat pasture.  When they get there, all they see is a field full of adorable little bunnies.  This can’t be said the Princess they are too cute.  As the story continues the bunnies are not so cute when they start eating everything in sight.  The children absolutely loved this book!!  Every time I tried to stop at the end of each chapter they begged me to keep reading. So we finished this book too.  On to book #4 this coming week.  Which is The Princess in Black takes a vacation.

In Math this week, we played as a group Bingo.  We used the old fashion spin the dial and the ball calls the numbers and then I wrote it on the board.  We continue strong in learning to play along and have fun in Math!!!  Exciting news, we will be learning Chess every Monday during Math games with the Master chess teacher.  We can’t wait!!!

We have started our “Once upon a time story “and every Friday we will work together to write new stories.  Our story is located in the hallway outside our door.

Some of the books we read this week:

Dandelion by Don Freeman

Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathmann

I know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

 

Here is the list of the Children in our class for Friday to pass out Valentine cards: (12) total

Aaron, Ben, Billy, Konstantinos, Lily, Mateo, Mila, Nefeli, Olivia, Ourania, Shanaya, Vasia

 

Sincerely,

Ms. Demetra