Anansi the Spider Video Conference

      Students enjoyed the opportunity to have a video conference with the Center for the Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia this week. The video conference topic was Anansi the Spider, so we have been learning about African folktales in our Art, Computer, Music, and Library special classes for two weeks. Students have also been reading stories about Anansi during our Literacy block. Ask your child about Anansi and the stories that he is in. We learned that Anansi is a trickster and many of the stories he is in are called "trickster tales". Students have enjoyed learning about African culture, art, and music through our study the past few weeks. We will continue talking about Anansi and listening to similar stories through next week. This has been a great learning experience for them and they have enjoyed the stories.

Students listened to a the story, Anansi and
Sister Turtle during our video conference.

Students followed directions given by the instructor from
the Center for the Puppetry Arts to make a shadow puppet.

     During our video conference, students acted out a story of Anansi the Spider, watched and performed a shadow puppet performance, and listened to another story of Anansi. Students also learned about African culture, too. The instructor discussed foods that we eat and foods that are eaten in West Africa. The instructor also showed students how to make a shadow puppet with the materials Mrs. Sowers prepared for them.

We did a little shadow puppet performance
after our puppets were complete.

Students showing off their shadow puppets.

     What a great experience! Talk to your child about the video conference and what it was like to talk with the instructor. Students did a tremendous job answering questions based on the stories and the experiences they already had with African culture and folktales. We look forward to more discussion about folktales as we continue our unit on Anansi the Spider.

Students posing in Art Class with their visual art project of Anansi and his web.

Some of their masterpieces. Come see more pieces displayed at our CME Art Show.

Students followed a recipe to create a candy Anansi the Spider.

The finished product. Students had fun making
(and eating) their delicious spider treats.

Run, Run as Fast as You Can!

"You can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man!" Students enjoyed our fairy tale, The Gingerbread Man, this week during our reading block. On Friday, they enjoyed decorating their own gingerbread people as well as some other fun activities related to the story.

students decorating their gingerbread cookies

students graphed which part of the
gingerbread cookie they bit into first

students decorated their own gingerbread man vests

Hop Along the Nonsense Bunny Trail

Teaching children nonsense? That's right! Being able to read nonsense words is an important skill for kindergarten and first grade students. These students are decoding nonsense words and hopping along the nonsense bunny trail created by their teacher.

On each spring cut out, there is a nonsense word. It doesn't mean anything, but students try to read it by blending the letter sounds together. Then, they hop over the word and onto the next nonsense word on the trail. Students are enjoying their new learning center and practicing this important literacy skill along the way.

Native American Culture

Fire Bear playing a Native American Flute.

Clays Mill Elementary was excited to host a Native American by the name of Fire Bear on Monday. Students learned about the Native American culture from Fire Bear. He is a member of the Choctaw Nation from Oklahoma. Take a look at some of the interesting things students learned from him and Acorn Woman today. 

Fire Bear told us the Native American legends "Why Rabbits have
a Short Tail" and "The Rabbit and the Possom" using his drum. 

Native American Instruments.

Native American masks and instruments.

Students learning about rhythm while listening to the beat of the drum.

Terribly Tacky Ties

Our kindergarten students continued working on reviewing letter sounds in phonics this nine weeks. One of the ways we help them truly internalize letter recognition and letter sounds is by making crafts to go along with those letters. For the letter Tt, they made "Terribly Tacky Ties" with pictures of things that start with the letter Tt. They did a TERRIFIC job!

Kindergarteners sporting their terribly tacky ties.

Lucky Little Leprechauns

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, students wrote about what makes them feel lucky. They each responded to the prompt, "I feel lucky when. . . " Then, students made leprechauns for a display. These lucky leprechauns are displayed on a bulletin board outside our classroom. Just as they did last year, while students were in special class we had a visit from some mischievous little leprechauns that messed up our classroom. Student chairs were knocked over, turned upside down, and flipped on top of the tables. Students were surprised to find that the little leprechauns left a package of "pot of gold" candy for each of them. So, that was nice of them. The children were excited that the leprechauns visited our classroom. Look for your child's leprechaun writing to come home soon.

Students' leprechaun writing is displayed outside our classroom.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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