It seems the author's whole case is premised on how playful and interested his children seem. That is great, but mine are also like that at 2.45 pick up until bed. And we also read to them, do projects, and we sure hit the local museums a few times a year. What we do not do at home is offer the following kind of week, which is taken from a weekly summary for parents of kindergarteners. I wish the author used as a basis of comparison, something like this, and criticized it.

This week in:

MATH

The class was introduced to coin sorting. We counted well past 100 as a class, compared our height to various objects in the classroom, and we made a class telephone book complete with self-portraits. We will copy it and send it home next Friday.

READING AND WRITING

We read another big book on Monday, titled “Duck and Hen”. It was the story of two animals that are friends and want to do everything together. They discover that they can do most things together, but not everything! We sent home reading books with the children on Wednesday. We did not have a second reading group time this week because we had several children out today, so we’ll send books home next week again. Please read the book with your child and return it promptly. Thanks!

We had Writer’s Workshop on Tuesday. We read “The Little Island” by Margaret Wise Brown. The children made their own islands in a bowl, and we had a great time doing that project. On Thursday, the children created a book of the four seasons and they are presenting their finished work during Author’s Chair over the next few days. Their picture books will be on display on the classroom bulletin board in the Author’s Corner.

We documented our science experiment this week in the children’s journals, and completed two more spelling sheets.

We finished reading “The Six Bridges of Humphrey the Whale.” We will send the backpack with Humphrey on Monday with another child. The child who took Humphrey home last Friday has been out all week and will return on Monday.

SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCIENCE

The children are making progress on completion of their world maps. Two children have completed theirs and taken them home. We discussed the book “The Little Island”. Its underlying message is that all the land is one land under the sea. We also talked a little about different types of islands and that islands are actually the top of mountains or volcanoes.

We completed two science experiments this week using salt water. Did you know that salt water creates more buoyancy? We tried floating an egg in fresh water and salt water. Try it at home to see what happens! We also created a saturated solution of salt water and poured it into a bowl. We are observing what happens to it over the next week.

We read part of “Why the Sea is Salty,” a non-fiction book about the ocean and sea life.