Mrs.O'Bryan's

 Our home page features updates about our weekly adventures in the JK class!

Happy Easter and Spring Break week! I can't believe how quickly this year is flying and how quickly the last portion will go when we return. This class has grown so much this year and I can't wait to see them when they return from Spring Break and finish the year strong. 

This week we took a field trip to see Piggie and Gerald. I was so proud of them! They really had to listen and pay attention to make sure we stayed together walking into the Center for the Arts and getting to our seats. We sat and watched the play for a full hour and they did awesome! They really seemed to enjoy it and Mrs. Ella noted after the fact that our group was the most well behaved group in the room and I agreed! We may have gotten it all there, because the rest of the week was a little rowdier but all in all super proud of how they did on the field trip!

We did lots of Easter/Spring oriented learning this week. In small group, Mrs. O'Bryan gave everyone a pile of erasers and a number. I then asked them to put that many erasers in their egg then pass their egg and their number to their neighbor so their neighbor could check their work. We started out with smaller numbers till we got the hang of the activity then we moved to larger numbers (if we were ready for it, those still working on smaller amounts stayed there). We also reviewed some lowercase letter sounds using flashcards. A few of those where vowels so we took time to again go over what our vowels are and what two sounds vowels make; even taking the time to highlight the short vowel sound and the long vowel sound (how it says its name). We also did lowercase t and reviewed v and w in our handwriting without tears book. We completed our handwriting assessment as well as our drawing assessment. They had to draw themselves either hunting for Easter eggs or with their Easter basket. 

We enjoyed a fun STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) project. We used toothpicks and jellybeans to make a home for our peep. We talked about making a good foundation for our home. I encouraged them to pick a shape (square, rectangle, ect) and once the made that shape as their base to build up from there. They really had a great time and that is a very easy activity to do or continue at home if they want; it just needs jellybeans and toothpicks!

 We focused a lot on this week being Holy Week and what that means. We made stain glass crosses out of laminate and tissue paper. They are hanging up on our bulletin boards currently and will come home at a later date. We finished our Lenten calendar which also helped in our discussions of Holy Week and how to observe it. We made it a point to get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather as well with some walks and lots of time on the playground.

In religion, Mrs. Katie talked to them about the last supper, what it was and who was there. She then set up some towels and passed out bread, grapes and 'wine' (cranberry juice) so the they could pretend they were at the last supper. They enjoyed it and only one glass of 'wine' was spilled! Mrs. Ella talked about the Easter Story in her religion lesson as well. She also led them in an art project where they got to use dried peeps as stamps and make peep art. 

For show and tell this week, Hallie shared a video of her pink barbie car with us. They had lots of good questions, including whether he car 'took gas or charged up." Margot also shared with us some pics and videos of her quail eggs, as well as the baby and adult quails that they have at home. We have a few more show and tells to do when we return from break, but anyone is welcome to send pics or videos in from there spring break and tell us all about it! 

I want to send a thank you to Ava's family and Emma's family, for sending in sweet Easter surprises for the class. We did get to do an egg hunt in the classroom. Everyone got to find one egg. As it was a confetti egg, we celebrated by breaking them in the classroom and throwing confetti all over the room! It was a great way to celebrate our last day before spring break!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe spring break and I look forward hearing all about it when we return!