Happiness is...A GOOD BOOK!

This was our final week of Festival of Stories. Our theme was "Happiness is a Good Book." 

We listened to a real author called Stacey Zolt Hara talk about how she wrote her book and worked with the illustrator.

Mr. Schunk came in to read his favorite book to the class, which was also by our favorite author, Helen Lester.

 We were certainly happy today! We were all very comfortable in our pajamas, and enjoyed lying around with pillows, blankets, soft toys and flashlights, reading lots of books.

Max is reading a Helen Lester book

Vittal and Cole got comfortable on the couch to read their books together.

Kai and Aran disappeared into their hut with books and flashlight.

Julia, Holly and Samantha snuggled into their reading hut.

Payam, Archie and Xander made a hut and took their books in.

Jemma, Julie and Zoe built a hut to read in.

Erica, Amanda and Jia Feng with blankets and soft toys.

!

Alex with soft toys and a good book.

After studying lots of nonfiction books, the children have made their own books, using features such as titles, photographs, captions, diagrams, maps, glossaries and indexes. They are great!

Art Auction

Today we had a great surprise when Suzanne came in to show us the beautiful piece of art she had made, using photos of the children's paintings that they made earlier in the year. It's wonderful - - thanks Suzanne!!!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

The children looked wonderful in their Chinese costumes today. Sadly, my camera was not working, so I didn't get any photos. Yesterday we went to the Early Childhood Center (ECC) where they showed us their costumes and the Chinese teachers did a fan dance for us. 

Today we all went to the theater to see an amazing Chinese New Year show which included amazing acrobatics. A few photos are below.

SAS Chinese teachers performing the Fan Dance

ECC children parade in their Chinese costumes

This woman was incredibly flexible!

She went through the ring in several different ways.

The Dragon Dance

 This photos of the class with Santa was taken when I was away so I thought I'd put it here for you all to see. 

So what have we been learning about, other than Chinese New Year?

• We have done quite a lot of work with tens and ones in math. 
• We discovered features of nonfiction texts e.g. index, table of contents, maps, labels, diagrams, photos, glossaries and captions. Next week the children will make a nonfiction book about themselves, so can you please send a photo of your child on Wednesday? (You will not get it back!) Either send the actual photo, or email me one photo that I can print. A photo taken during the holidays would be perfect, but any other fairly recent photo will be great too. Just one photo per child please. 
• We learned the rules for writing letters to people. They love to write letters to each other and post them in the classroom mailbox.
• We have been reading many of the hilarious books written by Helen Lester, my favorite children's author. This class would have me read 3 or 4 of the books in a row if they could! Here is a link for more information about Helen Lester and her books.

 

 

Have a great long weekend, 

Debbie