La Lectura

This week we read Alrededor del mundo. Our objectives were:

• learn the difference between gue/gui and güe/güi
• practice reading words with h
• use the comprehension skill compare and contrast while reading
• practice writing a list with numbers

Las matemáticas

This week we learned about Ordinal and Positional Words. Our objectives were:

• practice saying what position you are in line using the sentence frame “Yo soy _____”
• practice saying who is primero (first), segundo (second), and ultimo (last)
• learn words to describe where something is
• practice positional words by playing Mtra.Ivary Says

Science

This week in our science domain: Animals and Habitats, we continued to learn about the Sonoran Desert.  The class worked on putting together and reading a desert book.

Our weekly objectives were to:
• describe what a habitat is
• understand that living things live in habitats to which they are particularly suited
• identify the characteristics of desert plants and animals
• explain how desert animals have adapted to the desert habitat
• classify animals on the basis of the types of foods that they eat (herbivore, carnivore, omnivore)

History & Geography

This week we began a new unit called Early Americas Civilization.  We began by learning about the prehistoric nomadic peoples who came to the Americas from Asia.

Our weekly objectives were to:
• locate the continents of Asia and North America on a world map or globe
• understand that prehistoric Nomads follow the animals they hunted
• explain the importance of hunting among early peoples
• understand that the first people in North America arrived by crossing a ” land bridge ” between Asia and North America

English Sight Words of the Week

that, there, than, they, these, this, tell, time 

 

Wednesday Specials

Character Education 

This week we were so grateful to have Dr. Torres join us for a special lesson. We brainstormed emotions and read a lovely book “Moody Cow Meditates”. We then made our own Mind Jars. We needed to imagine that this jar is our mind. When we are in a calm state, we can think clearly, and make good decisions. We imagined that the glitter is anger, worry, fear, etc – when those feelings hit, we may feel unbalanced or our thoughts may feel jumbled up. Our mind is cloudy and we can’t think as clearly. If we are still, slow down and take deep breaths our thoughts can settle and we can see more clearly and make better decisions.

 

Music with Ms. Nadia

During the month of November, we learned all about the Orchestra! This magical group of musicians led by a conductor is composed of four sections: strings, wood winds, brass, and percussion. Each section has their own distinct sound, which we learned through the interactive My First Orchestra Book and the amusing Orchestra Pit book. The strings sound like monkeys, the wood winds like birds, the brass like elephants, and the percussion like gorillas! We learned that the bigger the instrument, the lower the sound. This is why basses sound low and violins sound high. Each section has its own special place on the stage, which we experienced through putting together a giant orchestra puzzle! We also used a wonderful online resource which allowed us to listen to each instrument individually. Check it out at www.mydso.com/dso-kids/learn-and-listen/instruments !

In learning about the orchestra, we also learned about opera. When the orchestra plays for an opera, they play lower than the stage in a section called “the pit”. Back in the day before microphones, opera singers had to project their voices so loud to sing over the pit so that the audience members in the way back of the theatre could hear their voices! We specifically listened to excerpts from Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, the timeless tale about eating a house. To interact with the story, we watched a funny scene and learned a dance! Because the original is in German, we learned an English translation of a song, Brother Come and Dance with Me.