What’s Around Me?
This week, we traveled to the Southeastern region of North America. We learned that the mountains there are ancient and used to be taller than the Himalayas! What happened to them? We had some great ideas…some thought maybe they were so heavy, they sank back into the Earth’s crust! Others thought that animals may have worn them down with their endless climbing on them. And some hit the nail on the head: weathering broke them down, and water and wind carried away the detritus!
Alphas knew that when rain falls, gravity makes the water flow downward, so they suspected the Appalachia Mountains would be full of rivers and streams – and they were right! They knew that where there’s water, there’s a good chance there will be plants and animals. If water, plants, and animals are abundant, PEOPLE will follow – which they did. We learned that living in the constant music of mountain streams inspired them to create rattles made from turtle shells. They are more than instruments. The way they construct them symbolizes the relationship they felt they had with the world around them – Turtle shells, river stones, wood come together to create a sound – connecting man to the spirit world through plants, animals, water, and Earth.
We learned that the Cherokee people used rhythm instruments during stories and dances to tell stories, share history, and entertain each other. One tradition they have is a dance called a Booger Dance. When Europeans made first contact with their Nation, they brought germs with them that did a lot of damage to their villages. One way to cope with their fear of the newcomers was to make fun of them through Booger Dances. They made funny masks and acted silly for each other, because it was hard to stay frightened of something you can laugh at.
When tectonic plates collide, we get mountains, like those in the Appalachian mountain range!
Turtle Rattles!!!!
Making our own Booger Masks!
Outfitting our paperdolls with Cherokee designs…
In Math…
Ms. Kim’s Mathletes…
New month…new calendar! We did a LOT of adding, graphed our families’ favorite Thanksgiving foods, and had fun with some critical thinking activities, like analogies!
Putting the finishing touches on some parfleches…
Ms. Emma’s Math Wizards…
Explored word problems! We focused on modeling, writing equations, and finding keywords to solve these problems.
With a solid understanding of strategies to solve word problems, students worked in groups to create their own! Groups then presented their word problems to share with the class while audience members solved for the answer. They got VERY silly…
We took a break from word problems to tackle place value, this time working towards mastering the 100s place. Students built “enclosures” for their zoo animals using the correct amount of place value blocks.
We wrapped up the week by welcoming December using our class calendar routine. Students made their own personal calendar for their journals before working together to build the class calendar.
In ELA…
Ms. Kim’s group…
We shared our Gratitude Jars with everybody, and we wrote a LOT about our Stuffies, and we read with Ms. Kim, who apparently had such busy hands she did not take any photos!
Ms. Emma’s group…
Finished creating our “How to” books! These authors learned that writing a story is no joke! With their drafts complete, students took to the final version with decorating, outlining, adding page numbers and all the finishing touches.
Sharing our gratitude jars was full of laughter…
Practicing our blends with a few games…
