Author's Celebration
/As we continue our exploration of wetlands we’ve been reading several scientific texts. We’ve talked about features of scientific texts such as table of contents, glossary, and captions. We talked about how these book features can help us learn more about our topics of study and help us find information quickly. Please point out table of contents, glossaries, and captions in the books you read with your children.
This week we’ve been discussing ways in which wetlands are beneficial to our ecosystems. We did a demonstration where we had block houses near wetlands (sponges) and we watched what happened when torrential rains came. The wetlands actually soaked up all the water to prevent homes from flooding! Then we reenacted a situation where developers built a concrete parking lot (gray tray) over the wetlands. Without the spongy wetlands to soak up the extra rain, the homes were flooded.
In our outdoor classroom we continued working on our small group structures. Several groups added in fabric elements and used their structures in dramatic play events during outside choice time. We also found interesting looking eggs under a stump this week! We used online resources and photos to determine that they are slug eggs! We found another white egg sack that we have yet to identify. We are constantly working on our observational skills and using scientific resources to make predictions and find information.
On Friday morning we had our first Author’s Celebration. Students worked together to decorate the classroom. Then we met in an Author’s Circle. An Author’s Circle is completely silent except for authors reading individual pages from their books into the circle. After everyone has read a page, then we break off into partnerships to read our stories in their entireties. During this time listeners can ask the author questions about the stories. After hearing each story listeners give the author a compliment about the story. Student authors read their stories to multiple listeners before meeting back together as a group. Students were invited to add their stories to the class library as we all cheered. Of course, Ms. Aja gave a toast to all our authors and we celebrated with sparkling apple cider. What a great way to end our week together. Have a fabulous weekend!
