"Uno taco con carne y queso, por favor!"

Spelling- Today, we discussed List 8. It seems that everyone agrees... “Comprehend” is the hardest word on this list! We used our letter tiles to create each word, going over the special sounds and rules that apply.

Grammar- Until last week, we had not introduced any brand new concepts in grammar. The kids seemed to believe that they had this grammar thing totally under control. “This is stuff we learned last year!”, they would tell me. We drilled nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs. For some, the concept of a “subject” of a sentence was new. Our very basic sentence diagramming was a new trick to learn. But, it wasn't until today that we kicked it up a notch and these kids realized they had a lot to learn! Adjectives, a part of speech that they thought was mastered, took a very interesting turn!

We have learned that adjectives describe nouns and pronouns by telling us "what kind", "which one", "how many",  and "whose".  Today, we learned what that "whose" part means.  They all know that "boy" is a noun.  But, they learned that a magical apostrophe can change the noun "boy" into the ADJECTIVE "boy's"!  In the sentence "Where are the cat's pajamas?", cat's is the adjective.  That apostrophe changes everything!  We also learned that plural nouns ending in "s" only need the apostrophe to turn them into adjectives, not an apostrophe and s.  For example, in the sentence "The kittens' bowl is empty.", the bowl belongs to more than one kitten.  Yes, those kiddos of ours had to put their thinking caps on today!

Handwriting-  We did a quick review of capital B and P, discussing their similarity.  We also read this week's Bible verse and talked about its meaning.  I can't wait to fill up our wall with even more border sheets next week!

Math- As lessons at home are dealing with some less complicated math lessons, we are looking ahead in class to fractions (which we will be getting to at home on Friday).  Today, we had a very length lesson on fractions, wholes, how to simplify fractions, and even some addition and subtraction!  Honestly, they probably don't even realize they did so much.  When you give kids hands on manipulatives, give them a circle, and ask them to hold up two fifths of it.... magic happens!  They compared different fraction manipulatives, such as the circle cut into 6 pieces and the one only cut into 3, and were able to see right in front of them why 1/3 = 2/6.  We broke free from the "pizza" or "cake" circle shaped analogies that so often go with fractions and used interlocking blocks in a line.  This was a great way to show them that 1/5 of 10 was 2, etc.  Focus, fun, and learning... That's the goal!

Spanish- Today was our field trip to La Hacienta!  Ms. Joanne helped the kids as they ordered their lunch in Spanish.  We had a great time and used what we have learned in class.  The students have such great retention... she keeps Ms. Joanne on her toes!  I am so thankful that we were able to enjoy lunch together!

Social Studies- Mr. Dennis is teaching the kids about Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  They read through explanations of the holidays, and also read through a skit about them.  We are learning about our veterans so that we can all write letters to a veteran on Thursday.  The letters will be collected, and Ms. Sharon and Mr. Dennis are sending them to a radio station.  The station will send our letters to veterans to read this Thanksgiving! 

Art-  Ms. Nancy had a planned vacation today, so I was able to be her substitute!  I had the students do a Fall painting, using masking tape to block off the negative areas where the paint would not be.  It took a while for them to get their heads around how to paint a picture "backwards" (paint the background only), but once they did, they ran with it!  We had a great time making our trees and leaves.  After our tape was placed, we used stencil sponge brushes to apply warm colors of paint, creating our Fall sunsets.  We are waiting for them to dry before we remove the tape, but I think they are going to be gorgeous!

 Music-  Mrs. Beresford continues to be so impressed by our wonderful little piano players! Wonder job practicing each day!   Today, she gave them each a copy of Christmas music to work on for fun.  Keep up the practice with Mary Had a Little Lamb and Hot Cross Buns with both Hands.  Also, work on Be Still and Know with both hands.  Can't wait to see the progress next week.  Each week has been so impressive!