Two Famous Presidents

Since President's birthdays are celebrated in the month of February, we decided to take the class on a trip way back in history.  The idea turned out to be a terrific one.  The group became extremely interested in facts about Washington and Lincoln, and how the two men were both similar and different.

First we learned about George Washington through pictures, stories and discussions.  The most coveted facts about this man and appealing to youngsters were his white horse, his wig, his refusal to smile as his wooden teeth would be seen and that he was a General in the army.  It was interesting to learn that he did not live in the White House, but instead was in charge of its construction.  The teachers told the class the story about George Washington and the cherry tree.  He told his father the truth when asked if he had cut down the cherry tree with his new hatchet.  Although we explained that the story may or may not be true, as teachers we cannot pass up a chance to encourage truthfulness.  The creation of our adorable George Washington hats with lots of cutting (triple papers) and gluing is featured on this week's blog.

The same method of presentation led to finding out about our sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln.  Again most excitement centered about learning how he walked barefoot for miles to borrow books because his family was too poor to buy shoes, how he wrote on a shovel with charcoal, how he became a lawyer and earned the name Honest Abe.  The Whole Notes were impressed to find that there is an eight foot long bed in the Lincoln Room in the White House.  The teachers of course emphasized his belief that everyone should be treated equally, no matter what the color of his/her skin.  The enthusiasm carried over to our creating Lincoln masks and the favorite log cabins.  Perhaps it was the use of pretzels that made this project so popular.  Pennies and quarters were out with magnifying glasses.  The library was filled with books about these and other Presidents.  

Margot is holding a picture she drew on her own of Abe Lincoln and the White House.  She is also at the easel where she is joined by Riya to create log cabins.  We love when any child takes our lesson a step further.  Zayden is the creator of the log cabin in our last photo.  He worked very hard to achieve the correct size and placement of his "logs".

Also on our blog is a picture of Lucas next to the calendar and White Board at circle.  The leader of the day tells us the day of the week, the month, date and year.  He/she looks for hidden words such as on and day in Monday or an and Jan in January.  Finally the correct number of the date is put on our calendar.  Prereading skills and beginning math skills are the focus here.

As you can see here, Takuma presented the letter box for "S".  He is shown with a can of soup, his drawing of a stop sign and a star that he told us had been on his Christmas tree.  Because it was "S" day, a few friends cooperated and used construction straws to build a special structure.  This idea came solely from the children involved in the project.

We welcomed Mira back on Friday.  She had been out all week due to her travels.  The entire class was thrilled to have her return.  However she was out on the days that we used our camera.  This is the news of the week, not necessarily in the order of the pictures on the blog.  Please enjoy.

Rolene and Jackie