We reviewed finger numbers and warmed up today with C major tetrachords, a five-note scale ascending and descending, hands apart and hands together. We made some beautiful progress on her solo pieces today, remembering which notes are for which hands and making the switch between the two! Nice work :)

Analise and I read a mini book about Australia. It highlighted all of the native most common animals there. She illustrated each animal throughout the book.

Phonics - complete handout…Word Families - unscramble the letters and write the word(s). Complete worksheet p. 185…look at picture, say the word and mark if the word has a long or short vowel sound. Then go to computer lab (reading eggs.com) and continue phonics exercises, such as, identifying sounds, writing words, and writing sentences.

Analise and I worked on making a paper fan with long ribbons attached. She took pink construction paper and folded it accordion style. Using a multi-pink colored ball of sparkle yarn, Analise measured and cut strips a few feet long. I showed her how to measure her strips to the first one so that they all end up the same length. She glued each one of the strips into the folds of the fan. On the outsides of the paper, Analise choose her favorite sparkle bangles to glue on for decoration. Finally, we added a little extra yarn around the handle. The fan came out very pretty and Analise had so much fun spinning and twirling it around.

Analise and I started our lesson by reading There's No Place Like Space by Tish Rabe. This book introduced each of the planets in our solar system and gave a brief description of their characteristics. It also discussed how big the sun really is (a million Earths could fit inside it), how the moon only shines because of reflections from the sun, and introduced the idea of stars forming constellations. As a correlating activity, Analise made her own solar system. She colored the sun and planets and glued them in the correct order. For fun, Analise used glitter puffy paint to make many stars in her solar system.

Analise continued working on her subtraction facts using the numbers 0-10. She used the shamrocks that she colored yesterday as manipulatives. When all of the problems on the worksheet were complete, Analise had fun using her stapler to staple the shamrocks onto the paper. We also worked on counting by 2's, 5's, 10's, and 100's. This skill has been improving daily. Analise can count by 2's to 20, by 10's to 100, and by 100's to 1000. She is still having trouble counting by 5's unassisted but is consistently improving. As we count we sing the numbers which Anilise loves.

Phonics - go online readingeggs.com - complete variety of exercises. Analise can identify letters and their sounds. We played a game...choosing letters from the alphabet and naming as many things as we could using that letter. I think she beat me! Complete handout 176 - follow word pattern by choosing beginning letter(s) to make new words. Then, look at picture(s) and write the word(s) with long /i/ (cvc pattern - such as pig, fox etc.) Explain/give example of digraphs - ch, sh, wh, and th...identify pictures and add the correct digraph to complete the words, for example, ___air...add ch to make chair or ___ale...add wh to make whale, etc.
Writing - trace capital/lower case F's and write sentences when each word begins with F.
History - go over facts about Asia/China, look up unusual animals that are native to that area. Color pictures of China's flag, people, animals, etc.

Analise worked very hard today on a few St. Patrick's Day themed math sheets. First, she cut out and colored 10 shamrocks. Then, she used the shamrocks to visualize the subtraction problems from her worksheet. Analise also worked on an addition worksheet that showed a base 10 block along with a few more blocks. She had to start at 10 and count up the additional blocks to get to her answer. Analise still has a little bit of trouble with this concept on her own but with a little help she has no problem. As always, Analise enjoyed coloring the worksheets, especially the pots of gold at the end of the problems.

We all did the poses in the "Yoga Bear" today including down dog, cat, dolphin, up dog and elephant. We also practiced our balancing with the tree pose. We picked out a country on the map and tried to focus on that spot while we balanced. We ended class with creative obstacle courses that we all followed.

Continue to work on booklet about China...color pictures of people, animals, and customs of China. Watch video - "Animals Native to China".