Pioneers AND Pilgrims

Well today was a day of a lot of learning and filled with new things!

We started with the morning our new story for the week, called "Pepita Talks Twice". This is hands-down one of my favorite stories for the year because it is in both Spanish and English. The top of the pages are written in English and the bottom half of the pages are written in Spanish, though both of the paragraphs say identical things. Spanish is one of my passions so I was very excited to see this story. The students were also VERY excited to hear me read the story in Spanish, too! The story talks about how there is a girl who is bilingual because she can speak Spanish and English. As a result, the people in her neighborhood always want her to translate for them and she decides to never speak Spanish again. Eventually she learns to see the value of speaking both languages! This week our vocabulary words are mostly Spanish words that have been adopted into the English language, like tortilla, salsa, enchilada, and tamale. I can't wait to help us learn more words in Spanish!

This afternoon we started our newest pocketbook about the American Colonies and colonial life. The students have been asking me all about the 13 original colonies and what life was like back during that time, so I thought now would be the perfect time to introduce the students to this historic life! They are really interested in Pilgrims and why they came to America, which is awesome!

We also started another social studies unit of study in our afternoons about the Oregon Trail! This is absolutely one of my favorite topics in history and I always loved learning about it when I was their age. The students came into new seats and a map of our journey on the Oregon Trail on the window and were instantly hooked! They are in groups of 3-4 students what will be their wagon train for the long journey. We will be working in these groups through the end of the year while we make our way from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. Today we just got a brief introduction to the trail and chose our pioneer identities! Boy, did we get a good giggle out of that! Next time we travel the trail, we will be deciding what supplies we need for the 3 month journey across the country. I can't wait to see how everyone spends their money!

As a reminder, book orders are due this Thursday, on April 22nd so make sure you have those in by the end of the day, either online or in paper. Field trip forms need to be turned in by May 19th. I currently have forms from JH, PF, and EZ. Great job for getting it in right away! Lastly, the spirit movie afternoon is Wednesday afternoon. If you are interested in bringing snacks, you are welcome to do so and our movie will start at 2:15. Tomorrow we will vote on the movie we will watch.

Have a great evening and enjoy the beautiful weather!