**The FUN FAIR was spectacular! I hope you all had as much fun as I did. I loved running the spinning game. It was also great to see many former Irving students as middle schoolers, teens and adults with children of their own! Our FAMILY GAME NIGHT class basket was wonderful. Once again, thanks to all who donated items. A HUGE SHOUT OUT to Michelle Ahring for putting the basket together. The "exercise class" featuring Irving teachers and run by raffle winning students was super funny. Those teachers need some more exercise time! Mr. Hodge, Ms. Pelling and Ms. Sak were the pie in the face winners! This event represents the Irving community at its best.
**Our Field Trip to the FIELD MUSEUM is TUESDAY, MARCH 7th from 9:30-1:30 pm. Please send in your permission slip and money ASAP! I have L. Dantzler, A. Maldonado as chaperones so far. I really would like to have at least 2 more chaperones so our groups will not be so large. Please consider volunteering. Parents will be able to ride the bus with us. All students need to bring a NUT FREE BAG LUNCH with your NAME ON IT. No glass bottles or lunch boxes please. Chaperones will be taking pictures of exhibits that interest their group. The students will build a writing project around a picture they selected.
**In salute to spring and all things Irish, bagpiper Patrick Lynch will come to Irving on Thursday, March 16th in the afternoon. He will present history behind bagpipe music and show the kids how he puts it all together. At dismissal, Mr. Lynch will give a concert on the black top for the school. Come join us!
**We participated in Ms. Noonan's African American Read In. Our story this week was "Red Light, Green Light Momma and Me.," by Cari Best.
**Bring in any kind of potato (not cooked) for our SUPER TUBER activity on Friday, March 17th. The activity will be done during our station day activities. I have one volunteer. I would love one more! Email me if interested.
**Future Event-The PTO Cultural Enrichment Committee has scheduled an assembly on March 23rd at 9:15 am called, "Justin and Liam." It teaches character education through music and song writing.
**Trimester 2 ends on March 10th.
**Report Cards go home on March 24th.
**Spring Break is 3/27-3/31. School resumes on Monday, April 3rd.
**NO SCHOOL-April 4th-Teacher's Institute Day.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey did a lesson on personal space and introduced the unthinkable, Space Invader who makes a persons body move into someones space and makes them feel uncomfortable. The student saw a webisode about personal space and had a discussion after. The also saw a role playing scene done by myself and Dr. Bell Bey and shared their thoughts.
**In Mr. Packer Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer worked with small groups on positional concepts and direction following.
**Our Second Step Lesson focused on managing anger--anger is a natural feeling--your body lets you know when you are angry--Learning to calm yourself down.
This week:
The students continued with our author study on Mo Willems. We ventured into the world of Elephant and Piggie. The students absolutely love Mo's style of writing and the lessons that are embedded in the stories. Lots of conversation and investigation on different types of fabric in science. Number bond study abounds in Math! Workstations this week included flip tile mats (creating equations to 10) Sentence writing--What does the Pigeon think of Irving School? and building with pattern blocks, count and record two different ways to solve the puzzle.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continued work on Unit 6 Neighborhoods in our Treasures Reading series. They accessed prior knowledge of places in and around their neighborhood. The students listened to the Big Book story,"Bus Stops." They made predictions about story content and listened for what happened at the beginning, middle and ending of the story. They also made connections about places in the story and how they relate to their own community. The student reviewed target words what and that and letter sounds Hh, Dd, Rr and short and long u. Students worked in small groups to create sentences using words and pictures. They also used their elkonin boxes in an activity that worked on sound blending 4-5 sound words. Whole group lessons continue to work on Haggerty Blue Book exercises on consonant blends and digraphs, segmenting, blending sounds, adding, deleting and substituting sounds to create words. Robust Vocabulary for this week included ADMIRE, DELIVER, CELEBRATION, SCHEDULE. Our author study of Mo Willems continues to be lots of fun for the students. The students listened to Mo's Elephant and Piggie stories. They discussed the problems and solutions in the stories, "My Friend is Sad" and "Can I Play Too?" They then set out to write in their own words about the problem and solution in the story of their choice. When listening to the story, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" and "Leonardo the Terrible Monster," the students took a look at repetitive phrases and why the illustrations can be so important to a story. Workstations this week included leveled reader with comprehension check and fluency building, writing about our favorite neighborhood place and why we like it, box it up CVC word activity, cut and paste consonant blends, reading the sentence and color by code, short and long u word sort and building CCVC and CVCC words.
Math: The students continue to work in Module 4 in our Eureka Math series. Their lessons focused on creating a number bond for a given illustration for numbers 6,7,8,9. The students continue to use pictures, cube sticks and other drawings to show their work. They continue to work on math races or sprints to strengthen sequencing, subitizing and number order. Workstations this week included writing numbers to 112, reading and solving addition story problems using ten frames and writing the equation, fluency reading of teen numbers, geometric solids review.
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter formation. They have also started to review uppercase letters on their mini boards. In Writer's Workshop this week, the students continue work on "how to" books but with a little twist. The students began work on writing books on the topic of school--teaching others things they know how to do in reading, science, math, gym, music, lunchtime and any other thing they have learned throughout their school day. We jogged our memories by constructing a "School Day" web of of activities. Lots of great thoughts. Some students have already written about school activities but now all students will write their books on the same topic of school. The students also discussed their day and the activities they did even on the playground, during gym, music and art. Stay tuned.
Science: Our investigations this week centered on the resource--fabric. The students brainstormed and created a chart about what we knew about fabric. It is cloth. We wear it. It can come from a plant or animal. It can even come from oil! The students examined many different kinds of fabric. How are fabrics different? How do they feel? Vocabulary discussed--texture, nubby, rough, scratchy, soft, shiny, smooth, slippery. The students listened to a story about types of fabric. They went on a fabric hunt around the room and recorded their findings in their science notebooks. They also took apart fabric to see the threads. Students used their magnifying glasses to check out different fabrics up close and personal. They chatted at their table about color and feel and pulled apart threads of the fabric. The students also investigated what happens when water is put on fabric. Does the water soak into the fabric? What fabrics absorbed water? Does water "bead up" on any fabric? Students recorded their findings in their science notebooks. Next week--our last investigation of this unit on pushes and pulls.
Technology: Whole group in reading worked on the apps Learn Consonant Blends and Montessori Crosswords for consonant blends, blending and segmenting 3-4 sound words. In math whole group the apps Let's Do Math worked number bonds to 10 and Subitize Tree work on visual number recognition and number patterns. The students viewed Brain Pop Jr. videos on Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver.
Literature: "My Friend Is Sad," Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus," "The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog,""Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late," "The Pigeon Has Feelings Too," "The Duckling Gets A Cookie," "Red Light, Green Light Momma and Me," "Jackie Robinson-A Life of Determination," "Can I Play Too?" "A Look At Maps," poem-"The Park," "In My Neighborhood," "Bus Stops," "What is Fabric Made Of?"
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
UPDATES for 2/13-2/17 2017
**It was great to chat with you and share your child's progress. Thanks much for your continued support. The students surely do shine!!
**Our Valentine Sharing and Caring Party was so special! The students made special Valentine card holders and had special treat bags. It was so much fun to see their treasures and read their Valentines!
**Please don't forget to send the dollar amount of your class basket donation to Ben's mom. (Michelle Ahring) I hear the basket is looking pretty great! Thanks for your donations!!
**The FUN FAIR IS SATURDAY!!! Come one, Come all to the Annual Irving Fun Fair, February 25th from 11-3 pm all over the school. Pre sale tickets will be sold on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at lunchtime and after school in front of the office. They will also be sold the day of the fair. Who will get the PIE IN THE FACE?? Students can bring in their coins to vote beginning Thursday and up until 1:00 pm on Saturday. There is an online silent auction as well as a special teacher donation auction the day of the fair. (BID! BID!--bedtime story at your home and lunch at Junction Diner with me!!!! ) Games, prizes, bouncy house, raffles, bingo, face painting, tattoos, food, dancing for desserts and much more. Come and play the spinning game with me in the gym!! All proceeds from the day will go to Irving School.
**Hearing Screening for Irving students is Friday, February 24th at 10:05 am.
**Declan and Naomi D., our new Student Council reps will attend their first meeting on Tuesday, February 28th.
**Our class continues to participate in the African American Read In. This week, we read and discussed the story, "Ron's Big Mission." It is the story of Astronaut Ron McNair and an event he experienced as a 9 year old going to his neighborhood library. Ask your child about it.
**Permission slip and information about our FIELD TRIP to the FIELD MUSEUM is in your child's backpack. It is Tuesday, March 7th from 9:30-1:30 pm. The cost is $6.00. Please send a BAG LUNCH with NAME on it. It must be NUT FREE. No glass bottles or lunch boxes. I will need 5 chaperones to help out. I have 1 volunteer so far. Email me if interested. The focus of our trip will be for the students to select something interesting to write about. The chaperone can take pictures and email them to me!
**I will begin testing Route to Reading skill levels next week.
**Future Event--Bag Piper- Patrick Lynch will visit the Kindergarten classes on Thursday, March 16th in the afternoon to share and speak about all things bag pipe. He will be giving a concert on the blacktop at dismissal. Let's welcome spring!!
**Future Event--"Super Tuber" Activity (all things potato) on Friday, March 17th during Station Day. I will need 3 volunteers from 1:30-2:00 pm. Email me if interested.
**Future Event--The PTO Cultural Enrichment Committee has scheduled a assembly on March 23rd at 9:15 am called, "Justin and Liam." It teaches character education through music and song writing. **Trimester 2 ends on March 10th. Report Cards go home on Friday, March 24th.
**Spring Break is 3/27-2/31.
**NO SCHOOL--Tuesday, April 4th-Teacher's Institute Day.
**Keep savings those GIANT BOXES and other COOL STUFF for our engineering project in April.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey continued lessons on self regulation and managing feelings.
**In Mr. Packer Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer began a project with the students centering on positional concepts and colored dots. Listen to the script-----move the dots to correct place.
**Our Second Step lesson this week focused on a review of hall way behavior. The students of Ms. Gullo and Ms. Grogan's classes created a poster of what "kindness" looks like in the hallway.
**The students had their final meeting with guest artist, Jonathan Franklin. Their final project was about using negative space and shapes. We have had a great time with Mr. Franklin! Good News!! The Oak Park Education Foundation would like to exhibit our class Symmetry Butterflies at the Village Hall in April. I will be sending more info on this next month. So cool!!
This week:
It was all about our Valentine's Caring and Sharing, beginning our author study on Mo Willems and continuing our science investigation on paper. We took a look at the contributions of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington thru stories and videos and pondered what makes a great leader.
Reading/Language Arts: The students began Unit 6 Neighborhoods in our Treasures Reading series. They accessed prior knowledge about what a neighborhood is and what is included in a neighborhood. The students worked together to create a huge word web of places and things that describe a neighborhood. They listened to the Big Book story, "Russ and the Firehouse." They recognized the story as nonfiction. The students chatted about story elements--Who is Russ? Why is he in the firehouse? What does he do there? The students also retold the story in their own words sequencing events. Target words: what and that. Target sounds this week: Hh, short and long u.
Students worked with partners and practiced asking a WH question about the story and having their partner answer it. During group read aloud, the students read the decodable story, "Are Caps Hats?" The students made predictions about story content. Each student had an opportunity to read aloud. Some questions to pondered--Could the group hear you? Did you stop at the ending mark? Did you pause at the comma? Were you able to blend the sounds together to make a word you didn't know? Was your reading choppy or smooth? The students reading partner listened, discussed and critiqued using the Reader's Checklist. Peers evaluating peers! The students were excited to begin their author study on Mo Willems. His "Pigeon" and "Elephant and Piggy" stories are so cool! The students took a look at some information on how he got started writing and drawing. Speech bubbles--less words--facial and body expressions in drawings--bold letters--lots of feeling!!! We will be taking a look at some websites and interviews with Mo himself. Feel free to check out his website. "Do you think the Pigeon should drive the bus????? Our students said NO!!!! We discussed the WHY and your own thoughts to back it up. Workstations this week included leveled readers, asking and answering questions about a given text, opinion writing, short and long vowel sort, creating CVC words, adding and deleting sounds to create words, sentence completion and reading short sentences.
Math: The students continued work in Module 4 working on creating number bonds for a given illustration using numbers 1-10. They also worked on telling their partner a story about an illustration and seeing the number bond their partner came up with. The students worked on an app called Butterfly Math projected on the board. It was great practice in finding the sum and missing addend. Key concept words--plus, equal, addend, sum, horizontal addition and vertical addition. This week the students also worked on subtraction or taking away. We are using concrete counters and pictures in our learning. Workstations for this week included writing to 110, finding the missing addend, tally mark addition, roll and add, decomposing teen numbers as 10 and what is left over.
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter formation. This week, they reviewed what they know so far and practiced on their mini boards. In Writer's Workshop this week, the students continue to work on their "how to" books. The teaching point this week was to elaborate or add tips and warnings. They do this by thinking about how the learner could go wrong and then adding advice to keep that from happening. We took a look at some mentor texts and read things like--"Don't forget to....." "Be sure to......." The students and their writing partners chose one of their stories and acted it out to see if it needed any warnings or tips. It is really so inspiring to see these students work with partners and hear their suggestions.
Science: Our investigations this week centered on the resource--paper. The students brainstormed and we created a chart about what we know about paper. It comes from wood--many objects are made out of paper--some paper looks different from other paper--paper can be useful--sometimes paper can change--paper can be reused and recycled. The students looks for paper samples throughout our classroom. They used different kinds of paper and experimented with markers, pens and pencils on types of paper. What makes paper good for writing? They also investigated what happens when certain kinds of paper get wet? Some paper adsorbs water, some does not. Some types of paper change what water gets on it. Some types of paper break down. The student recorded their findings in their science notebooks. Next week---fabric!
Technology: In reading whole group students used the app Oz Phonics to work on CVC words, consonant blends, word order and missing sounds. We used BrainPop to seek out information on Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, the Presidency and the African American author, Eloise Greenfield. We used the internet to gain more information on author and illustrator Mo Willems.
Literature: "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus," "Abe Lincoln's Hat," "The Story of George Washington," "If You Lived in the Time of Abraham Lincoln," "Will You Be My Valentine," "Night on Neighborhood Street," "Ron's Big Mission," "Harriet Tubman," "A Train Without Tracks," "Author's great Big Valentine."
**Our Valentine Sharing and Caring Party was so special! The students made special Valentine card holders and had special treat bags. It was so much fun to see their treasures and read their Valentines!
**Please don't forget to send the dollar amount of your class basket donation to Ben's mom. (Michelle Ahring) I hear the basket is looking pretty great! Thanks for your donations!!
**The FUN FAIR IS SATURDAY!!! Come one, Come all to the Annual Irving Fun Fair, February 25th from 11-3 pm all over the school. Pre sale tickets will be sold on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at lunchtime and after school in front of the office. They will also be sold the day of the fair. Who will get the PIE IN THE FACE?? Students can bring in their coins to vote beginning Thursday and up until 1:00 pm on Saturday. There is an online silent auction as well as a special teacher donation auction the day of the fair. (BID! BID!--bedtime story at your home and lunch at Junction Diner with me!!!! ) Games, prizes, bouncy house, raffles, bingo, face painting, tattoos, food, dancing for desserts and much more. Come and play the spinning game with me in the gym!! All proceeds from the day will go to Irving School.
**Hearing Screening for Irving students is Friday, February 24th at 10:05 am.
**Declan and Naomi D., our new Student Council reps will attend their first meeting on Tuesday, February 28th.
**Our class continues to participate in the African American Read In. This week, we read and discussed the story, "Ron's Big Mission." It is the story of Astronaut Ron McNair and an event he experienced as a 9 year old going to his neighborhood library. Ask your child about it.
**Permission slip and information about our FIELD TRIP to the FIELD MUSEUM is in your child's backpack. It is Tuesday, March 7th from 9:30-1:30 pm. The cost is $6.00. Please send a BAG LUNCH with NAME on it. It must be NUT FREE. No glass bottles or lunch boxes. I will need 5 chaperones to help out. I have 1 volunteer so far. Email me if interested. The focus of our trip will be for the students to select something interesting to write about. The chaperone can take pictures and email them to me!
**I will begin testing Route to Reading skill levels next week.
**Future Event--Bag Piper- Patrick Lynch will visit the Kindergarten classes on Thursday, March 16th in the afternoon to share and speak about all things bag pipe. He will be giving a concert on the blacktop at dismissal. Let's welcome spring!!
**Future Event--"Super Tuber" Activity (all things potato) on Friday, March 17th during Station Day. I will need 3 volunteers from 1:30-2:00 pm. Email me if interested.
**Future Event--The PTO Cultural Enrichment Committee has scheduled a assembly on March 23rd at 9:15 am called, "Justin and Liam." It teaches character education through music and song writing. **Trimester 2 ends on March 10th. Report Cards go home on Friday, March 24th.
**Spring Break is 3/27-2/31.
**NO SCHOOL--Tuesday, April 4th-Teacher's Institute Day.
**Keep savings those GIANT BOXES and other COOL STUFF for our engineering project in April.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey continued lessons on self regulation and managing feelings.
**In Mr. Packer Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer began a project with the students centering on positional concepts and colored dots. Listen to the script-----move the dots to correct place.
**Our Second Step lesson this week focused on a review of hall way behavior. The students of Ms. Gullo and Ms. Grogan's classes created a poster of what "kindness" looks like in the hallway.
**The students had their final meeting with guest artist, Jonathan Franklin. Their final project was about using negative space and shapes. We have had a great time with Mr. Franklin! Good News!! The Oak Park Education Foundation would like to exhibit our class Symmetry Butterflies at the Village Hall in April. I will be sending more info on this next month. So cool!!
This week:
It was all about our Valentine's Caring and Sharing, beginning our author study on Mo Willems and continuing our science investigation on paper. We took a look at the contributions of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington thru stories and videos and pondered what makes a great leader.
Reading/Language Arts: The students began Unit 6 Neighborhoods in our Treasures Reading series. They accessed prior knowledge about what a neighborhood is and what is included in a neighborhood. The students worked together to create a huge word web of places and things that describe a neighborhood. They listened to the Big Book story, "Russ and the Firehouse." They recognized the story as nonfiction. The students chatted about story elements--Who is Russ? Why is he in the firehouse? What does he do there? The students also retold the story in their own words sequencing events. Target words: what and that. Target sounds this week: Hh, short and long u.
Students worked with partners and practiced asking a WH question about the story and having their partner answer it. During group read aloud, the students read the decodable story, "Are Caps Hats?" The students made predictions about story content. Each student had an opportunity to read aloud. Some questions to pondered--Could the group hear you? Did you stop at the ending mark? Did you pause at the comma? Were you able to blend the sounds together to make a word you didn't know? Was your reading choppy or smooth? The students reading partner listened, discussed and critiqued using the Reader's Checklist. Peers evaluating peers! The students were excited to begin their author study on Mo Willems. His "Pigeon" and "Elephant and Piggy" stories are so cool! The students took a look at some information on how he got started writing and drawing. Speech bubbles--less words--facial and body expressions in drawings--bold letters--lots of feeling!!! We will be taking a look at some websites and interviews with Mo himself. Feel free to check out his website. "Do you think the Pigeon should drive the bus????? Our students said NO!!!! We discussed the WHY and your own thoughts to back it up. Workstations this week included leveled readers, asking and answering questions about a given text, opinion writing, short and long vowel sort, creating CVC words, adding and deleting sounds to create words, sentence completion and reading short sentences.
Math: The students continued work in Module 4 working on creating number bonds for a given illustration using numbers 1-10. They also worked on telling their partner a story about an illustration and seeing the number bond their partner came up with. The students worked on an app called Butterfly Math projected on the board. It was great practice in finding the sum and missing addend. Key concept words--plus, equal, addend, sum, horizontal addition and vertical addition. This week the students also worked on subtraction or taking away. We are using concrete counters and pictures in our learning. Workstations for this week included writing to 110, finding the missing addend, tally mark addition, roll and add, decomposing teen numbers as 10 and what is left over.
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter formation. This week, they reviewed what they know so far and practiced on their mini boards. In Writer's Workshop this week, the students continue to work on their "how to" books. The teaching point this week was to elaborate or add tips and warnings. They do this by thinking about how the learner could go wrong and then adding advice to keep that from happening. We took a look at some mentor texts and read things like--"Don't forget to....." "Be sure to......." The students and their writing partners chose one of their stories and acted it out to see if it needed any warnings or tips. It is really so inspiring to see these students work with partners and hear their suggestions.
Science: Our investigations this week centered on the resource--paper. The students brainstormed and we created a chart about what we know about paper. It comes from wood--many objects are made out of paper--some paper looks different from other paper--paper can be useful--sometimes paper can change--paper can be reused and recycled. The students looks for paper samples throughout our classroom. They used different kinds of paper and experimented with markers, pens and pencils on types of paper. What makes paper good for writing? They also investigated what happens when certain kinds of paper get wet? Some paper adsorbs water, some does not. Some types of paper change what water gets on it. Some types of paper break down. The student recorded their findings in their science notebooks. Next week---fabric!
Technology: In reading whole group students used the app Oz Phonics to work on CVC words, consonant blends, word order and missing sounds. We used BrainPop to seek out information on Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, the Presidency and the African American author, Eloise Greenfield. We used the internet to gain more information on author and illustrator Mo Willems.
Literature: "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus," "Abe Lincoln's Hat," "The Story of George Washington," "If You Lived in the Time of Abraham Lincoln," "Will You Be My Valentine," "Night on Neighborhood Street," "Ron's Big Mission," "Harriet Tubman," "A Train Without Tracks," "Author's great Big Valentine."
Monday, February 13, 2017
UPDATES for 2/6-2/10 2017
**Our 100th Day Celebration was a smash! 100 fruit loop necklaces, 100 stamps in a stamp book, writing 100 words, making 100 day crowns, creating and building using 100 cups, 100 legos, 100 craft sicks, 100 pattern blocks, graphing 100 items by tens and writing numbers from 1-100 were the activities. A BIG SHOUT OUT to our great volunteers D. Regan, C. Horwitz, B. Ahring, L. Dantzler and J. Flannery.
**Parent/Teacher Conferences begin on Monday, February 13th and continue Tuesday, February 14th and Wednesday, February 15th. Your family can attend if needed. I will be sharing all progress reports, work samples and assessments for midyear.
**Our Valentine Sharing and Caring Party is Tuesday, February 14th! Bring in your valentines and a treat (NUT FREE) if you wish. The students have made a special valentine card holder. All treats will be sent home.
**Don't forget to sign up to contribute to our class "Game Night" Basket. Michelle Ahring's mom has set up a Sign Up Genius. You can send your contribution game or money to school and I will deliver it to Michelle. Let's make our basket the COOLEST!
**The FUN FAIR is almost here! I believe the PTO will begin selling tickets this week. The FUN FAIR is Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. There will also be a "sensory" time to go to the Fair from 10-11 am. The time is reserved for students and family who desire a less crowded, low stress and low sound time. There will be games prizes, food, dancing for desserts, raffles, a silent auction and much more! Come play a game with me! Silent Auction items--BID! BID! I will be taking 4 lucky winners to lunch at Junction Diner and will be reading a special bedtime story to 2 lucky winners in their home. Join in the fun!
**Congratulations to DECLAN and NAOMI D. our new Student Council Reps for this trimester. Their first meeting will be Tuesday, February 21st.
**Hearing Screening is Friday, February 24th in the morning for all Irving students.
**Our class has been participating in Irving School's African American Read In under the direction of Ms. Noonan. Our story this week was "The Story of Ruby Bridges." The story was followed by a discussion and reflection by the students of story content.
**Future Field Trip--Field Museum--Tuesday, March 7th from 9-2 pm. Look for field trip permission slips and info soon. I will need 5 volunteers for the trip. Email me is interested.
**Keep saving GIANT BOXES and other COOL STUFF for our engineering project in April.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey continued her lessons on self regulation using Superflex, Rock Brain and introducing Glassman who makes people have upsets over little things. The students viewed a webisode about a girl who broke her pencil and throws a fit. It's a Glassman moment. How can the girl calm down? The students discussed how to fix the situation--get a new pencil, ask the teacher to sharpen her pencil, use self talk, belly breathe, count to get calm---great suggestions.
**In Mr. Packer Thinking Skills this week, Mr Packer worked with students on a project illustrating positional concepts with boxes and a black dot.
**In our Second Step lesson this week, the students continued work on how to calm strong feelings.
**In Art Start this week, Mr. Franklin worked with the students on shapes, paper folds and negative space to create a house. The students then made a neighborhood landscape out of blocks and placed their houses along the street.
This week:
It was all about our 100th day celebration. The students were counting up a storm by 10's, by 5's and by 1's to 100. The students also continued work on their science investigation about wood. We continue to explore the accomplishments of African Americans. Our favorite story and discussion was on "The Story of Ruby Bridges." The students were so proud to know that even a young child can effect change in our country. Lots of thoughtful insights by students. Station day activities included color by code horizontal addition, build and count 2 different ways and record the blocks that you used, let's make 10 and coloring/decorating their Valentine card holder.
Reading/Language Arts: The students are working to complete Unit 5 Animals in our Treasures Reading series. The students reviewed all the sight words learned thus far. We also reviewed parts of speech--noun and verb. In all of our reading, students have been looking for them. This week we took a look at how animals can change and grow. We discussed how an animal grows from a baby into an adult. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Baby Animals ABC." The word offspring appeared in our story about different animal babies and some facts about them. What does that word mean? Are there any clues or pictures in the book that could help you figure out what it means? The students also commented on how the book was set up. It was in ABC order with a baby animal with the same beginning letter on each page. During our reading, the students made predictions about what would come next, made inferences about what an animal could do and classified and categorized animals into certain groups. The students had a chance to elbow chat about their favorite animal baby and the fact they learned about it. The students continued work on the text "Animals in Winter" for their blueprint summative. This non fiction story focused on animals that migrated, hibernated or stayed put for the winter. The students acted out animals actions, did a group "we do" illustration of their favorite animal facts and completed a "you do" blueprint where they wrote about the main topic and cited 2 examples of how the animal of their choice spends the winter. Cool! Workstations this week included leveled readers with focus on fluency, naming main topic and looking for nouns and verbs, short vowel/long vowel word sort, writing about an animal from your reader and telling 2 facts, real/nonsense word sort, making ccvc and cvcc words, discussing and writing about the problem and solution in a story and substituting beginning sounds to form new words. Next week, we will begin an author study on children's author and illustrator Mo Willems.
Math: The students began Module 4 in our Eureka Math series. The lessons this week focused on composing (adding) and decomposing (subtracting) numbers to 5 using multiple representations--drawings, numbers and objects. As in our story problem books, the students were asked to look at a picture and tell a story about it to their partner and then fill in a parts and whole on the number bond. The students also did another math race called a sprint. Sprints are 1 minute tests that help build confidence strengthen number recall and focus.. This sprint was about filling the missing number on the number line using numbers 0-5. Workstations this week included writing the missing numbers from 1-100, review of 2D and 3D shapes, story problems writing a number bond to tell the parts and whole and number writing practice.
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter formation. The letters e and l were worked on. The students practiced formation on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange books. In Writer's Workshop this week, the students continue to work on their "how to" story format to inform and teach. The teaching point was to write "how to" steps that a reader can easily follow, it's really important to remember yourself doing something and picture it, almost like you are watching a video in slow motion. The students worked with their writing partners to choose one of their stories and act out the parts. Did they have all the steps they needed? So fun to observe their interest and see them work everything out!
Science: Our next science question in our study of natural resources was on exploring parts of wood--sawdust and wood shavings. Vocabulary included sawdust, screen, shavings, waterlogged. The students worked with their tablemates to compare sawdust (the tiny pieces of wood they made using sandpaper) and wood shavings. Each student had a chance to look at the cup of sawdust and cup of wood shavings with their magnifying glass. How are sawdust and shavings the same? (they are both wood) How are sawdust and shavings different? (tinier vs. bigger) The students mixed the two with water. What did you observe? Students made entries in their science notebook about shavings floating and some sinking. Wood that is waterlogged sinks. We also talked about wood having tiny holes or spaces where the water can soak in. Who knew!!! Next week: paper!
Technology: In reading, group work was done with the app Oz Phonics on blends, digraphs, word order in sentences and cvc words. The app Rocket Speller was used in small group work to strengthen sound blending and segmenting. In math, the app Butterfly Math was used to work on horizontal addition problems with objects and numbers. The students watched a BrainPop video on the accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln and Rosa Parks and in science on Wood
Literature: "Animals in Winter," "The Story of Ruby Bridges," "Fluffy's 100 Days," "The 100th Day of School," "The Night Before the 100th Day of School," "100Ways to Celebrate the 100 Days," "A Picture Book of Rosa Parks," "Ms. Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten," "Harlem," "Duke Ellington."
**Parent/Teacher Conferences begin on Monday, February 13th and continue Tuesday, February 14th and Wednesday, February 15th. Your family can attend if needed. I will be sharing all progress reports, work samples and assessments for midyear.
**Our Valentine Sharing and Caring Party is Tuesday, February 14th! Bring in your valentines and a treat (NUT FREE) if you wish. The students have made a special valentine card holder. All treats will be sent home.
**Don't forget to sign up to contribute to our class "Game Night" Basket. Michelle Ahring's mom has set up a Sign Up Genius. You can send your contribution game or money to school and I will deliver it to Michelle. Let's make our basket the COOLEST!
**The FUN FAIR is almost here! I believe the PTO will begin selling tickets this week. The FUN FAIR is Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. There will also be a "sensory" time to go to the Fair from 10-11 am. The time is reserved for students and family who desire a less crowded, low stress and low sound time. There will be games prizes, food, dancing for desserts, raffles, a silent auction and much more! Come play a game with me! Silent Auction items--BID! BID! I will be taking 4 lucky winners to lunch at Junction Diner and will be reading a special bedtime story to 2 lucky winners in their home. Join in the fun!
**Congratulations to DECLAN and NAOMI D. our new Student Council Reps for this trimester. Their first meeting will be Tuesday, February 21st.
**Hearing Screening is Friday, February 24th in the morning for all Irving students.
**Our class has been participating in Irving School's African American Read In under the direction of Ms. Noonan. Our story this week was "The Story of Ruby Bridges." The story was followed by a discussion and reflection by the students of story content.
**Future Field Trip--Field Museum--Tuesday, March 7th from 9-2 pm. Look for field trip permission slips and info soon. I will need 5 volunteers for the trip. Email me is interested.
**Keep saving GIANT BOXES and other COOL STUFF for our engineering project in April.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey continued her lessons on self regulation using Superflex, Rock Brain and introducing Glassman who makes people have upsets over little things. The students viewed a webisode about a girl who broke her pencil and throws a fit. It's a Glassman moment. How can the girl calm down? The students discussed how to fix the situation--get a new pencil, ask the teacher to sharpen her pencil, use self talk, belly breathe, count to get calm---great suggestions.
**In Mr. Packer Thinking Skills this week, Mr Packer worked with students on a project illustrating positional concepts with boxes and a black dot.
**In our Second Step lesson this week, the students continued work on how to calm strong feelings.
**In Art Start this week, Mr. Franklin worked with the students on shapes, paper folds and negative space to create a house. The students then made a neighborhood landscape out of blocks and placed their houses along the street.
This week:
It was all about our 100th day celebration. The students were counting up a storm by 10's, by 5's and by 1's to 100. The students also continued work on their science investigation about wood. We continue to explore the accomplishments of African Americans. Our favorite story and discussion was on "The Story of Ruby Bridges." The students were so proud to know that even a young child can effect change in our country. Lots of thoughtful insights by students. Station day activities included color by code horizontal addition, build and count 2 different ways and record the blocks that you used, let's make 10 and coloring/decorating their Valentine card holder.
Reading/Language Arts: The students are working to complete Unit 5 Animals in our Treasures Reading series. The students reviewed all the sight words learned thus far. We also reviewed parts of speech--noun and verb. In all of our reading, students have been looking for them. This week we took a look at how animals can change and grow. We discussed how an animal grows from a baby into an adult. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Baby Animals ABC." The word offspring appeared in our story about different animal babies and some facts about them. What does that word mean? Are there any clues or pictures in the book that could help you figure out what it means? The students also commented on how the book was set up. It was in ABC order with a baby animal with the same beginning letter on each page. During our reading, the students made predictions about what would come next, made inferences about what an animal could do and classified and categorized animals into certain groups. The students had a chance to elbow chat about their favorite animal baby and the fact they learned about it. The students continued work on the text "Animals in Winter" for their blueprint summative. This non fiction story focused on animals that migrated, hibernated or stayed put for the winter. The students acted out animals actions, did a group "we do" illustration of their favorite animal facts and completed a "you do" blueprint where they wrote about the main topic and cited 2 examples of how the animal of their choice spends the winter. Cool! Workstations this week included leveled readers with focus on fluency, naming main topic and looking for nouns and verbs, short vowel/long vowel word sort, writing about an animal from your reader and telling 2 facts, real/nonsense word sort, making ccvc and cvcc words, discussing and writing about the problem and solution in a story and substituting beginning sounds to form new words. Next week, we will begin an author study on children's author and illustrator Mo Willems.
Math: The students began Module 4 in our Eureka Math series. The lessons this week focused on composing (adding) and decomposing (subtracting) numbers to 5 using multiple representations--drawings, numbers and objects. As in our story problem books, the students were asked to look at a picture and tell a story about it to their partner and then fill in a parts and whole on the number bond. The students also did another math race called a sprint. Sprints are 1 minute tests that help build confidence strengthen number recall and focus.. This sprint was about filling the missing number on the number line using numbers 0-5. Workstations this week included writing the missing numbers from 1-100, review of 2D and 3D shapes, story problems writing a number bond to tell the parts and whole and number writing practice.
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter formation. The letters e and l were worked on. The students practiced formation on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange books. In Writer's Workshop this week, the students continue to work on their "how to" story format to inform and teach. The teaching point was to write "how to" steps that a reader can easily follow, it's really important to remember yourself doing something and picture it, almost like you are watching a video in slow motion. The students worked with their writing partners to choose one of their stories and act out the parts. Did they have all the steps they needed? So fun to observe their interest and see them work everything out!
Science: Our next science question in our study of natural resources was on exploring parts of wood--sawdust and wood shavings. Vocabulary included sawdust, screen, shavings, waterlogged. The students worked with their tablemates to compare sawdust (the tiny pieces of wood they made using sandpaper) and wood shavings. Each student had a chance to look at the cup of sawdust and cup of wood shavings with their magnifying glass. How are sawdust and shavings the same? (they are both wood) How are sawdust and shavings different? (tinier vs. bigger) The students mixed the two with water. What did you observe? Students made entries in their science notebook about shavings floating and some sinking. Wood that is waterlogged sinks. We also talked about wood having tiny holes or spaces where the water can soak in. Who knew!!! Next week: paper!
Technology: In reading, group work was done with the app Oz Phonics on blends, digraphs, word order in sentences and cvc words. The app Rocket Speller was used in small group work to strengthen sound blending and segmenting. In math, the app Butterfly Math was used to work on horizontal addition problems with objects and numbers. The students watched a BrainPop video on the accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln and Rosa Parks and in science on Wood
Literature: "Animals in Winter," "The Story of Ruby Bridges," "Fluffy's 100 Days," "The 100th Day of School," "The Night Before the 100th Day of School," "100Ways to Celebrate the 100 Days," "A Picture Book of Rosa Parks," "Ms. Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten," "Harlem," "Duke Ellington."
Sunday, February 5, 2017
UPDATES for 1/30-2/3 2017
**The students are getting themselves and the classroom ready for our 100th Day Celebration. Check out our 100 Item Heart Projects on the right side of post. They are pretty cool! The projects will remain up in the hallway thru until the end of the month. Our Celebration is Monday, February 6th from 9-11 am. Lots of activities surrounding the number 100 and counting by 10's to 100.
**Alec's mom, Michelle has created a Sign Up Genius for you to contribute to our "GAME NIGHT" class basket for the Fun Fair. Please note--You can send in money and games to me at Irving and I can deliver it to Michelle. Let's make our basket the COOLEST!
**I just need a few more confirmed responses for Parent/Teacher Conferences and we will be all set. Parent/Teacher Conferences are Monday, February 13th, Tuesday, February 14th and Wednesday, February 15th. Please note---Thursday, and Friday February 16th and 17th school will be in session only in the morning. Dismissal is at 11:00 am. Hephzibah, Magical Minds, ABC Toon Town and RFCC will pick up at 11:00 am. There are NO Eagle Extra classes those days.
**Thanks to all of you who participated the Irving Dental Clinic. The students enjoyed showing off their sparkling white teeth!!
**Happy Chinese New Year! It's the Year of the Rooster. The students had some fun reading about the origin of the lunar new year and all the animal signs. They loved finding out what animal sign they were born under.
**Yes! The Groundhog saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter. So far....not too bad! The students were evenly divided in their predictions.
**We had lots of fun with the Japanese students who cam to visit our class! The students had questions about how they got to school, what school was like and what their writing looks like. The hosting students from OPRF read a story by a famous Japanese children's author and played a game with our students using Japanese words. Three of the hosting students from OPRF were former Irving students who were in my kindergarten. AWESOME!! They are all college bound!! So proud!!
**Our Valentine Caring and Sharing Party is Tuesday, February 14th. Information on this is in your child's homework folder. Just a reminder--if you are sending a treat....it must be NUT FREE. Thanks!
**The FUN FAIR is COMING! The FUN FAIR is Coming! It is Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm all around the school. There will be games, prizes, food, dancing for desserts, raffles, a silent auction and much more! Who will get the PIE in the FACE? The students will be voting by placing coins into the jar for their favorite teacher. What special performances do the teachers have up their sleeve??? Silent Auction items--BID! BID! I will be taking 5 lucky winners to lunch at the JUNCTION DINNER and will be reading a special bedtime story to 2 lucky winners in their home. Join in the fun!!!!
**Future Field Trip--Field Museum--Tuesday, March 7th from 9-2 pm. 5 volunteers needed.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey had a discussion with the students about things, people, places that mean the most to them in our daily lives. In the month of sharing and caring, the students had many things to chat about. Each child created a tee shirt ornament writing about what they care about. They hung them on our Tree and our complement tree has become the "I Care" tree!
**In Mr. Packer Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer helped us prepare for 100's Day by reading a special story and working with the students on creating 100 by grouping by 2's, 5's, 1's, 10's, 25's and 50's.
**In our Second Step lesson this week, the lesson focused on how to calm down strong feelings you may have in certain situations.
**In Art Start this week, Mr. Franklin worked with the students combining 2D and 3D shapes to create a movable cat or dog.
This week:
It was about the students getting ready for the 100th Day. They did a partner project counting 100 items in the classroom, reading about the number 100 and grouping 100 in different ways. Our 100 Item Hearts look amazing! The students experimented with changing the shape of wood. More in the science section. Station day activities included build and count 3D animals with cubes, color by code addition problems 0-5, search and write short vowel words, count to make 10 and writing numbers to 100.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continued work on Unit 5 Animals in our Treasures Reading series. This week focused on using informational or expository texts. They listened to a story about the work of doctors who take care of animals called, "Let's go To The Vet." They made predictions about story content by looking at the title. They worked on content vocabulary--veterinarian, diagram. After the story was read, the students discussed what was the main idea of the story? What kinds of animals to vets take care? What are some things a vet does? Our next Blueprint will focus on the students ability to describe the connections between the pieces of information and tell the main topic and details from a non fiction text. We will be using the text, "Animals in Winter" for this. We had our first reading and discussion. Continuing along those lines, the student listened to the Big Book story, "Animals Babies ABC." They built background knowledge about how animal grow and change. Target words--play, me, my. Target sounds--Ff and short i. The students elbow chatted about story content and the animal they knew. Robust vocabulary included BELONG, FRAGILE, INFORMATION, PARENT, SEVERAL. Workstations this week included leveled readers with concentration on main topic and supporting details, fluency, sight word round up, word work with consonant blends (2 part and 3 part), long vowel/short vowel sort, work with vowel teams and sentence writing using the sentence starters- I can...They can and word work with sound substitution.
Math: Students began to work in their Math Story Problem Books which are now part of their morning math exercises. The page is projected onto the board. We read the story problem together. For now, we are working with addition stories. The students work to show the numbers being added on their ten frames, illustrate their work with a drawing and then write a number sentence or equation for their work. This week, we spent time working on counting to, reading and writing numbers to 100. The students worked with partners to count a group of objects from our classroom grouping by tens and labeling the groups. Check them out when you come visit the room! Next week, we will begin Module 4 in our Eureka Math series, The focus will be on hidden partners--now called number bonding to understand how to take apart (decompose) and put together (compose) numbers to 10. We are adding and subtracting!
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter formation. Underground letter g as well as i and u were introduced. The students practiced on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange books. In Writer's Workshop this week, the students continue the "how to" format to teach something they know about in their writing. They looked at an Information Writing Checklist Poster. The teaching point --remember everything you already know about writing informational books. The Checklist poster is now part of their writing tools. The students worked with their partners using the new checklist to tell their partners what they were going to work on.
Let's check--Do I have a topic? Did I put different things I know about the topic on my pages? Did I have a last part? Did I write some details? Did I draw or diagram each page?
Science: The next science question in our study of the natural resource--wood is How can you change the shape of wood? Vocabulary included--change, sand, sandpaper, sawdust, wood dust, shape. The students looked at a piece of sandpaper and we discussed what is was. Some students knew how to use it, others commented on how it felt when touched. The students then each took a piece of wood and a piece of sandpaper. They rubbed the wood with the sandpaper. As they worked--lots of conversation--What is the best technique for sanding? How does the wood feel after you sand. Does the wood shape change? Where does the wood dust come from? How does the wood dust feel? The students chatted and recorded their findings with pictures and writing in their science notebook.
Technology: The students saw BrainPop videos on natural resources, wood, teeth and sink and float and took the quizzes. The student continue to use Lexia Core 5 to build skills in phonemic awareness and phonics.
Literature: "Animals in Winter," "Let's Go To the Vet," "Martin's Big Words," "One Hundred Shoes," "How to Make a Cherry Pie," "Groundhog Day," "The Groundhog's Special Secret," "Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day," "Chinese New Year," 'Portrait of African American History."
**Alec's mom, Michelle has created a Sign Up Genius for you to contribute to our "GAME NIGHT" class basket for the Fun Fair. Please note--You can send in money and games to me at Irving and I can deliver it to Michelle. Let's make our basket the COOLEST!
**I just need a few more confirmed responses for Parent/Teacher Conferences and we will be all set. Parent/Teacher Conferences are Monday, February 13th, Tuesday, February 14th and Wednesday, February 15th. Please note---Thursday, and Friday February 16th and 17th school will be in session only in the morning. Dismissal is at 11:00 am. Hephzibah, Magical Minds, ABC Toon Town and RFCC will pick up at 11:00 am. There are NO Eagle Extra classes those days.
**Thanks to all of you who participated the Irving Dental Clinic. The students enjoyed showing off their sparkling white teeth!!
**Happy Chinese New Year! It's the Year of the Rooster. The students had some fun reading about the origin of the lunar new year and all the animal signs. They loved finding out what animal sign they were born under.
**Yes! The Groundhog saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter. So far....not too bad! The students were evenly divided in their predictions.
**We had lots of fun with the Japanese students who cam to visit our class! The students had questions about how they got to school, what school was like and what their writing looks like. The hosting students from OPRF read a story by a famous Japanese children's author and played a game with our students using Japanese words. Three of the hosting students from OPRF were former Irving students who were in my kindergarten. AWESOME!! They are all college bound!! So proud!!
**Our Valentine Caring and Sharing Party is Tuesday, February 14th. Information on this is in your child's homework folder. Just a reminder--if you are sending a treat....it must be NUT FREE. Thanks!
**The FUN FAIR is COMING! The FUN FAIR is Coming! It is Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm all around the school. There will be games, prizes, food, dancing for desserts, raffles, a silent auction and much more! Who will get the PIE in the FACE? The students will be voting by placing coins into the jar for their favorite teacher. What special performances do the teachers have up their sleeve??? Silent Auction items--BID! BID! I will be taking 5 lucky winners to lunch at the JUNCTION DINNER and will be reading a special bedtime story to 2 lucky winners in their home. Join in the fun!!!!
**Future Field Trip--Field Museum--Tuesday, March 7th from 9-2 pm. 5 volunteers needed.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey had a discussion with the students about things, people, places that mean the most to them in our daily lives. In the month of sharing and caring, the students had many things to chat about. Each child created a tee shirt ornament writing about what they care about. They hung them on our Tree and our complement tree has become the "I Care" tree!
**In Mr. Packer Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer helped us prepare for 100's Day by reading a special story and working with the students on creating 100 by grouping by 2's, 5's, 1's, 10's, 25's and 50's.
**In our Second Step lesson this week, the lesson focused on how to calm down strong feelings you may have in certain situations.
**In Art Start this week, Mr. Franklin worked with the students combining 2D and 3D shapes to create a movable cat or dog.
This week:
It was about the students getting ready for the 100th Day. They did a partner project counting 100 items in the classroom, reading about the number 100 and grouping 100 in different ways. Our 100 Item Hearts look amazing! The students experimented with changing the shape of wood. More in the science section. Station day activities included build and count 3D animals with cubes, color by code addition problems 0-5, search and write short vowel words, count to make 10 and writing numbers to 100.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continued work on Unit 5 Animals in our Treasures Reading series. This week focused on using informational or expository texts. They listened to a story about the work of doctors who take care of animals called, "Let's go To The Vet." They made predictions about story content by looking at the title. They worked on content vocabulary--veterinarian, diagram. After the story was read, the students discussed what was the main idea of the story? What kinds of animals to vets take care? What are some things a vet does? Our next Blueprint will focus on the students ability to describe the connections between the pieces of information and tell the main topic and details from a non fiction text. We will be using the text, "Animals in Winter" for this. We had our first reading and discussion. Continuing along those lines, the student listened to the Big Book story, "Animals Babies ABC." They built background knowledge about how animal grow and change. Target words--play, me, my. Target sounds--Ff and short i. The students elbow chatted about story content and the animal they knew. Robust vocabulary included BELONG, FRAGILE, INFORMATION, PARENT, SEVERAL. Workstations this week included leveled readers with concentration on main topic and supporting details, fluency, sight word round up, word work with consonant blends (2 part and 3 part), long vowel/short vowel sort, work with vowel teams and sentence writing using the sentence starters- I can...They can and word work with sound substitution.
Math: Students began to work in their Math Story Problem Books which are now part of their morning math exercises. The page is projected onto the board. We read the story problem together. For now, we are working with addition stories. The students work to show the numbers being added on their ten frames, illustrate their work with a drawing and then write a number sentence or equation for their work. This week, we spent time working on counting to, reading and writing numbers to 100. The students worked with partners to count a group of objects from our classroom grouping by tens and labeling the groups. Check them out when you come visit the room! Next week, we will begin Module 4 in our Eureka Math series, The focus will be on hidden partners--now called number bonding to understand how to take apart (decompose) and put together (compose) numbers to 10. We are adding and subtracting!
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter formation. Underground letter g as well as i and u were introduced. The students practiced on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange books. In Writer's Workshop this week, the students continue the "how to" format to teach something they know about in their writing. They looked at an Information Writing Checklist Poster. The teaching point --remember everything you already know about writing informational books. The Checklist poster is now part of their writing tools. The students worked with their partners using the new checklist to tell their partners what they were going to work on.
Let's check--Do I have a topic? Did I put different things I know about the topic on my pages? Did I have a last part? Did I write some details? Did I draw or diagram each page?
Science: The next science question in our study of the natural resource--wood is How can you change the shape of wood? Vocabulary included--change, sand, sandpaper, sawdust, wood dust, shape. The students looked at a piece of sandpaper and we discussed what is was. Some students knew how to use it, others commented on how it felt when touched. The students then each took a piece of wood and a piece of sandpaper. They rubbed the wood with the sandpaper. As they worked--lots of conversation--What is the best technique for sanding? How does the wood feel after you sand. Does the wood shape change? Where does the wood dust come from? How does the wood dust feel? The students chatted and recorded their findings with pictures and writing in their science notebook.
Technology: The students saw BrainPop videos on natural resources, wood, teeth and sink and float and took the quizzes. The student continue to use Lexia Core 5 to build skills in phonemic awareness and phonics.
Literature: "Animals in Winter," "Let's Go To the Vet," "Martin's Big Words," "One Hundred Shoes," "How to Make a Cherry Pie," "Groundhog Day," "The Groundhog's Special Secret," "Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day," "Chinese New Year," 'Portrait of African American History."
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