The Hungry Students...

We spent the week reading a fun big book called The Hungry Giant.  In this story, a giant demands certain food from the townspeople:  bread, butter and honey.  They try to find everything he wants, but when he asks for the honey, none can be found.  The townspeople trick the giant and send him running for home.  Ask your child to retell the story to you.

To celebrate our reading, the students found some items in the Surprise Bag.  We found honey...

and bread - but no butter.

We did find some whipping cream...

plastic knives...

some salt, and a mason jar with a marble in it.

The students did some problem solving and decided since we didn't find any butter, we should try to make it use the cream and the mason jar.  We filled the mason jar with whipping cream and a pinch of salt.  We left the marble in to help mix everything up.

Then it was time to SHAKE...

and shake....

and shake!!

We all took turns shaking the jar over and over and over again.

As the jar made its way around the circle, we noticed the cream was getting thicker and the marble was moving less.  We decided to take a look inside, and we found...

BUTTER!

Now it was time to have a snack just like the Hungry Giant!

Please take your seats...

Our drama centre has been a very busy place lately!  The students have been busy creating, producing and performing many different puppet plays.  What began as mostly retells of stories we've recently read, has blossomed into original creations.


Often, when a "show" is ready to begin, you will see students from other parts of the room make their way over to the puppet show.  Slowly but surely, a crowd gathers.  Last week, the students creating and performing the puppet show decided to make it more official.  They set up seats, walked around asking everyone to "sign up" so they could get into the show, and invited everyone to "take their seats" when the show was ready to begin.

The planning begins...

Checking to see if you are on the list... 

The audience taking their seats...(The "manager" informed them that they could read until the show started!)

Making sure everyone was in the right seat...

The play begins...

Our puppeteers...

As you can see, the audience really enjoyed the show!

We can't wait to see what happens next in our drama centre.  It is an amazing opportunity for students to develop oral language, cooperate with others, express creativity and learn to problem solve. Stay tuned for the next big show!

The Three Bears, and Emotion Sticks - OH MY!

We have been enjoying new learning opportunities with student teacher, Miss White.  Last week the students delved deeper into The Three Bears and even learned a cool rap.  Continuing on, Miss White led the students to discuss and understand the various emotions felt by the characters in the story.


Some students volunteered to be a character from the story.  The other students were involved using their emotion sticks.  The three sticks were:  happy, sad and angry.  During the read aloud, the students paused at various parts of the story and used their emotion sticks in regards to the feelings of the characters.  Not only was this an enjoyable drama activity, but the students had a great chance to practice their oral language skills as well.  Take a look...

The students did a great job expressing different emotions...

The students were so excited to take their Emotion Sticks home with them.  The next time you read a story together, ask your child to get out their sticks.  Pause during different times of the story, and ask your child to use the sticks to help them describe what the characters are feeling!

Gingerbread Retell

The students were so enthusiastic about reading The Gingerbread Man last week, we continued investigating various versions this week.  Another activity the students enjoyed was retelling the story.  Once again, we used a story telling kit, but this time the students decided to work in groups.  Each group met together and planned their retell.  Once all the planning and practicing was done, each group presented their retell to the class.


It was great to see the collaboration and team work displayed.  We enjoyed hearing all the different retells of the The Gingerbread Man.  Some of the students are really beginning to task risks during our drama and oral language activities.  They are beginning to use much more expression, and many even changed the sound of their voice to speak in role as their chosen character.  It was exciting to watch!

The Napping House

We have been reading a fantastic book this week.  The Napping House (by Audrey Wood) tells the story of a granny and a list of characters who have a nap on a rainy day.  The pile of nappers grows until a wakeful flea bites the mouse.  The story ends with a pile of wakeful characters, and even a broken bed.  

The repetitive nature of the story has allowed us to focus on retelling the story in the correct sequence.  The students have been using a story telling kit, made up of various puppets to retell the story in their own words.  The drama centre has been a popular place to visit this week.  

The only character not included in the storytelling kit was the flea - who plays a very important part in the story.  One of our students volunteered to make a flea puppet.  

Let the retelling begin...

It was fantastic to see students using the text to double check that they were telling the story in the correct sequence.  The students did an amazing job retelling the story, and also displayed great teamwork and cooperation!

Ontario Curriculum expectations this activity fulfilled include:

Reading

1.4 demonstrate understanding of a text by retelling a story, including the main idea (e.g. retell a story, role-play or dramatize a story using puppets or props)