**The Fun Fair was a smash! The games were great. Many fun fair goers enjoyed the popcorn, cotton candy and other treats. I saw some happy faces carrying out a dessert won in the Dancing for Desserts activity. The Silent Auction was the best yet. Super selection and organization. The main event--"American Piedol" competition was a sight to behold. Great moves and jamming by both "The New Beats" and " Frankie D. and the Cuyler Street Boys." And what about those Piedol judges???? Who was wearing that crazy hair??? In the end, it was "Fankie D. and the Cuyler Street Boys" that raised the most money, won the trophy and received major pies in their faces by some really excited raffle winners!!!
**The students were participants in a Dental Program on February 21st. Ms. Alma spoke to the students on what it takes to have and maintain healthy teeth and gums. Clue--less sugar, nutritious food, careful teeth brushing and flossing, seeing a dentist regularly. We can do it!!!
**Our choral reading of the events in Ruby Bridges life went spectacularly well! The students are to be commended for effort and great reading! They really enjoyed it.
**The students took the Unit 6 assessment in the Treasures Reading series on Thursday.
**Route to Reading Rotation 6 will conclude on Wednesday. At that time, you will be notified as to your child's level of skill development. The students continue to work very hard on their skills.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Kwiatt did a cool activity using a piece of yarn encouraging students to share how we are all "connected" in some way. The web formed was really cool! Prior to the activity, the students worked in small groups to share and talk about one item, food etc. that they all enjoyed.
**Mr. Packer finished up a unit on sequencing events. Students are beginning to look for the big or main idea more consistently and to also look more carefully at the details in figuring out what will come next in the sequence.
**The BUSY READER PROGRAM and WORD PLAY ACTIVITY were both introduced this week. You will find specific information on each in your child's homework folder. If you have any questions--please feel free to contact me. These activities will be in place for the remainder of the school year.
**NO SCHOOL --Monday, March 5th in observance of Casmir Pulaski Day.
**SWAP, SHOP and READ will take place on Thursday, March 15th from 6:30-8:00pm. More info will follow soon.
** Report Cards go home on Friday, March 16th.
**Spring Pictures will be taken on Tuesday, March 20th.
**Spring Break is 3/24-4/1. School will resume on Monday, April 2nd. Please let me know if your child needs a travel journal.
**Reading Grandma Mary is very pleased to report that reading fluency as well as comprehension skills are really taking shape. The students are loving it!
This week:
It was all about a few things this week. Science was particularly interesting as the students created and observed steam. They talked about and discussed the idea of "evaporation" and that water can become a gas and disappear. They talked about the "smoke" they saw rising up from the container. This in fact was the water turning into a gas. After a while, we covered the container with plastic wrap and put a rubber band around the top. The students made predictions in their science journal about what they thought would happen and why. The students checked on the container later on in the day and discovered water droplets that appeared to be hanging from the inside of the plastic wrap. How did this happen? There was much discussion about what caused this. No one had predicted this! In talking it out, some students commented that the steam turned back into water. Wait--the steam could not go out into the air---an a ha moment--it could not evaporate! Next area of experimentation--condensation. I brought back 2 cool activities from my conference last week. The first one is called "Crazy Bubbles." There are lots of colored plastic sticks of various sizes and weird spherical shapes with many holes in them. The students work together to create a multi dimensional figure. The other activity was called the "Ultimate Puzl." Students worked to connect the silvery pieces beginning with 4 pieces and moving on to 8 and then 12 (the ultimate challenge!) super challenging--lots of brain work involved. It was great to hear the conversations, strategies, suggestions and observe their level of commitment to the task. We looked at a model of a tooth and discussed tooth structure, gums, roots and how to keep them all healthy. We took a look at the animal world and read some interesting info on whales, dogs and animal that have no teeth.
Reading/Social Studies: I opted to use this week as a giant review week rather than begin Unit 7 Weather in our Treasures Reading Series. Having been gone for 2 days last week, I wanted to make sure that students had all the skills necessary for their assessment which they took on Thursday. It was a week well spent. The students began by reviewing all their consonant and vowel sounds in isolation. We then moved on to review consonant blends, digraphs, silent e, took a look at some vowel teams (those crazy vowels!!) and did some work with our elkonin boxes and blending sounds to make words. The students mainly worked on 3-4 phoneme words, but I did sneek in 5-6 phoneme ones! Next the students worked on placing the block in the square there they heard the sound. Did you hear it in the beginning, middle or end of the word? The students also worked on activities in small groups where they added, deleted and substituted sounds. Word Play exercises were introduced. The students had to listen carefully to the directions in order to know where to move the letters to make the word.
Workstations this week included word building (beginning and ending sounds) with the app Magic Reading 2 and using the app Storykit for fluency building/recording reading, using the app Word Wizard for practice in addition and deletion of of phonemes and leveled reading and completion of the Story Elements Butterfly/question/answer activity. Our station day activities included weather water color painting, measure for measure activity and sound blending wheel--ing word family. The students played Hands Up, Hands Down with their sight words.
Math: The students worked on pattern block puzzles at three levels this week. The first with internal guidelines (easy!!!), the next without guidelines which had multiple solutions and the last ones where you look at a small version of the puzzle and build along side of it. It is fascinating to observe how each student perceives the puzzle and their selection of blocks that have to fit into the space and cannot go outside the black outside line. Many students tried multiple puzzles and compared their solutions with one another. Cool! The students continues work on counting by 2's using objects that come in pairs. We increased out Top-It Tally game to reflect numbers from 1-150 and each student played with a partner. The students continued their work looking for number patterns in solving a place value riddle. Ms. Applebey did a cool "Tricky Teens" activity using Doodle Buddy with small groups. Next week, we will begin working in our daily Math Journal on the process of addition and subtraction using story problems, working with coin recognition -nickel, dime, quarter and their values and more time by the hour.
Writing: The students continue to work in their writing journals using prompts and writing 2-4 sentences about the subject. This week we began an activity called "Sentence Lifting," where I "borrow" a sentence from someone's journal and write up on the board. The students check to see if anything needs to be added or changed. They ask the questions--Does it name and tell? Does it begin with a capital letter? Does it have an ending mark? Are there spaces between each word? Are the lowercase letters where they are supposed to be? What about tall lowercase or dive down lowercase letters? Students step up and make corrections if needed and we read the sentence together. Next week, more work with formation of lowercase letters.
Science: The students studied about water as a gas and did an experiment where they made steam. See above in the "This week" heading.
Technology: In reading, the students worked on the app Magic Reading 2--using beginning and ending sounds to create words and then recording them. They practice read and recorded their reading for fluency building using the app Storykit. The app Word Wizard was used in working with adding and deleting phonemes practice. In math, Ms. Applebey used the app Doodle Buddy with student small groups to work on tricky teen place value. The app Number Find challenged many students to find the 10 hidden numbers on the blank grid. Can you come with a pattern? What's your strategy? Brain power in action!!! Individualized instruction centered around the apps Math Bug and Find the Sums where students could work on their addition and subtraction processes.
Literature: "Picture Book of Jesse Owens," "Rosa Parks," "Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth," "My Tooth is About to Fall Out," "Hooray for Teeth," "Scooby Doo--The Missing Tooth Mystery," "Do You Think It's Easy Being a Tooth Fairy?" "Your Fantastic Elastic Brain," "The Brain."
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
UPDATES for 2/13-2/17 2012
**The month of February is going by so fast! This week, I had the opportunity to attend a great conference on "Children's Learning and the Brain." Many professionals in the area of social work, medicine, child development, teaching, science and curriculum were there to listen to and network with speakers from all over the United States and Canada. I learned so much in an area of great interest to me--brain function and educating the whole child. My class was in the very capable hands of my sub, Ms. Williams. Ms. Applebey, Ms. Kwiatt and Mr. Packer also lent their support.
**Our Eagle Wing Reward/Celebration was a big hit. The students enjoyed wearing their pajamas, reading to their stuffed animal/doll and viewing the post Valentine's Day DVD, "King Clifford and Be My Valentine." That big red dog sure has a great family!
**Hearing Screening will be held Friday, February 24th from 12 to 12:20 for my class, in the Irving Auditorium.
**A special program on dental care will be held Tuesday, February 21st from 12-12:30 for Kindergarten students in the Irving Auditorium.
**Our class will do our choral reading over the intercom about Ruby Bridges on Thursday, February 24th at 8:10 am.
**The FUN FAIR is almost here!!!! Please join our Irving family for the FUN FAIR on Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. Play games, win prizes, play bingo, dance for desserts, bid on silent auction items, eat food and see who gets the PIES in the FACES!!!!! It is the battle of the genders this year. "Frankie D and the Cuyler Street Boys" vs. "The New Beats" in Irving School's American "PIEDOL" challenge. You know it PIEDOL fans--your favorite judges will be on hand. Go Simon, JLo, Randy, Steven Tyler and special guest Paula Abdul along with host, Ryan Seacrest. Yes, it is true---I will be one of the judges!!! NO, I am not JLO! Come on out and see it for yourself. You will not believe it!!!! Students will be able buy tickets and place money in their favorite challenger jug at lunch and after school all this week. Come, play a game with me (it is a spinning one!!) Check out the extremely cool silent auction items online now. At the auction--bid on me to come to your house and read your child a bedtime story--you name the date and time. FUN! FUN! FUN!
**The new dates for Station Day Volunteers are posted on the blog.
**Spelling City has been updated.
**Check out Senorita Zaragoza's video of our class in action. You can find her link on my blog under "other helpful links" on the left side.
**Report Cards go out Friday, March 16th.
**Continued shout out for giant boxes and other cool things. It is getting closer!!!!!
This week:
It was all about sharing and caring, kindness, Valentine's Day and Abraham and George. The students paid special attention this week to their attitudes and actions toward their classmates and teachers. Saying a kind word to someone having a not so good day, offering words of encouragement to a friend, praising someone for a job well done, thanking an adult for a particular lesson were just some of the ways the students celebrated Valentine's Day. The students read about the accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. They studied about what makes a good leader of a country. The students learned that presidents come from all walks of life. They wrote about what they might say in a speech if they were president. Stop by and read them. They are posted on the wall outside of our room. The students created their tri-cornered hats in honor of George and President's Day.
Reading/Social Studies: The students worked to complete Unit 6 Neighborhoods in the Treasures Reading series. This week, we talked about jobs that people in our neighborhoods do. The students accessed prior knowledge about workers that they see in their neighborhood. The students listened to the trade book, "Alicia's Happy Day." As she walks down the street, who and what does Alicia see and hear? Why did Alicia feel happy? The students summarized and retold the story in their own words. We reviewed the target words for this unit--are, for, you.
The students were able to wikkie circle all the target words contained in our rhyme and chant. The students also reviewed the target sounds Dd, Hh, and Rr. Students worked in small groups with words and pictures to create sentences using target words and sound pictures. Each group shared their sentences. The students reviewed what a sentence is. They took turns creating sentences about things in the classroom. Robust Vocabulary for this week included ALERT, JOB, CELEBRATION, PRECISE, REPAIR. We reread "Alicia's Happy Day" to work on comprehension strategies and sequencing events in the story. The students took turns using the retelling cards to retell the story in their own words. Our puppet friend, Mr. Happy, assisted in modeling sound blending techniques using short a words. The students used their word building cards to build words and blend using the an word family. They listened to the folktale, "The Elves and Shoemaker." They discussed the authors message. The students read their paper story, "Are You?" They each read a sentence aloud practicing their fluency. They also reread their story to a partner and talked about how they sounded. The students listened to the expository text, "Is This the Job for You?" and made predictions about story content. The students used their elkonin boxes to sound blend 3-4 phoneme words. The students listened to the folktale, "Why the Moon is in the Sky." This West African tale was told by the Ashanti people. We located Ghana on the world map. We learned about the character, Anansi, the spider. The students responded to the story by discussing the big idea. The students read the decodable story, "Dad Can Pin It On." We took turns reading aloud and discussing story elements and then the students chose a partner to read to. Workstations this week included practice reading and recoding leveled readers, Montessori Crossword app creating short u and ng words and sentences, reading a fantasy leveled reader and writing and drawing about what could not really happen, writing a letter using the words for and you, creating a neighborhood worker puzzle for a friend.
Math: The students worked on following a simple map for in school destinations. They worked in small groups to create a map from a given starting point to a certain destination. They discussed the sequence of events in their daily lives and created a time line of drawings and words to reflect what they do morning, noon and night. The students explored pattern block templates that use internal lines, ones without internal lines and templates that have small pictures that the students cannot build directly onto but next to. It's about visual perception!!! We are continuing to work on place value in the 100's place, writing numbers and being about to tell how many 10's, 1's or 100's a number has. The students worked on measuring length using unifix cubes and measuring from end to end and recording the number. Finally, this week. the students worked on combining sets in our "broken heart" math activity.
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter forms v, w, l. Most students are now able to write their first and last names. We used the writing prompts in our Treasures Series to create lists, write sentences using target vocabulary, use nouns and verbs in our sentence, consistently use a capital letter to begin their sentence and end with a period or question mark, use the lines on their paper to properly place lowercase letters and to space between words in a sentence. The students worked on their creative writing project--If I were the president.....
Science: The students retrieved their bottles that they filled with water from outside. Each table group made and discussed their observations. The water in the bottle froze. Some of the bottles could not stand upright. The foil on the top stuck up more. The ice went past the bottle top. Why? Did something happen to the bottle? Did something happen to the water when it became ice? We discussed the word--expand. When something expands, it becomes bigger. Some students took note that water expands when it freezes. The students reflected on their original predictions. We then left the bottles on the tables for the rest of the day. What happened. Ask your child! Next week--Water as steam.
Technology: The students enjoyed our Eagle Wing DVD selection shown via LCD projector from my computer. The app Montessori Crossword was used to create and sound blend words in the short u and ng word families in reading. Students also recorded their own reading with a new app that lets us record more lengthier stories for fluency. In math, the students continue to use the app math bug for addition and subtraction, the app whiteboard, for practicing number writing and the app sam phibian for patterning and sequencing. Our favorite problem solving app continues to be the app labyrinth.
Literature: "Young Abraham Lincoln," "George Washington," African American author Cari Best--"Red Light, Green Light Mom and Me," African American author N. Joy--"Can You Keep a Secret?" "I Love You So Much," "No Matter What," "Wilma Rudolph, Olympic Star," "Kiss, Kiss," "Mouse In Love," "Clifford's Valentine Surprise," "Magic School Bus Has a Heart," "If You Were President," "So You Want to be President?"
**Our Eagle Wing Reward/Celebration was a big hit. The students enjoyed wearing their pajamas, reading to their stuffed animal/doll and viewing the post Valentine's Day DVD, "King Clifford and Be My Valentine." That big red dog sure has a great family!
**Hearing Screening will be held Friday, February 24th from 12 to 12:20 for my class, in the Irving Auditorium.
**A special program on dental care will be held Tuesday, February 21st from 12-12:30 for Kindergarten students in the Irving Auditorium.
**Our class will do our choral reading over the intercom about Ruby Bridges on Thursday, February 24th at 8:10 am.
**The FUN FAIR is almost here!!!! Please join our Irving family for the FUN FAIR on Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. Play games, win prizes, play bingo, dance for desserts, bid on silent auction items, eat food and see who gets the PIES in the FACES!!!!! It is the battle of the genders this year. "Frankie D and the Cuyler Street Boys" vs. "The New Beats" in Irving School's American "PIEDOL" challenge. You know it PIEDOL fans--your favorite judges will be on hand. Go Simon, JLo, Randy, Steven Tyler and special guest Paula Abdul along with host, Ryan Seacrest. Yes, it is true---I will be one of the judges!!! NO, I am not JLO! Come on out and see it for yourself. You will not believe it!!!! Students will be able buy tickets and place money in their favorite challenger jug at lunch and after school all this week. Come, play a game with me (it is a spinning one!!) Check out the extremely cool silent auction items online now. At the auction--bid on me to come to your house and read your child a bedtime story--you name the date and time. FUN! FUN! FUN!
**The new dates for Station Day Volunteers are posted on the blog.
**Spelling City has been updated.
**Check out Senorita Zaragoza's video of our class in action. You can find her link on my blog under "other helpful links" on the left side.
**Report Cards go out Friday, March 16th.
**Continued shout out for giant boxes and other cool things. It is getting closer!!!!!
This week:
It was all about sharing and caring, kindness, Valentine's Day and Abraham and George. The students paid special attention this week to their attitudes and actions toward their classmates and teachers. Saying a kind word to someone having a not so good day, offering words of encouragement to a friend, praising someone for a job well done, thanking an adult for a particular lesson were just some of the ways the students celebrated Valentine's Day. The students read about the accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. They studied about what makes a good leader of a country. The students learned that presidents come from all walks of life. They wrote about what they might say in a speech if they were president. Stop by and read them. They are posted on the wall outside of our room. The students created their tri-cornered hats in honor of George and President's Day.
Reading/Social Studies: The students worked to complete Unit 6 Neighborhoods in the Treasures Reading series. This week, we talked about jobs that people in our neighborhoods do. The students accessed prior knowledge about workers that they see in their neighborhood. The students listened to the trade book, "Alicia's Happy Day." As she walks down the street, who and what does Alicia see and hear? Why did Alicia feel happy? The students summarized and retold the story in their own words. We reviewed the target words for this unit--are, for, you.
The students were able to wikkie circle all the target words contained in our rhyme and chant. The students also reviewed the target sounds Dd, Hh, and Rr. Students worked in small groups with words and pictures to create sentences using target words and sound pictures. Each group shared their sentences. The students reviewed what a sentence is. They took turns creating sentences about things in the classroom. Robust Vocabulary for this week included ALERT, JOB, CELEBRATION, PRECISE, REPAIR. We reread "Alicia's Happy Day" to work on comprehension strategies and sequencing events in the story. The students took turns using the retelling cards to retell the story in their own words. Our puppet friend, Mr. Happy, assisted in modeling sound blending techniques using short a words. The students used their word building cards to build words and blend using the an word family. They listened to the folktale, "The Elves and Shoemaker." They discussed the authors message. The students read their paper story, "Are You?" They each read a sentence aloud practicing their fluency. They also reread their story to a partner and talked about how they sounded. The students listened to the expository text, "Is This the Job for You?" and made predictions about story content. The students used their elkonin boxes to sound blend 3-4 phoneme words. The students listened to the folktale, "Why the Moon is in the Sky." This West African tale was told by the Ashanti people. We located Ghana on the world map. We learned about the character, Anansi, the spider. The students responded to the story by discussing the big idea. The students read the decodable story, "Dad Can Pin It On." We took turns reading aloud and discussing story elements and then the students chose a partner to read to. Workstations this week included practice reading and recoding leveled readers, Montessori Crossword app creating short u and ng words and sentences, reading a fantasy leveled reader and writing and drawing about what could not really happen, writing a letter using the words for and you, creating a neighborhood worker puzzle for a friend.
Math: The students worked on following a simple map for in school destinations. They worked in small groups to create a map from a given starting point to a certain destination. They discussed the sequence of events in their daily lives and created a time line of drawings and words to reflect what they do morning, noon and night. The students explored pattern block templates that use internal lines, ones without internal lines and templates that have small pictures that the students cannot build directly onto but next to. It's about visual perception!!! We are continuing to work on place value in the 100's place, writing numbers and being about to tell how many 10's, 1's or 100's a number has. The students worked on measuring length using unifix cubes and measuring from end to end and recording the number. Finally, this week. the students worked on combining sets in our "broken heart" math activity.
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter forms v, w, l. Most students are now able to write their first and last names. We used the writing prompts in our Treasures Series to create lists, write sentences using target vocabulary, use nouns and verbs in our sentence, consistently use a capital letter to begin their sentence and end with a period or question mark, use the lines on their paper to properly place lowercase letters and to space between words in a sentence. The students worked on their creative writing project--If I were the president.....
Science: The students retrieved their bottles that they filled with water from outside. Each table group made and discussed their observations. The water in the bottle froze. Some of the bottles could not stand upright. The foil on the top stuck up more. The ice went past the bottle top. Why? Did something happen to the bottle? Did something happen to the water when it became ice? We discussed the word--expand. When something expands, it becomes bigger. Some students took note that water expands when it freezes. The students reflected on their original predictions. We then left the bottles on the tables for the rest of the day. What happened. Ask your child! Next week--Water as steam.
Technology: The students enjoyed our Eagle Wing DVD selection shown via LCD projector from my computer. The app Montessori Crossword was used to create and sound blend words in the short u and ng word families in reading. Students also recorded their own reading with a new app that lets us record more lengthier stories for fluency. In math, the students continue to use the app math bug for addition and subtraction, the app whiteboard, for practicing number writing and the app sam phibian for patterning and sequencing. Our favorite problem solving app continues to be the app labyrinth.
Literature: "Young Abraham Lincoln," "George Washington," African American author Cari Best--"Red Light, Green Light Mom and Me," African American author N. Joy--"Can You Keep a Secret?" "I Love You So Much," "No Matter What," "Wilma Rudolph, Olympic Star," "Kiss, Kiss," "Mouse In Love," "Clifford's Valentine Surprise," "Magic School Bus Has a Heart," "If You Were President," "So You Want to be President?"
Sunday, February 12, 2012
UPDATES for 2/6-2/10 2012
**We had an absolutely spectacular 100th Day/Valentine's Day Celebration! Thanks to C. Brock, S. Armbruster, G. Quinones-Garcia, T. Naber, I.Henry, H. Hamblin, B. Chyna, C. Bravo, J. Andersson, Lottie's Grandma, special helper, Carly and R. Leveridge for their assistance on our special day. Our "Heart" projects will be on display in the hall for the rest of this week.
**Route to Reading Rotation 6 will begin on Tuesday, February 14th. All students have received notification of assessment of previous skill. This rotation will go down to 3 days a week instead of 4 days. You will receive notification of the skill your child will be working on.
**SPECIAL EAGLE WING REWARD CELEBRATION--The students have received numerous eagle wing achievements these past 2 months. They have decided to combine them all for one big event that will take place on Wednesday, February 15th all afternoon. It's DVD feature, pajama and special stuffed animal/doll afternoon!!! The students can come to school dressed in their pajamas and may bring their favorite stuffed animal/doll to school. We will have a regular morning and our event in the afternoon. Our Friendship Club topic has been caring about others and how you show you care. Our DVD feature will reflect this theme. The students have chosen "King Clifford and Be My Big Red Valentine," by Norman Bridwell. It's Clifford the big red dog!!!
**In Friendship Club, Ms. Kwiatt continued her lessons and activities on being a caring individual. The students wrote caring messages to their friends and families.
**A big congratulations to our new Student Council Reps--Jordan and Reuben! They will attend their first meeting on Tuesday, February 21st.
**Please Note--NO SCHOOL on Monday, February 20th in observance of President's Day.
**Hearing Screening for students will take place on Friday, February 24th probably in the morning.
**The FUN FAIR is coming!!! The FUN FAIR is coming!!! Come play a game with me at the Irving Fun Fair on Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. Play games, dance for desserts, prizes, food and a silent auction. Who will get the annual PIE in the FACE??!!! This year promises to be a year like no other!!! You will have to see it to believe it! As a silent auction item, I will come to your home and read a bedtime story of your child's choice to 2 lucky students. You name the day and time! Don't forget to check out our class CUB'S BASKET. We have many cool things in it for that ultimate CUBS fan.
**Report Cards will go out Friday, March 16th.
**Keep saving those giant boxes, small boxes and other cool things for our space station project after break. I will let you know when you can start bringing them in.
This week:
It was all about 100 and counting by tens! The students began their week with a partner, grouping the items of their choice in groups of ten until they had 100 items. They then labeled each group. We had 100 dinosaurs, 100 pennies, 100 blocks, 100 sticks, 100 black spots, 100 bears, 100 shells, 100 straws, 100 tiles and 100 crayons. Some ambitious students created tally marks in groups of 5 to make 100. Some students also counted by 2's to 100. Impressive! Of course, we counted by 1's to 100 by counting our caterpillar body. The students reflected back to when they first started school and we started with the number 1. Much has changed since then.
The students took a look at a new place to put a number ---100's place. The students worked on writing some 3 digit numbers. The students also began work writing 100 words! Some students are finished and some a quite close. They will finish up this week. Our 100th Day/ Valentine's Day activities included, 100th Day Sign in and Crowns, creating 100 Fruit Loop necklaces, painting 100 spots on the dogs, creating a food grid with 100 food items (yum, ) stamping 100 hearts in their Heart Book with their heart stamper, delivering their valentine's to their friends, guessing how many hearts are in our guessing jar (hint: It is not 100,) playing "Heart to Heart," finding 100 hearts in the hidden picture and reading our valentine's and thanking our friends.....Oh yes.... and enjoying a treat or two! On a more serious note--we began our month long study of famous African Americans. This week they read about the accomplishments of Ruby Bridges. The students were proud to know that a person their own age can affect change in the country. Ruby was very brave. What did she do? We will be doing a choral reading about Ruby Bridges as part of the morning announcements on Thursday, February 23rd. We will discuss what we are going to say and I will send the script home for practice. Look for it this week. The students also read about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. The students were fascinated by the fact that it was not really a railroad but a series of safe homes, places and areas that were used to help slaves escape to the north to freedom.
Reading/Social Studies: The students continued into week 2, Unit 6 Neighborhoods in our Treasures Reading Series. The students accessed prior knowledge about places in their neighborhood and who you can find there. They worked with providing meaning for the words community and workers. They listened to the Big Book story, "Bus Stops." The students predicted what the story could be about and were asked to listen for what happens during the beginning , middle and ending as I read the story. The students made connections about the places in the story and how they relate to their own community. Who got off the bus? For and you were the sight words introduced this week. One student wikkie circled for, you and are in our rhyme and chant about a dinosaur. The students worked in small groups to create and read sentences using all the words and pictures presented thus far. Our target sounds this week are Dd and Rr. The students worked with the sound toys to reinforce the target sounds. The students reviewed the parts of a sentence. (naming and telling) The students re read the story, "Bus Stops," and worked on story elements and phonics. They discussed what could be the main idea. The students worked on sound blending skills using their elkonin boxes. Our puppet friend, Mr. Happy, assisted the students as they worked on word building with their letter cards. The students read the decodable story, "Rod Can See It." They first made predictions about story content. They worked on sound blending in their first read through. Robust vocabulary for this week included ADMIRE, DELIVER, SCHEDULE, COMMUNITY and WORKER. The students listened to the vocabulary story, "Acrefoot, the Barefoot Mailman." They made predictions about story content. The students responded to the poem, "The Park." The students listened to the poem and made a picture in their mind of the park. The students retold parts of the poem. The students read their paper story, "For You." They each read aloud and practiced their fluency. We then read as a group, chorally and reviewed our sight words presented. The students added to our neighborhood word web and created a Venn diagram about similarities and differences between hospitals and schools. The students reread the story, "Rod Can See It" with a partner and quizzed each other on story elements. The students continued to work on segmenting 3-4 phoneme words. Workstations this week included creating a guidebook about places in their neighborhood, illustrating and writing a sentence about it, word match-matching words that have the same beginning sound and recording them on paper, Reader's Response--leveled reader reading, sharing with a partner and filling out the Reader's Checklist, Map it Out--small group drawing of a neighborhood, labeling places and things and Sight Word Practice--using the app Magnetic Letters to practice writing words, recording words and emailing the finished product to me. Ms. Chinn joined our class on Wednesday and worked with a group of readers on comprehension, fluency and a follow up activity.
Math: Many activities surrounding the number 100 were worked on. The students also worked on map skills, measurement and reviewed telling time by the hour and ordering daily events in their lives. The students worked with partners on identifying and extending patterns of their choice and counting pairs of objects. They continue to work on counting and estimation.
Writing: The students continue to work on refining their uppercase letters. We will continue with lowercase letter formation next week. The students worked on writing prompts from the Treasures series including writing simple directions, writing 2 sentences about their neighborhood, writing a caring message to a friend and reflecting on a story read to them. Sentence structure, letter formation, spacing between words in a sentence and placement of words on a given line continue to be stressed. The students are now rereading their sentences before coming to journal conference. We are beginning to proofread what we are writing!
Science: The students began the study of water as ice. The students prepared their containers for Experiment 9 by filling them with water using a funnel. They carefully took turns filling the container until it reached the very top. One student covered the top with a piece of aluminum foil. We set them outside for the weekend. Students made predictions in their science journal about what they thought might happen. Will it freeze and turn to ice? Will the temperature be optimum (32 or lower) in order for freezing to occur? What about the foil on the top? What about the container? What do you think about that? Stay tuned!
Technology: In the area of reading, the student small groups used the app Magnetic Letters to practice writing and saying their sight words and emailing them for me to hear and see. Individuals and pairs of students worked on the apps Sound Sort and Montessori Crossword to reinforce sound foundation and sound blending skills. In the of math, the students worked with partners using the app Doodle Buddy to tally objects by 10's, 5's and 2's.
Literature: "The 100th Day," "100 Hungry Ants," "I'll Teach my Dog 100 Words," "100 Day Worries," "The Big Heart," "Love Splat," "One Hundred Shoes." "The Story of Ruby Bridges," "Harriet Tubman," "Fluffy's 100th Day at School" chapter 1.
**Route to Reading Rotation 6 will begin on Tuesday, February 14th. All students have received notification of assessment of previous skill. This rotation will go down to 3 days a week instead of 4 days. You will receive notification of the skill your child will be working on.
**SPECIAL EAGLE WING REWARD CELEBRATION--The students have received numerous eagle wing achievements these past 2 months. They have decided to combine them all for one big event that will take place on Wednesday, February 15th all afternoon. It's DVD feature, pajama and special stuffed animal/doll afternoon!!! The students can come to school dressed in their pajamas and may bring their favorite stuffed animal/doll to school. We will have a regular morning and our event in the afternoon. Our Friendship Club topic has been caring about others and how you show you care. Our DVD feature will reflect this theme. The students have chosen "King Clifford and Be My Big Red Valentine," by Norman Bridwell. It's Clifford the big red dog!!!
**In Friendship Club, Ms. Kwiatt continued her lessons and activities on being a caring individual. The students wrote caring messages to their friends and families.
**A big congratulations to our new Student Council Reps--Jordan and Reuben! They will attend their first meeting on Tuesday, February 21st.
**Please Note--NO SCHOOL on Monday, February 20th in observance of President's Day.
**Hearing Screening for students will take place on Friday, February 24th probably in the morning.
**The FUN FAIR is coming!!! The FUN FAIR is coming!!! Come play a game with me at the Irving Fun Fair on Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. Play games, dance for desserts, prizes, food and a silent auction. Who will get the annual PIE in the FACE??!!! This year promises to be a year like no other!!! You will have to see it to believe it! As a silent auction item, I will come to your home and read a bedtime story of your child's choice to 2 lucky students. You name the day and time! Don't forget to check out our class CUB'S BASKET. We have many cool things in it for that ultimate CUBS fan.
**Report Cards will go out Friday, March 16th.
**Keep saving those giant boxes, small boxes and other cool things for our space station project after break. I will let you know when you can start bringing them in.
This week:
It was all about 100 and counting by tens! The students began their week with a partner, grouping the items of their choice in groups of ten until they had 100 items. They then labeled each group. We had 100 dinosaurs, 100 pennies, 100 blocks, 100 sticks, 100 black spots, 100 bears, 100 shells, 100 straws, 100 tiles and 100 crayons. Some ambitious students created tally marks in groups of 5 to make 100. Some students also counted by 2's to 100. Impressive! Of course, we counted by 1's to 100 by counting our caterpillar body. The students reflected back to when they first started school and we started with the number 1. Much has changed since then.
The students took a look at a new place to put a number ---100's place. The students worked on writing some 3 digit numbers. The students also began work writing 100 words! Some students are finished and some a quite close. They will finish up this week. Our 100th Day/ Valentine's Day activities included, 100th Day Sign in and Crowns, creating 100 Fruit Loop necklaces, painting 100 spots on the dogs, creating a food grid with 100 food items (yum, ) stamping 100 hearts in their Heart Book with their heart stamper, delivering their valentine's to their friends, guessing how many hearts are in our guessing jar (hint: It is not 100,) playing "Heart to Heart," finding 100 hearts in the hidden picture and reading our valentine's and thanking our friends.....Oh yes.... and enjoying a treat or two! On a more serious note--we began our month long study of famous African Americans. This week they read about the accomplishments of Ruby Bridges. The students were proud to know that a person their own age can affect change in the country. Ruby was very brave. What did she do? We will be doing a choral reading about Ruby Bridges as part of the morning announcements on Thursday, February 23rd. We will discuss what we are going to say and I will send the script home for practice. Look for it this week. The students also read about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. The students were fascinated by the fact that it was not really a railroad but a series of safe homes, places and areas that were used to help slaves escape to the north to freedom.
Reading/Social Studies: The students continued into week 2, Unit 6 Neighborhoods in our Treasures Reading Series. The students accessed prior knowledge about places in their neighborhood and who you can find there. They worked with providing meaning for the words community and workers. They listened to the Big Book story, "Bus Stops." The students predicted what the story could be about and were asked to listen for what happens during the beginning , middle and ending as I read the story. The students made connections about the places in the story and how they relate to their own community. Who got off the bus? For and you were the sight words introduced this week. One student wikkie circled for, you and are in our rhyme and chant about a dinosaur. The students worked in small groups to create and read sentences using all the words and pictures presented thus far. Our target sounds this week are Dd and Rr. The students worked with the sound toys to reinforce the target sounds. The students reviewed the parts of a sentence. (naming and telling) The students re read the story, "Bus Stops," and worked on story elements and phonics. They discussed what could be the main idea. The students worked on sound blending skills using their elkonin boxes. Our puppet friend, Mr. Happy, assisted the students as they worked on word building with their letter cards. The students read the decodable story, "Rod Can See It." They first made predictions about story content. They worked on sound blending in their first read through. Robust vocabulary for this week included ADMIRE, DELIVER, SCHEDULE, COMMUNITY and WORKER. The students listened to the vocabulary story, "Acrefoot, the Barefoot Mailman." They made predictions about story content. The students responded to the poem, "The Park." The students listened to the poem and made a picture in their mind of the park. The students retold parts of the poem. The students read their paper story, "For You." They each read aloud and practiced their fluency. We then read as a group, chorally and reviewed our sight words presented. The students added to our neighborhood word web and created a Venn diagram about similarities and differences between hospitals and schools. The students reread the story, "Rod Can See It" with a partner and quizzed each other on story elements. The students continued to work on segmenting 3-4 phoneme words. Workstations this week included creating a guidebook about places in their neighborhood, illustrating and writing a sentence about it, word match-matching words that have the same beginning sound and recording them on paper, Reader's Response--leveled reader reading, sharing with a partner and filling out the Reader's Checklist, Map it Out--small group drawing of a neighborhood, labeling places and things and Sight Word Practice--using the app Magnetic Letters to practice writing words, recording words and emailing the finished product to me. Ms. Chinn joined our class on Wednesday and worked with a group of readers on comprehension, fluency and a follow up activity.
Math: Many activities surrounding the number 100 were worked on. The students also worked on map skills, measurement and reviewed telling time by the hour and ordering daily events in their lives. The students worked with partners on identifying and extending patterns of their choice and counting pairs of objects. They continue to work on counting and estimation.
Writing: The students continue to work on refining their uppercase letters. We will continue with lowercase letter formation next week. The students worked on writing prompts from the Treasures series including writing simple directions, writing 2 sentences about their neighborhood, writing a caring message to a friend and reflecting on a story read to them. Sentence structure, letter formation, spacing between words in a sentence and placement of words on a given line continue to be stressed. The students are now rereading their sentences before coming to journal conference. We are beginning to proofread what we are writing!
Science: The students began the study of water as ice. The students prepared their containers for Experiment 9 by filling them with water using a funnel. They carefully took turns filling the container until it reached the very top. One student covered the top with a piece of aluminum foil. We set them outside for the weekend. Students made predictions in their science journal about what they thought might happen. Will it freeze and turn to ice? Will the temperature be optimum (32 or lower) in order for freezing to occur? What about the foil on the top? What about the container? What do you think about that? Stay tuned!
Technology: In the area of reading, the student small groups used the app Magnetic Letters to practice writing and saying their sight words and emailing them for me to hear and see. Individuals and pairs of students worked on the apps Sound Sort and Montessori Crossword to reinforce sound foundation and sound blending skills. In the of math, the students worked with partners using the app Doodle Buddy to tally objects by 10's, 5's and 2's.
Literature: "The 100th Day," "100 Hungry Ants," "I'll Teach my Dog 100 Words," "100 Day Worries," "The Big Heart," "Love Splat," "One Hundred Shoes." "The Story of Ruby Bridges," "Harriet Tubman," "Fluffy's 100th Day at School" chapter 1.
Friday, February 3, 2012
UPDATES for 1/30-2/3 2012
**Thanks for your participation at Parent/Teacher Conferences. It was great to meet with all of you and share your child's progress. So much social and cognitive development has taken place since the beginning of the year. As your child's first teachers, I applaud YOU in setting the foundation!
**Our 100th Day/Valentine's Day Celebration is Friday, February 10th from 1:00-2:55 pm. Volunteers have received written notification. Of course, the more, the merrier! Along with their "HEART" project, don't forget to send in a picture of a 100 day old baby and a picture of a 100 year old person. We are also having an early Valentine's Day, so a valentine is also needed for each student in the class. Please keep in mind our NO NUT/NUT PRODUCTS and DAIRY FREE restrictions when sending in a treat.
**Time got away from us this week and we did not choose our new reps for Student Council. We will choose them on Monday. The first meeting is February 21st.
**Next week will be an assessment week for Route to Reading Rotation 5.
**Please Note--NO SCHOOL on Monday, February 20th in observance of President's Day.
**The FUN FAIR is coming!! The FUN FAIR is coming!! Play a game with me on Saturday, February, 26th from 11-3 pm at Irving School. There will be games, fun, prizes, dancing for desserts, a silent auction, food. It's a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon and raise money for Irving School. Our classroom donated CUBS BASKET is really turning out to be something! Thanks to L. Waste for organizing it and thanks to all of you who have contributed. Oh----There will be something REALLY COOL going on for the Pie in the Face Contest. You will have to see it to believe it!!!!
This week:
It was all about Bubbles part 2 and groundhogs Punxsutawney Phil vs. Woodstock Willy--early spring or six more weeks of winter??? How about Bubbles part 2 to start. Bubbles were back by popular demand! We also had many students absent last week and I wanted everyone to experiment with the bubble solution. This time, the temperature outside was warmer so no frozen bubbles. The students observed what happens when bubbles bump into each other. Some students noted that the bubbles seemed to bounce away. Others noted that some of the bubbles stuck together. It was great fun to watch a bubble hit the concrete. It popped and a wet spot was left. Why? A question to ponder. Once again the bubble machine was in action. tons of bubbles and 19 kindergartners running in all directions trying to chase them down. Fun!
On Groundhog Day, the students listened to the tale of the groundhog story. It appeared that we would have 6 more weeks of winter if you saw Punxsutawney Phil on T. V. .....but wait....what about a groundhog closer to home (Woodstock, Illinois)---What did Woodstock Willy see...or not see? He did not see his shadow! Great discussion about the two different results. Why was it different? We looked on our map and found Illinois and Pennsylvania. Students volunteered to share what they were thinking. We took a look at the weather of the day in each state and .......cloudy in Illinois......sunny in Pennsylvania......What is the connection??? Many students noted that the weather is different in different parts of the country and sometimes even different parts of the state. We took a vote about which groundhog to support. Though we haven't had a bad winter (knock on wood,) the majority of students voted for an early spring. Let's see how it plays out!!!!
Reading/Social Studies: The students began Unit 6 Neighborhoods in our Treasures Reading Series. They accessed some prior knowledge about what a neighbor is and what a neighborhood is. The students made a group list of places and things that a neighborhood might have. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Russ and the Firehouse." We reviewed the word expository (information) text. The students were reminded to think about story elements as I read the story. Who is Russ? What is he doing at the firehouse? Why is he there?
Our new sight word is are. The students added it to their growing sight word list. The students read a Rhyme and Chyme about a hippo and one student placed a wickie circle on all the are words. Our target sound this week was Hh. The students used the photo cards to identify all the pictures with the Hh sound. We used the sound toys to sort by exclusion all the ones that started with our target sound. Our Robust Vocabulary this week included the words NEIGHBORHOOD, EQUIPMENT. In the second reading of our story, students told what they thought the main idea could be and recalled details about the work Russ did at the firehouse. The students summarized the events in the story using the retelling cards. Our puppet, Mr. Happy guided the students through a sound blending exercise. The students then used their elkonin sound boxes to isolate each individual sound in their practice words. The students read the decodable story, "Are Caps Hats?" They made predictions about story content. Each student had a chance to read a page. Some questions to ponder--Could the group hear you? Did you stop at each ending mark? Did you pause at a comma? Were you able to sound blend the phonemes to say the word? Did your reading sound choppy or smooth? The students chose a partner to reread the story to. They each recorded a page of their reading and played it back to hear how they sounded. They discussed with their partner the Reader's Checklist. They wrote down their responses. Workstation activities this week included Word Family Fun--where you chose from the word family cards--an, at, on, ot, in, it---added a single consonant, blend or digraph to create a word and write it on you paper--10 words to create and a sentence, Montessori Crossword skill groups working on sound blending words--long e, short i and ch, tool talk where students grouped tools 3 different ways and then drew a picture of someone using the tool and writing a sentence about it and writing about neighborhood places using the sentence starter--I go to....... and drawing a picture to go with it.
Writing: The students reviewed how to write a sentence. It names and tells. They wrote sentences in their journal about their Treasures story, "Russ and the Firehouse." The students also began to work on simple prepositions--for, on, at and in and include them in their journal entries. The students had great fun revisiting the use of speech bubbles in writing dialogue. They drew pictures in their journal and created speech bubbles to show what they said. The students continue to work on Magic "C" lowercase letters c, d, o, a, g, s.
Math: The students began lessons on nonstandard measurement and standard measurement. They listened to the story, "How Big is Big?" We took a look at how the term "feet" and its origin. The students made a foot 12 inches long. We also looked at a ruler. We discussed feet and inch as standard units of measure. The students experimented using the feet to "measure" the distance around a table. how long a classmate was, how tall a book was. The students created "beds" around their friend. We recorded our results on chart paper and the students began to think about marking off length, measuring from heel to toe in order to get a uniform count. The students also took a look at rulers and yardsticks. They are also working on counting by 10's to 100 and grouping items by 10"s and 1's and recoding the number. The students counted by 1's to 95. When looking at the numbers in order--do you notice any patterns?
Science: We continued our bubble experiments. The students partnered up as one student blew a bubble and other tried to catch it.....first with a dry hand and then with a hand that had sopay water on it. Is it easy or hard to catch a bubble with a dry hand? Students noted that the bubble popped pretty quickly. What about with a wet hand? Some students noted it was easier with a wet, soapy hand. Why? Students were on the money when explaining they know bubbles stuck to each other---perhaps because they were both wet........water sticks to water......Trying to catch bubbles with a dry hand means, the bubble might dry out quicker...pop! Lots to write and draw about in their science journal. Next week the students will explore water as ice.
Technology: In reading, the student small groups use the app Montessori Crossword to work on sound blending skills and word structure of silent e, short i and the digraph ch. The app ITALK was used to record partner reading for fluency and discussion. Students continue to use the app Magnetic Letters to create sentences using proper spacing, grammar and punctuation. In math, the app Labyrinth, Monster Squeeze and Math Bug were used by individual students, partners and small groups. Students continue to enjoy the challenge of TanZen.
Literature: "Water Can Change." How Big is Big?" "RRRalph." "E-mergency!" "How Big Am I?" "Press Here," "Little Penguins Tale," "Owl Moon."
**Our 100th Day/Valentine's Day Celebration is Friday, February 10th from 1:00-2:55 pm. Volunteers have received written notification. Of course, the more, the merrier! Along with their "HEART" project, don't forget to send in a picture of a 100 day old baby and a picture of a 100 year old person. We are also having an early Valentine's Day, so a valentine is also needed for each student in the class. Please keep in mind our NO NUT/NUT PRODUCTS and DAIRY FREE restrictions when sending in a treat.
**Time got away from us this week and we did not choose our new reps for Student Council. We will choose them on Monday. The first meeting is February 21st.
**Next week will be an assessment week for Route to Reading Rotation 5.
**Please Note--NO SCHOOL on Monday, February 20th in observance of President's Day.
**The FUN FAIR is coming!! The FUN FAIR is coming!! Play a game with me on Saturday, February, 26th from 11-3 pm at Irving School. There will be games, fun, prizes, dancing for desserts, a silent auction, food. It's a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon and raise money for Irving School. Our classroom donated CUBS BASKET is really turning out to be something! Thanks to L. Waste for organizing it and thanks to all of you who have contributed. Oh----There will be something REALLY COOL going on for the Pie in the Face Contest. You will have to see it to believe it!!!!
This week:
It was all about Bubbles part 2 and groundhogs Punxsutawney Phil vs. Woodstock Willy--early spring or six more weeks of winter??? How about Bubbles part 2 to start. Bubbles were back by popular demand! We also had many students absent last week and I wanted everyone to experiment with the bubble solution. This time, the temperature outside was warmer so no frozen bubbles. The students observed what happens when bubbles bump into each other. Some students noted that the bubbles seemed to bounce away. Others noted that some of the bubbles stuck together. It was great fun to watch a bubble hit the concrete. It popped and a wet spot was left. Why? A question to ponder. Once again the bubble machine was in action. tons of bubbles and 19 kindergartners running in all directions trying to chase them down. Fun!
On Groundhog Day, the students listened to the tale of the groundhog story. It appeared that we would have 6 more weeks of winter if you saw Punxsutawney Phil on T. V. .....but wait....what about a groundhog closer to home (Woodstock, Illinois)---What did Woodstock Willy see...or not see? He did not see his shadow! Great discussion about the two different results. Why was it different? We looked on our map and found Illinois and Pennsylvania. Students volunteered to share what they were thinking. We took a look at the weather of the day in each state and .......cloudy in Illinois......sunny in Pennsylvania......What is the connection??? Many students noted that the weather is different in different parts of the country and sometimes even different parts of the state. We took a vote about which groundhog to support. Though we haven't had a bad winter (knock on wood,) the majority of students voted for an early spring. Let's see how it plays out!!!!
Reading/Social Studies: The students began Unit 6 Neighborhoods in our Treasures Reading Series. They accessed some prior knowledge about what a neighbor is and what a neighborhood is. The students made a group list of places and things that a neighborhood might have. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Russ and the Firehouse." We reviewed the word expository (information) text. The students were reminded to think about story elements as I read the story. Who is Russ? What is he doing at the firehouse? Why is he there?
Our new sight word is are. The students added it to their growing sight word list. The students read a Rhyme and Chyme about a hippo and one student placed a wickie circle on all the are words. Our target sound this week was Hh. The students used the photo cards to identify all the pictures with the Hh sound. We used the sound toys to sort by exclusion all the ones that started with our target sound. Our Robust Vocabulary this week included the words NEIGHBORHOOD, EQUIPMENT. In the second reading of our story, students told what they thought the main idea could be and recalled details about the work Russ did at the firehouse. The students summarized the events in the story using the retelling cards. Our puppet, Mr. Happy guided the students through a sound blending exercise. The students then used their elkonin sound boxes to isolate each individual sound in their practice words. The students read the decodable story, "Are Caps Hats?" They made predictions about story content. Each student had a chance to read a page. Some questions to ponder--Could the group hear you? Did you stop at each ending mark? Did you pause at a comma? Were you able to sound blend the phonemes to say the word? Did your reading sound choppy or smooth? The students chose a partner to reread the story to. They each recorded a page of their reading and played it back to hear how they sounded. They discussed with their partner the Reader's Checklist. They wrote down their responses. Workstation activities this week included Word Family Fun--where you chose from the word family cards--an, at, on, ot, in, it---added a single consonant, blend or digraph to create a word and write it on you paper--10 words to create and a sentence, Montessori Crossword skill groups working on sound blending words--long e, short i and ch, tool talk where students grouped tools 3 different ways and then drew a picture of someone using the tool and writing a sentence about it and writing about neighborhood places using the sentence starter--I go to....... and drawing a picture to go with it.
Writing: The students reviewed how to write a sentence. It names and tells. They wrote sentences in their journal about their Treasures story, "Russ and the Firehouse." The students also began to work on simple prepositions--for, on, at and in and include them in their journal entries. The students had great fun revisiting the use of speech bubbles in writing dialogue. They drew pictures in their journal and created speech bubbles to show what they said. The students continue to work on Magic "C" lowercase letters c, d, o, a, g, s.
Math: The students began lessons on nonstandard measurement and standard measurement. They listened to the story, "How Big is Big?" We took a look at how the term "feet" and its origin. The students made a foot 12 inches long. We also looked at a ruler. We discussed feet and inch as standard units of measure. The students experimented using the feet to "measure" the distance around a table. how long a classmate was, how tall a book was. The students created "beds" around their friend. We recorded our results on chart paper and the students began to think about marking off length, measuring from heel to toe in order to get a uniform count. The students also took a look at rulers and yardsticks. They are also working on counting by 10's to 100 and grouping items by 10"s and 1's and recoding the number. The students counted by 1's to 95. When looking at the numbers in order--do you notice any patterns?
Science: We continued our bubble experiments. The students partnered up as one student blew a bubble and other tried to catch it.....first with a dry hand and then with a hand that had sopay water on it. Is it easy or hard to catch a bubble with a dry hand? Students noted that the bubble popped pretty quickly. What about with a wet hand? Some students noted it was easier with a wet, soapy hand. Why? Students were on the money when explaining they know bubbles stuck to each other---perhaps because they were both wet........water sticks to water......Trying to catch bubbles with a dry hand means, the bubble might dry out quicker...pop! Lots to write and draw about in their science journal. Next week the students will explore water as ice.
Technology: In reading, the student small groups use the app Montessori Crossword to work on sound blending skills and word structure of silent e, short i and the digraph ch. The app ITALK was used to record partner reading for fluency and discussion. Students continue to use the app Magnetic Letters to create sentences using proper spacing, grammar and punctuation. In math, the app Labyrinth, Monster Squeeze and Math Bug were used by individual students, partners and small groups. Students continue to enjoy the challenge of TanZen.
Literature: "Water Can Change." How Big is Big?" "RRRalph." "E-mergency!" "How Big Am I?" "Press Here," "Little Penguins Tale," "Owl Moon."
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