Friday, February 1, 2013

UPDATES for 1/22-1/25 and 1/28-2/1 2013

**Greetings!  I will catch you up on all that has happened in the past 2 weeks.  Thanks so much for your patience!  It has been an incredibly busy 2 weeks for me and my energetic class!  Thanks for your participation at Parent/Teacher Conferences.  It was great to chat with all of you and share your child's progress.  It is hard to believe that it is February.
**Our 100th Day Celebration was fabulous!  The students were engaged in a number of activities surrounding the number 100.  The students really enjoyed all the activities.  Our day was double the fun with the celebration of Will's birthday.  A HUGE thank you to all our parent volunteers!  What a spectacular turnout!  Check your child's backpack for homework fun over the weekend.  Remember, you can always click on the "click here for assignments" link below my name.
**The FUN FAIR is coming!!  The FUN FAIR is coming!!  Play a game with me on Saturday, February, 23rd from 11-3 pm at Irving School.  There will be games, prizes, dancing for desserts, a silent auction and food.  It's a great way to spend the day!  Don't forget to contribute to our class gift basket.  Our theme is INDOOR FUN!  Donations and items can be dropped off in our classroom.  Thanks to our great room parents  for organizing it. 
**We will be having a Valentine's Day Party.  I will send you the details soon.
**Route to Reading Rotation 5 is in full swing.  You should have received notification of your child's skill level.  Email me if you did not.
**Young Scientist Conference is Saturday, February 23rd at Mann School.
**Family Reading Night Celebrating Dr. Seuss will be held on Thursday, February 28th from 6:30-7:30 pm in various classrooms around the school.  See sign up sheet on line. 
**No School February 18th in observance of President's Day.
**Continue saving those giant boxes and other cool stuff for our April space station project.
The past 2 weeks:
 Where do I begin......It was about so many things.......Water, Sink and Float, Bubbles, Ice, 100, counting by 10's, prep for 100's Day and Punxsutawney Phil.  Will he see his shadow???  The students created a sign in chart and it is pretty evenly split.  Listen to the news on Saturday to find out the result.  We used Weatherground on our computer to check weather around the states.  The students commented that while it may be cloudy in Pennsylvania, it may be sunny here in Oak Park.  Let's wait and see!  We tracked the rain storm and learned about the colors that denote super heavy rain.  The students observed frozen bubbles and a bubble machine that would not spin (frozen!)  Station day activities  included word wheel and sentence writing, word search and word writing activity, color the code snowflake and the Snowman adding game.
Reading/Social Studies:    The students worked to complete Unit 5 Animals in our Treasures Reading series.  The students talked and read about animal habitats.  They accessed prior knowledge about animal homes they knew of.  The students listened to the story, "The Mole and the Baby Bird."  They looked at the cover picture and made predictions about story content.  The students recognized the characters and the plot of the story. They made connections in their own lives of having and wanting a pet and the care involved.  The students reviewed the sight words is and play.  We played sight word bingo and students partnered up to create sentences using their sight words and pictures.  The students "walked" all the words that have been presented thus far.  The students reviewed the target sounds Ff and Oo.  We also reviewed all the target sounds presented.  Our Robust Vocabulary included HABITAT, RESPONSIBILITY, BENEATH, RAISE, ENTER.  The story was re read and the students were asked to think about the story elements.  The students took turns using the retelling cards to retell the story.  The students used their elkonin boxes to segment the sounds in 3-4 and 5 phoneme words.   The students read the decodable story,  "Tap, Tap, Tap!  They used a graphic organizer in the form of a butterfly to discuss setting (where), time (when), characters (who) and plot (what happened).  Students came up to the board to record the various parts in writing.  I read a selection on the oral vocabulary cards called  "Hidden Homes."  The students discussed what kind of animals might live in habitats we might not see?  Are some of their homes beneath the ground?  The students also listened to the expository text, "At Home in the Rain Forest."  They made predictions about story content and responded with their thoughts.  We had a lively discussion on Wild vs.Domestic animals and how some animals could be both depending upon their situation.  The students also listened to the Mexican folktale, "The Turtle and the Coyote."  We located Mexico on the map.  The students responded to the story and discussed what the big idea was.  They worked on sound spelling CVC words.  They worked to complete their activity books.  Workstation activities included reading about animal homes--drawing a picture of an animal home they read about and writing a sentence about the habitat and sharing their picture and sentence with a partner, reading a leveled reader story as a group--finger pointing each word and then discussing story elements, rhyme it--where you work with a partner to make rhyming pairs of words and then write a pair of sentences that rhyme, word picture web--using the sentence We play and cutting out pictures that describe the sentence and Reader's Checklist where students read to each other--teacher records their reading and the group listens to the play back to critique. 
Math:   The students worked with partners to count out ten groups of ten items of their choice for 100 items total.  We took photographs of their projects and they are posted in the classroom.  The students continue to work on counting to 100.  They worked on their 100 number grid writing.  In our number journals, the students are really beginning to get the idea of my daily number story and are becoming more independent in
listening for vocabulary that will tell if you add or take away, how to illustrate their problem and how to write a number sentence (solution) using a plus/minus and equal sign.  The students continue to explore weights and measurement with scales, building 3 dimensional structures and using ramps and inclines to construct a path for a marble.
Writing:   The students continue to work on "Magic C" lowercase letters c,o,a,d,s.  They practiced using their mini boards,chalk and sponges.  They also practiced in their orange books.  They continue to work on journal prompts and independent reflections.  We have recently begun talking about expanding sentence length and the use of adjectives in their sentences. 
Science:   The students made some great discoveries the past 2 weeks.  In their Sink or Float experiment, the students first made their guess and then took turns dropping the particular items in the water.  They then recorded what actually happened.  I used some big words--displacement (pushing away) and density (measure of mass.)  Some tables had different pencils--eraser or no eraser...Why did one sink and one float?  Why did the cork keep floating even after students pushed it down?  Why did the washer go straight to the bottom?  Lots of discussion.  Their science reflection journals had lots of sketches and thoughts.  In Sink or Float part two, the students, under the direction on Ms. Dennis, were given a piece of aluminum foil and were told to make a boat.  The question posed to them was--"How many marbles will it take to sink your boat?"  The students made their boats and recorded their guess of how many marbles it would take.  The boats were all shapes and sizes.  One student even tried to make seats in theirs!  Each student took their turn and placed their boat in the water and began to put marbles in it.  It was fascinating to watch the strategies---putting them all in the front of the boat---spreading them all out---putting them all in the middle--or no strategy at all!!!  Each student recorded their result and compared it with their guess.  Some students came close--one student was exact--some were very far apart in their guess and actual.  Sophie had the record of 39 marbles before her boat sunk!  It was great fun.  This past week, the students explored BUBBLES.  What makes a bubble?  The students learned that a bubble is a thin layer of liquid (soapy water) that surrounds a gas (air)  The outside layer is like a skin.  The students examined various bubble wands.  Some were circular, heart shaped, triangular and oval.  The question posed to them was "Will the bubbles come the same shape as the wand/"  The students braved the frigid temperatures and with bubble wands and soapy water ventured outside.  The bubbles created were very slow to pop and some "froze" on the wand!  The students observed the watery outer layer.  It was pretty cool!  The students commented that all the bubbles created were round no matter what the shape of the wand was.  For what I thought would be a real treat, I turned on my bubble machine----guess what----the machine could not turn---a frothy mess came out of the machine--no bubbles.  The students were laughing.  It was too cold for my bubble machine.  I guess we will save it for warmer weather.  Back in the warmth of our classroom, the students sketched and wrote about their adventure.  The students are also watching bottles of water and their slow disappearing water. (evaporation)  We also discussed evaporation in relation to how a bubble pops.  The liquid surrounding the gas begins to evaporate and......pop! 
Technology:   In reading, student small groups were aided by the apps Story Kit, Rocket Speller, Sight Word Record and Montessori Crossword-segmenting and blending.  In math the apps Number Find, 100's Board, Math Bug and Underwater Memory Match have been useful tools for small groups and independent study.  In science Weatherunderground and Google Earth have enhanced our studies. 
Literature:   "A Drop of Water-Bubbles,"  "100 Days of School,"  "I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words," "Counting Your Way to the 100th Day"-poetry,  "Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?" "Go to Sleep, Groundhog,"  "Gretchen Groundhog Saves the Day," "The 100th Day of School," "The Biggest Snowball Fight," "Winter Days in the Big Woods," "Curious George, the Snowy Day," "The Special Snowflake," "One Snowy Day," "Weather," "100 Shoes," "Why Does It Float?"  "Sink or Float-All About Water," "Some Things Float."





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