Learning in Full Bloom!

Dear Parents,

We hope this blog finds you well! This week has been full of exciting discoveries and hands-on learning in our classroom. From exploring a brand-new math topic on measurement, to strengthening our reading skills with CVC words and blending two sounds, and continuing our wonderful journey learning about flowers in science, the students have been actively engaged and eager to participate. We are proud of their enthusiasm, curiosity, and growing confidence as they continue to explore, create, and learn together.

Large group

This week during large group time, we focused mainly on revision and strengthening previously learned concepts. In literacy, we reviewed all the digraphs we have covered so far. The students showed much better understanding and confidence in recognizing and pronouncing them. It was wonderful to see how much progress they have made in blending and identifying these sounds.

In math, we revisited our 2D shapes, taking them two at a time to deepen our understanding. This week, we focused on the pentagon and hexagon. We discussed how many sides each shape has and explored the differences between them. The students practiced counting the sides carefully and comparing the two shapes, which helped reinforce both their shape recognition and counting skills.

During our morning activities, we had a meaningful discussion about what plants and flowers need to grow. The children shared thoughtful ideas such as water, sunlight, soil, and care, connecting this discussion to our ongoing science lessons. They also had the opportunity to come to the board and write what number comes next in a sequence, helping to strengthen their number sense and sequencing skills.

Our book of the week was a journey all about letters and beginning sounds! The story focused on identifying different objects that begin with each letter, giving the students more practice in recognizing initial sounds and building early reading skills.

Literacy

This week, our first literacy group continued working on CVC words with the letter O in the middle. The students are becoming more confident in blending sounds and recognizing word patterns.

In our first session, each child practiced writing the letter “O” on paper. They then came to the board and placed their “O” between two consonant letters to form different CVC words. After building the words, they sounded them out and read them aloud together. This hands-on activity helped strengthen their understanding of middle vowel sounds and word formation.

During our second session, the students worked on a worksheet activity where they cut out different pictures and matched them to the correct CVC words. This task encouraged them to carefully pronounce and read each word before making their match. It was also a wonderful way to develop their fine motor skills through cutting and pasting.

Our second group in literacy has started blending two letters. As we learned in the past few weeks about beginning and ending sounds, we are now focusing on blending two letters. Since this topic is completely new for the students, it may take them a little longer or shorter time to understand how to sound out two letters and blend them together. They have been practicing with flashcards both in groups and individually. Next week, we will continue with the same topic until they grasp the concept.

Math

This week in math, we began an exciting new topic: measurement! In our first session, we had a class discussion about what measurement means and why it is important in our daily lives. The students shared wonderful ideas and learned that many things can be measured, such as height, length, weight, and size. We then explored our classroom and outdoor environment, observing and comparing different objects that were big and small, tall and short, heavy and light. This hands-on exploration helped the children understand that measurement is all around us.

In our second session, the excitement continued as we brought a weighing scale into the classroom! Each student had the opportunity to step on the scale and measure their weight. They were very engaged and curious as we introduced the kilogram (kg) as the common unit used to measure weight. We wrote each child’s weight on the board, which also gave us a great opportunity to practice number recognition and reading numbers. The students had so much fun learning about weight while strengthening their understanding of numbers at the same time.

Science

This week in Science, we continued learning about flowers and deepened our understanding by exploring three different types of flowers. The students carefully observed how each flower looked different in shape, size, and color. We discussed where we had seen these flowers before, and they were excited to recognize that the pictures we used were taken directly from our own school garden. This made the lesson even more meaningful and connected to their daily environment.

After our discussion, the students expressed their learning through art. Each child took a plain sheet of paper and drew their own flower. They also included the different parts we learned about, such as the petals, stem, leaves, soil, and even the sun shining above. It was wonderful to see how they incorporated the full environment that helps flowers grow.

In our second session, the excitement continued as the students planted their very own flowers! Each child chose their favorite flower and confidently led the planting process. They carefully filled their pots with soil, placed their flower inside, added more soil to secure it, and gently watered it. The joy on their faces was priceless as they admired their own planted flowers. Many of them eagerly asked, “When are we going to take it home?”, showing just how proud and connected they already feel to their plants.

Art

This week in art, our students continued working on a canvas they started last week. Previously, they painted the background. Our class agreed to make their very own volcano based on previous discussions. This week, they built the base of the volcano using an innovative strategy- gluing tissue paper in layers. Once that was ready, they got to work on painting the volcano brown. Then, we needed lava of course! So they added a colorful explosion of red, orange and yellow. We first placed the paint down on the canvas, and each student was given a straw. They blew air through the straws to create the effect of lava spurting out.

Next week's schedule

Small group

Monday: - Science, Literacy

Tuesday:- Library, Math

Wednesday:- Science, Literacy

Thursday: - Math, Journal

Friday:- Music

Thursday: - Literacy

Our Special

Monday: - Ethiopian center

Tuesday:- Library

Friday:- Art

Reminder

Every Tuesday is our library day, so we will be sending a book that your child picked from our library, which will be returned after a week on library day.

Every Friday is our art day so please send your child with art-appropriate clothing.

Thank you for your time!