This week we heard some versions of Little Red Riding Hood and acted out a version ourselves.  Next week the Lemurs will be working in groups to write their own version of a fairy tale and act it out.  Look for those videos next week!  Students will also be creating a portrait of their own family if their family was a wolf pack.

Small Group Treehouse Activities This Week

Monday
Valentines – Valentines Check – Each students checked to see if they made a valentine for all of their classmates
Math – 100 charts with dot markers – We practiced skip counting by 5s and 2s with dot markers.
Science – Comparing wolves and dogs – We studied the differences between wolves and dogs.  We learned how wolves and dogs use their head, ears, bodies and tails to communicate.

Tuesday
Valentines – Decorate Valentine Bag – Students prepared for handing out Valentines later in the day.
Math – Fruit kabob patterns – Using strawberries, purple grapes and raspberries, students created an edible pattern.
Engineering – Red Riding Hood’s Valentine Zip Line – We created a zip line for Red Riding Hood to use to deliver her Valentines to Gramma without running into the wolf!  Students were challenged to fasten together a delivery container that would 1) hold the valentine and 2) be heavy enough to travel down the string zip line we set up.  The containers were attached to the string line by a paper clip attached to a straw on the string.

Wednesday & Thursday
Story Theater – Acting out Red Riding Hood – Students used costumes and props to act out the story of Red Riding Hood
Math – Animal Number Sentences – First students read the emergent reader, “Animals All Together” and then created number sentences to add up the animals on the pages.  The following day, students created their own animal number addition story and wrote the number sentence out.
Art – Shapes and Illustration – Red Riding Hood Scene – Mrs. Kirsh read student part of the fascinating book Picture This How Pictures Work by Molly Bang.   Students then used what they learned about shapes and composition to create an illustration for Little Red Riding Hood.

Friday
Reading – Guided Reading & RAZ Kids – I sat with students one at a time while they read Jelly and Bean readers.  The waiting students listened to RAZ-Kids books and completed comprehension quizzes.
Math – Even Numbers – Mrs. Swanson introduced students to the concept of even numbers.  Students worked to complete a 100 chart with missing even numbers.
Reading – Sight Word BINGO – Students practiced the “red” and “orange” level sight words with a game of sight word BINGO.

Video of Red Riding Hood

Video of Zipline Trials

Video of Kids Singing SkiddaMarinkaDinkaDink

This adorable rocking chair and plush lemur (named Marshmallow by the kids) could be yours!  Be sure to place a bid during the auction!

We had a very busy week.  Monday was the 100th day of school!  We counted to 100 in many fun ways, including rolling an ice cream ball 300 times and then eating homemade ice cream!

We also started a new unit this week, comparing the attributes of fairy tales wolves with real wolves.  We focused this week  on the story of the 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.  We also learned about the structure of real wolf packs and how they work together as a family, much like our own families do.  We watched a video of a scientist mommy who taught us how to howl like a wolf.  Next week we will focus on the story of Red Riding Hood.

Treehouse Small Group Activities This Week:

Monday
Art/Writing – Centenarian Portraits – We looked at photos of people who were 100 years old and talked about what our faces would look like if we were 100 years old. Students made a portrait of themselves as a centenarian and then finished the sentence, “When I am 100, I will…”
Math – Counting 100 items – Thank you for bringing in 100 items!  Students lined up their items in 10 rows of 10 and counted all 100!
Science – 100 Roll Ice Cream – Using an ice cream ball, we added the ingredients for vanilla ice cream, then each grouped rolled the ball on the ground 100 times.  After 300 rolls, we had ice cream!

Tuesday
Reading – 3 Little Pigs Shadow Puppets – Mrs. Kirsh told the story of the 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf using shadow puppets that she made.  The children then each had turns to retell the story behind the lit sheet.
Math – Sequence Books – Students created “My Day” books.  They thought about the sequence of their day and made a page for what they do first, last, and then in between.
Writing/Art – Valentine Studio – Our playhouse has been transformed into a “Valentine Studio” for a week.  We talked about how a studio is a place where you can go to make things.  It can be art, music, legos, etc.  With lots of arts and crafts materials at hand, each child was challenged to create a unique valentine for each classmate.  They have been an industrious group all week!

Wednesday
Reading – 3 Little Pigs Theater – After hearing the story again told with a felt board, students this time were able to wear costumes and use props to act out the story of the 3 Little Pigs.
Math – Sequence Books – We continued to work on our sequence books.
Science – Attributes of Wolves – We hung out in our classroom wolf dens and talked about wolf pack structure.  I then read the book Wolf Watch by Kay Winters.  Students were on the edge of their seats as the father wolf protected the newly born wolf pups from the stalking eagle.

Thursday
Reading – Guided Reading – I sat with children one at a time and worked on individual guided reading.  The rest of the group listened to emergent/early readers on RAZ-Kids.
Math – 3 Pigs Sequencing – Students were given pictures from different parts of the story, The 3 Little Pigs.  They sorted the pictures into the correct sequence of the story and then pasted down onto a paper strip.
Engineering – Pig House Construction –  We decorated a hair dryer to look like the Big Bad Wolf.  Students were then challenged to use popsicle sticks and tape to construct a house that would withstand the blows of the wolf.  The requirements were that the house needed to fit our little pig finger puppet and not blow over when the hair dryer was turned on.

Friday
Writing – Whiteboard Letters/Words – Students worked on letter formation and word building on white boards.
Math – Wolf Den Blueprints – Working as a team, students used wooden blocks to construct a rectangular den to house our plush wolves.  Once constructed, we measured the dimensions using paper wolf prints.  Then student drew a “blue print” plan for their den with the correct measurements.
Engineering – Pig House Construction – Students continued to work on their pig house challenge.

Video of kids rolling ice cream ball

Video of Kids singing 100 Song with hats

This song is super fast and challenging!

Here is the video we watched, if you want to practice at home.

London Bridge is Falling Down!