Africa, Mammals, and Pirates!

There’s so much happening this month, it’s hard to decide where to start! There are learning explosions happening all over the classroom, from shoe-tying and sewing to learning letter sounds and writing numbers up to one thousand and beyond!

Many students are making huge strides in their use of a pencil, as there is widespread enthusiasm for writing, tracing, and copying words and sentences. Some are understanding the fundamentals of the decimal system for the first time, as we practice “fetching” unit beads, ten bars, hundred squares and thousand cubes in various quantities.

This month in Culture we are learning about mammals. Ms. Andrea brought in her guinea pigs for observation. The students are learning that mammals are distinct from other animals because they are “warm blooded,” have hair or fur, and feed their babies milk. In the words of an attentive first-year student after a group lesson: “Did you know WE are mammals?”

Our continent focus for this month is Africa, which means that we are practicing locating the continent on a globe, and talking about what makes that continent unique. Some students are practicing identifying plants and animals from Africa. Soon we will also be introducing places and flags of Africa.

Remember to bring mammal or Africa related things to Show-and Tell if you have them!