Gracyn dressed a paper doll pirate while we learned about the first Thanksgiving, finishing our reading with Studies Weekly. We also discussed changes in transportation and learned to distinguish between fact and fiction. Gracyn demonstrated her understanding of this concept by accurately identifying library books as she pulled them from her shelf. She earned some points and bought more for her rat cage on Studies Weekly. We looked at maps for her room - a World map and one of the U.S.

design fundamentals. Gracyn continues to work on her creative "mermaid" picture. When this is finished she will begin working on her "color" theory lessons, beginning with the "primary" colors.

Gracyn read "The Bearenstain Bears Lemonade Stand" and "Don't Let Pigeon Drive the Bus" for her independent reading today. We went to the library to exchange books and select books for this week. We selected nonfiction books to help with her informative writing and books for her independent practice. She wrote a draft for her next thank you note to Miss Jackie.

We spent today's lesson reviewing the last unit's concepts. Focusing on doubles plus 1 and doubles minus 1, I quickly wrote addition sentences on the white board for Gracyn to recognize which problems use the strategy. We also reviewed the idea that doubles plus 1 doubles the lower addend and adds one while doubles minus one doubles the higher addend and subtracts one. We also went over the missed questions on the practice test. After reviewing, I feel that Gracyn is ready for the unit assessment.

We began with "On the Swing", first with the music, and then Gracyn memorized the piece very nicely. Next, for reinforcement, we reviewed previously learned pieces starting from the beginning of the Bastien primer. We then played through "Snow in Winter" and "Ducks on the Pond" which reinforced F and G in middle C position for the left hand. Today we also introduced the whole note and reinforced quarter and half notes.

Today Gracyn continued the unit on natural resources. She watched a BrainPop video and we discussed renewable and non renewable resources. She read a lesson on water in her science book and we discussed streams, rivers, lakes, the ocean and their differences. For a hands-on demonstration, she made a lava lamp with water, oil, and food coloring. When she dropped an alka seltzer tablet into a bottle with these ingredients in it, colored bubbles rose to the top giving it a lava lamp affect.

Today since it was so beautiful outdoors, we had our yoga class in the "bamboo garden" in the back of school. Gracyn and I looked through "Yoga Journal" magazines and picked out challenging poses. I assisted her with the difficult Scorpion pose. She got into the pose, while I held her legs in the air. We also tried a new standing balancing pose that was on the cover of one of the magazines. We talked about yoga outdoors and how we could connect to our natural surroundings and take in calm energy. Gracyn seemed to really enjoy having class outdoors today.

Gracyn made a thank you card for Ms. Maylie to thank her for her gift. She read "Dear Dragon Hole in One" independently and we read "Don't Let Pigeon Drive the Bus" as our shared reading. We practiced word wall words with the game Hangman. We continue to focus on increasing her reading stamina. She demonstrated mastery of the writing conventions of using ending punctuation and beginning capitals.

Today we turned pie dough into little cookies. We rolled out pie crust and used different shaped pie cutters. We then brushed them with milk and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. We baked them at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. They turned out very cute.

Gracyn made squirrels and we attached cups of peanuts to hide around the school, a Thanksgiving activity we found in the Heritage Celebrations book. We read in her text about immigrants, Ellis Island, culture, holidays and heritage. We learned about highways and routes, communication and a quill pen. She finished her Thanksgiving Words worksheet with excellent handwriting. She did a great job of reading maps with highway routes around the country.