Pilgrims and Native American Indians

We have been learning about the Pilgrims and their voyage on the Mayflower. The voyage was 66 days long and was very difficult.

We compared life long ago in the Pilgrim village, the Wampanoag Indian village, and in our lives today. We made our own butter by shaking whipping cream really hard and we ate it on crackers - churning butter was a job Pilgrim children often had to help do.

We read books, watched videos to show what life was like long ago, and created many art projects to enhance our learning. 
We also chose Native American Indian names to put on headbands that we created. Each day we focused on a specific behavior or goal and were able to earn a feather for it. 
We had fun with Miss Marlowe and her turkey song!

We learned about a new coping skill called "Give it a Try". Our students often show some resistance to new things, or things that might be challenging for them. We want to encourage them to try things, even if they are a little hard for them. It is an important skill because real learning will require trying and practicing lot's of new things. 

We also worked on some social skills lessons about focusing attention and ignoring distractions so that we are able to learn new information and complete our work correctly. 

****** Please remember to sign up for a conference time in Skyward for Conference Day - December 14. My time slots are all for 30 minutes. If you already have a REED or IEPT scheduled with me that day, your time has been blocked out for you. Please let me know if you need any help. I look forward to meeting with you.****

Weather is getting chillier - be sure to send in hats and mittens for recess. 

Cold and flu season is here. Please talk to your children about washing hands and not touching/picking noses. If your child is sick or throwing up, they need to stay at home - our day is really busy with a lot of demands, and sick children need to be at home resting and recuperating. 

We LOVE the Pigeon!!!

We have enjoyed reading "Pigeon" books by Mo Willems all fall. Last week we decided to write some short stories about a pet the Pigeon wanted. We drew great, detailed pictures to go with our writing. We also made Pigeons, voted to decide if we thought the Pigeon should get a pet, and wrote about pets we would like to have ourselves. We can't wait to read more books by this funny author! We have begun to send our Pigeon book bag home with a different student each week - we hope you have fun when the Pigeon comes to your house!

We are also beginning to read various Native American legends and tales. This week we read "The Loon's Necklace" and "Rainbow Crow". Both tales come to us from the Woodland Indian Tribes near the mid-western part of the United States.

We worked on a new coping skill this week - Express your Feelings/Use Calm Words. This is challenging for our students when they are already upset, but is an important self regulation skill. At home you can prompt your child to use calm words when the need help or want something. 

In preparation for Veterans Day, we used our Scholastic News to talk about our military service men and women. We wrote about one of our own student's dads in our journals!