Thanksgiving Feast - Remembering the Pilgrims

With all of the previous weeks devoted to learning about our tribe, the Lenape, today we shared a few books with the children and talked about the first Thanksgiving and the story of the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. Students had lots of questions and they knew lots of answers, especially how the the Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn. They heard the story of dropping a fish in with the corn seed from our own Miss KK during their visit to the tee pee during Powwow. Thank you to our wonderful parents and grandparents who made this day possible. Mr. Buddy and Mimi (Josey's grandparents) fried two turkeys which was our main course. Our classroom moms came in with mac and cheese, potatoes, corn, fruit, brownies and cookies and helped us so much. We have so much food, we decided to make tomorrow "Thanksgiving Day #2" and we will have a repeat of today's feast. After all, the first Thanksgiving lasted three days - so we're just trying to make this as authentic as possible :) !! The students and teachers of the Mall-ard class wish all of you a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Powwow: The day finally arrived !!

The day of Powwow finally arrived. The children were so excited saying how they hardly slept the night before. The slide show will tell the story of a truly remarkable event! Thanks to Melanie H. for the great pictures!

Lenape -- "Oh Did You Know...?"

As we have been learning about our tribe, we have put together a song that helps the children remember fun facts about the Lenape. The yellow sheets in the video are their song books. Each morning they would learn something new about their tribe and draw a picture to go with the words. Below is the result of the song - we are so proud of young Lenape!

Lenape - "Oh, did you know ... song." from Maria Mallon on Vimeo.

Wigwams and Family Fun

Last night families had the opportunity to come to school and make their very own wigwam that represented the dwellings of the Lenape nation. Students painted a plastic jug (that was cut in half) with glue and placed felt pieces on it that represented bark. Our wigwam village is sitting outside our classroom and will be taken home after our Powwow on Friday.

Lenape Nation - "The Original People"

Homework was a family project this week. Students and parents were invited to create their own Native American Lenape tribe member. Families were asked to research the tribe on the internet and dress the cardboard cut out accordingly. We were "WOWED" by the representations of original dress that came in. Children also put their chosen Native American name on the cut out. Students had the opportunity to share their Lenape boy or girl with the class and tell how they made it. We have received numerous comments on how much fun this family homework project was and how much each family has learned about our adopted tribe - "The Original People."

Pow Wow Preparation

THE EVENT of the Kindergarten year is fast approaching...it's time for the annual Powwow. Each Kindergarten class is learning about a specific Native American tribe. The tribes include the Inuit, Hopi, Nez Perce, Seminole, Sioux, Iroquois, Nootka, and our very own Lenape tribe. The Lenape come from the areas of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Students are not only learning about their food, clothing and shelter, but also, how much the Lenape are so similar to them. The Native Americas loved to play games, fish, and help at home. The students have been working on the turtle shakers and shell necklaces that they will be carrying and wearing during our Powwow. Homework has included storytelling, picking a Native American name, and decorating a Lenape girl/boy on a cardboard cut out. We read a wonderful book called, "Rainbow Crow" that was an authentic story past down from the Lenape tribe. In Reader's and Writer's Workshop, we are making our own "All About the Lenape Tribe" book that we will soon share with you. In Reader's Workshop, the class learns about nonfiction conventions (labeling, captions, headings) and in Writer's Workshop, we are modeling the overall look of an "All About" book. On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to visit a 5th grade class that was also studying the Lenape tribe and they shared their diorama and information with us. Upcoming events include "Make and Take" night, where parents and children are invited back to the school to
make their own wigwams (see below).

Shared Reading: The Little Yellow Chicken by Joy Cowley

The children have a new favorite big book, "The Little Yellow Chicken" by Joy Cowley. It is a story based on the folk tale, "The Little Red Hen." It was introduced on Monday as a shared reading. Shared Reading is an interactive reading experience. We use a big book because it has enlarged text so that all the children can see. During the reading, we involve the children in reading together by pointing to or sliding below each word in the text. This provides children the opportunity to participate and behave like a reader. Shared reading models the reading process and strategies used by good readers such as moving from left to right, word-by-word matching, and using intonation. Shared Reading creates a risk-free environment, allowing children to focus on the enjoyment of the story. Every day a new skill and focus was added. The first day the book was introduced. Questions such as, "Does this book look like fiction or non fiction?"; "Does the chicken look happy?"; and "What other books have we read by Joy Cowley?" The next day, we picked up on fluency and intonation. Sight words were discussed and located in the book. The third reading focused on locating groups of words in the book. Today, we used the letter combination chart which lists vowel combinations (ou, ee, ea, ay) and blends (fr, bl, gr) as a guide to help find these pairs of letters in the words of the book. We used Wikki Stix to circle the letter combinations in the book. We enjoy shared reading of big books because it brings the class together as a reading community and provides us with a shared love of reading...thanks Joy Cowley for the wonderful story!