**Traveling Poets (Kindergarten students) will begin their room travel this week-5/16. The students are so excited. They have been practicing their poems at their library time and in the room.
**There was certainly something for everyone at the Irving Garage Sale on Saturday. Tons of toys, clothes, kitchen stuff, books, furniture.....you name it ......we had it. It was great to see everyone come out to check it out and buy. We had a nice showing of high school students (so fun to hear what they are up to--prom!!!) I enjoyed working the early shift for admission. Thanks to all who supported our School Yard Project by coming out!
**The 4th Annual Poetry Slam is Thursday, May 19th from 6:30-8:00 pm in the Irving Auditorium. We have got some great slammers signed up. We even have some original poems that will be performed. There is still time to sign up! You can even use your Traveling Poets poem. Adults are certainly welcome to slam too! You can read, say, rap or sing it. It can be original or from a book. Group or solo! Mr. Williams will be on the playground at lunch with a microphone so students can practice with the full effect!!!!! Come on and join in the fun!
**Our end of the year tech project will begin this week---8:30-9:30 on Wednesday, May 18th and again same time on Wednesday, May 25th in the lab. I have B. Metric volunteering but could use 1 or 2 more volunteers. Email me if you can help.
**We have 3 WALKING FIELD TRIPS coming up--Oak Park Conservatory, Tuesday, May 31st from 1:00-2:30 pm. --Pizza and Play End of the Year Family Picnic, Wednesday, June 1st from 11:00-1:00 pm at Rehm Park. --Maze Branch Library, Monday, June 6th, time to be determined. Next Friday, you will be receiving information and permission slips for all 3 events. We will be needing lots of volunteers, especially for Pizza and Play. Pizza and Play is a family event. All families are welcomed!
**Our end of the year Sibling Hour is Friday, May 27th from 2:00-2:55. It's a great way for our "almost First Graders" to show what they know. Any sibs 4 and under are welcome.
**All School Olympic Day is Friday, May 27th from 8:30-11:00 am. All parents are welcome to check out the events going on both inside and outside of the school.
**Last Friendship Club with Ms. Bell Bey is Friday, May 20th.
**Reading Grandma's time with us will also be ending soon. Grandma Mary has been an inspiration to me! Her level of commitment to our class is incredible. We absolutely love her!
We look forward to Fridays when she comes to spend the morning with us. Each student gets individual time with her to read, build fluency and comprehension and have a little "me" time.
**The last of school is Tuesday, June 7th. It is a 1 hour session. (8-9 am) It is a family hour. We will have a mini breakfast (granola bars and fruit), sign autograph books and get report cards/summer tips. I almost cannot believe it!!!! These students are more than ready to become first graders!
**The ULTIMATE VOCABULARY CHALLENGE continues--We have had REPUGNANT, EXEMPLARY, OPTIMISTIC, INTEGRITY and this week, PERPLEXED (confused or puzzled.)
We are perplexed by this crazy weather!
**Last book order of the year is on line only---click on the book--activation code in under it.
**Last Spelling City update (but you can certainly use it and the previous words all summer.)
**I have all the codes for summer Xtramath if you have lost yours.
**I am checking to see if LEXIA is available this summer.
**Please feel free to check out wikispaces on line parent resources created by Ms. Homann.
This week: It was all about the Traveling Seeds Activities from the Oak Park Conservatory. The students learned about the way seeds travel in a very hands on way, depending upon their shapes and sizes. They can be blown in the wind--helicopter seeds, dandelion seeds, float in water--coconut seed, cacao seed, pop from a pod--baptista seeds, and stick or hitch hike on animals fur--tickseeds, buried by animals--acorns, be left by animal droppings--avocado pit, cacao seeds. (oh yes!) The students got to experiment with floating, blowing, burying and popping seed types. It was great fun. The students reflected on their experiences in their science journal. Thanks to Gabriela for bringing a cracked open coconut. The student really wanted to see what was inside!
Reading: We continue to work in Unit 7--Teamwork. The students read the Lois Lenski poem, "Cleaning up the Block." They focused on 2 questions--Why is this a team? How is the team working together? We used our decodable book, "Puff," for a written retelling assignment. We read the story aloud. The students discussed the story elements. They then sequenced the parts of the story. We continue to work finding the beginning, middle and ending of the story. Also, what is the main idea? The students went back to their seats and re read the story and filled out the balloon retelling sheet. We reviewed long and shot vowels, digraphs and blends, blending and segmenting 5-8 phoneme words and quotation marks and speech balloons or bubbles. The students used their workshop time for reading games relating to our studies. We worked on our Word Play activity.
Math: We are getting quicker at recognizing when we add or subtract. We are using our math journals to record, illustrate and work out our story problem. The students learned a new game this week called, "Take Away." They use their number line, pennies and dice to play. They rolled the dice--record on their recording sheet how many pennies to take away from their number line and then record how many are left. Some of the students are beginning to see the relationship be addition and subtraction and number families. Pretty cool! We looked at the dollar. We experimented with ways to use coins to make a dollar--4 quarters, 100 pennies, 10 dimes etc. We also continue to work on writing 3 digit numbers. Students are working on place value--100's place, 10's place and 1's place.
We are having a blast trying to figure out "What's My Rule." I am using ones from the kid's homework. We will continue to do this.
Writing: We continue to work on all things that make a good sentence. I have been using the "sentence lifting " technique where I choose a sentence from someones' journal and write it on the overheard. The students see if any changes need to be made. They tell me where to make the changes. We talked about expanding our sentences and using adjectives.
Science: Along with our Traveling Seeds Activities, the students continued to record growth and design from their particular plant that is now at their home. They reflected on the care they are giving each plant. Their drawings reflected the development of leaves and stems and now some secondary leaf growth. The students are also responsible for a table plant. Each table is growing one of our flower types. They students discuss, draw, label and make predictions on what they going to see next. Once again, teamwork is involved in the care and watering of the plant. We checked out the root systems of a marigold, potato, onion, tulip bulb, dandelion. The students labeled the plant parts. Our class garden is really starting to grow. I believe we have decided on tomatoes and cucumbers to grow in our garden bed outside. Stay tuned for more info on that. Next week, we will be taking a look at creatures who are very helpful to our soil. Jack's family has graciously offered us some of their worm compost to study and write about. We will also experiment with seed sponges and sprouting seeds without soil. (Can you say hydroponics?)
We saw a strawberry seed under the microscope!
Literature: "How Many are Left," "Puff," "The Mystery of the Missing Sock "(Quotation Marks), "Roots," "Leaves," "Life in the Meadow," Seeds to Plants-Chapter 3, "How Seeds Travel," "I am a Seed," "Cool Dogs Love School," "What Lives in the Garden," Poems from the following books----"Hip Hop Speaks to Children," "Anna Banana Jump Rope Rhymes," "Random House Poetry for Children," "A Bad Case of the Giggles," "Hopscotch Love--Family Poems."
