Hello Aspen families! My apologies for not posting a blog for quite awhile! I got locked out of my WordPress account when they updated their security policy! Nevertheless, I am logged in, verified, and our Blog can once again be posted!! Please enjoy a massive amount of photos at the end of this week’s blog as part of my apology!
This week in Aspen it was all about our continent North America, Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, and Native Americans. The students in Aspen have been studying the locations and names of the countries in North America for the past few weeks. However, this week we began to take a look at the history of our continent and the U.S.A focusing on our upcoming holiday. In preparation for Thanksgiving next week we decided to discuss why we celebrate Thanksgiving. Aspen learned that long ago there was a group of people named the Pilgrims that lived in England. The Pilgrims held certain beliefs that were different from the King’s! The King had “Absolute Power” and you could not disagree with the king or you would be punished! The Pilgrims believing strongly held to their beliefs and decided to do something really brave! They decided to leave England for the New World (North America). We learned that the Pilgrims set sail across the Atlantic in a ship called The Mayflower. When the Pilgrims arrived in the new world they only found wilderness (trees, plants, and animals).There were no houses for them to move into, there were no stores like Giant Eagle or Acme to buy food! The Pilgrims had to build their own homes using wood they chopped down from trees in the forest, they had to grow their own crops, and hunt if they wanted meat! Aspen then discussed how the Pilgrims had a very hard and difficult time adjusting to their new environment! The soil for growing crops was different than theirs in England, there were different types of plants and berries (hard to know what was safe) , and they had to work hard planting, harvesting, hunting, and building to survive! Their first season was difficult, many Pilgrims did not make it through the winter! As the Pilgrims worked hard to survive they eventually realized that they shared their environment with a group of people called the Native Americans a tribe called the Wampanoag! The Wampanoag helped teach the Pilgrims how to survive in North America! As a result, during the Fall harvest the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag held a three day feast together celebrating the harvest thankful that they would have enough food and supplies to last the winter! Therefore, establishing our tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving! The children in Aspen used our puzzle maps and our Painted Globe to trace the Pilgrim’s journey while learning all about the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts! We also watched a Scholastic video on YouTube called Pilgrim Life with Scholastic News! We got to see what their daily life was like!
Next week we have a two day school week to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday! Our group lessons will be all about Table Manners! If your child attends school on Tuesday, we will have a Sharing Day! Your child is invited to bring in one item from home to share and discuss during Line Time! Your child’s sharing item should be able to fit in their bookbag and should be limited to one item. Pretend weapons of any kind are prohibited including Lightsabers!
In Readers Workshop both groups have continued their work with segmenting and decoding! Cardinals are continuing their work with Phonograms and Sight Words. They have been reading paragraphs and booklets utilizing their knowledge from group lessons to practice fluency. The Chickadees have continued their work with decoding focusing on booklets (Readers) with new Sight Words weekly! Next week there will be no reading group!
Tweezing corn kernels!
Grinding our corn kernels into cornflour like the Pilgrims with a mortar and pestle!
Fun with the Tree Puzzle!
Sensorial Extensions with the Knobless Cylinders.
Labeling the countries in North America.
Moveable Alphabet Fun and copy writing the words onto lined paper!