What a busy day! We were MAPs testing today and had quite a busy schedule. We took the reading portion of the test today and will take the math portion on Friday. Those tests can be exhausting, but the kids did very well. They worked hard and were very respectful of those who were still testing.
We also had music, art and guidance today. It didn't leave a lot of time for much else. The kids had a little time at the end of the day to finish up their snowman writing assignment.
Tomorrow we will be starting a new unit in reading on digging deeper and making new discoveries in the text and exploring author's purpose and message. This unit will be paired with a social studies unit study of World War 2. We are really excited to learn about the world in the past.
We have also begun to learn to write in cursive. We learned the letters i and t this week and can spell our first word in cursive.
Our current math unit is a real hit. Geometry can be a lot of fun. We are learning about end points and line segments and shapes. We watched an incredible movie to launch this study last Friday. It is called Flatland. Be sure to ask your child about the movie. We will watch it again at the end of this unit and talk about how our understandings have changed. We have also been continuing our work with problem solving. It is amazing to see how much the children have grown in this area.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
We read a story today about a bear and a Christmas tree during reader's workshop. I was simply amazed at the depth of our conversation about the book. We are learning that readers not only wonder when they read, but they seek answers to their questions. Today we discovered that some questions linger, or stick around in our heads like glue. We ponder them for a long time. Sometimes our answers can be different than someone elses. Our schema shapes our thinking when we wonder. It was such an awesome time of discussion.
The kids are writing some incredible stories this week as well. We are learning to develop our characters and tell about them in such a way that the characters come to life. You should definitely check out your child's story this week.
We are working on partial sums in math. I am teaching the traditional algorithm along with the partial sums algorithm. If you need more information on partial sums you can find info on the everyday math website.
There was a lot of excitement in our room today because we earned the traveling trophy for classroom compliments. Sadly, it didn't stay long, as another class earned their 30 class compliments shortly after we did. We are excited to start working to get it back though.
The kids are writing some incredible stories this week as well. We are learning to develop our characters and tell about them in such a way that the characters come to life. You should definitely check out your child's story this week.
We are working on partial sums in math. I am teaching the traditional algorithm along with the partial sums algorithm. If you need more information on partial sums you can find info on the everyday math website.
There was a lot of excitement in our room today because we earned the traveling trophy for classroom compliments. Sadly, it didn't stay long, as another class earned their 30 class compliments shortly after we did. We are excited to start working to get it back though.
Monday, December 17, 2012
It's back...
Well, it's been quite a while since I have blogged about our classroom happenings. I got a little discouraged about how little the blog was getting utilized.
While I haven't blogged, we've been busy learning and growing. We spend the month of November studying the Mayflower and the Pilgrims. We've read some great historical books during our studies. We learned so much about how our nation was settled. In December we moved on to learn about the American Revolution and the founding of our nation. The kids have really enjoyed learning about the people of the past and their lives.
We've also been reading some really interesting books by Patricia Polacco during reader's workshop. The kids are working on developing questioning skills. Readers ask questions as they read in order to better understand what they are reading. An Orange for Frankie was one of our favorite books by Polacco so far. We will be reading a lot more Polacco books in January when we begin our study of World War 2.
Today we read The Paper Crane and looked for answers to our questions within the text.
During writer's workshop the children have been learning about adding details to their stories. Writers zoom in and tell more in order to make their writing interesting. They use powerful verbs and juicy adjectives that bring life to their writing. This week we are focusing on developing characters. We read Sheila Rae the Brave today and looked at how Kevin Henkes developed Sheila Rae's character.
Problem solving has been a major focus of our recent math studies. Every day we start with a word problem that the children solve in their math notebooks. They are tackling some challenging problems and learning to prove their thinking. We will be finishing up unit 4 this week and our study of place value. We've come a long way in our understanding of place value.
While I haven't blogged, we've been busy learning and growing. We spend the month of November studying the Mayflower and the Pilgrims. We've read some great historical books during our studies. We learned so much about how our nation was settled. In December we moved on to learn about the American Revolution and the founding of our nation. The kids have really enjoyed learning about the people of the past and their lives.
We've also been reading some really interesting books by Patricia Polacco during reader's workshop. The kids are working on developing questioning skills. Readers ask questions as they read in order to better understand what they are reading. An Orange for Frankie was one of our favorite books by Polacco so far. We will be reading a lot more Polacco books in January when we begin our study of World War 2.
Today we read The Paper Crane and looked for answers to our questions within the text.
During writer's workshop the children have been learning about adding details to their stories. Writers zoom in and tell more in order to make their writing interesting. They use powerful verbs and juicy adjectives that bring life to their writing. This week we are focusing on developing characters. We read Sheila Rae the Brave today and looked at how Kevin Henkes developed Sheila Rae's character.
Problem solving has been a major focus of our recent math studies. Every day we start with a word problem that the children solve in their math notebooks. They are tackling some challenging problems and learning to prove their thinking. We will be finishing up unit 4 this week and our study of place value. We've come a long way in our understanding of place value.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
It might be a short week, but it sure has been filled with lots of learning! The kids did an awesome job on their silly scary stories last week. This week they chose their own topic, applying all that we've learned recently and have been busy writing, writing, writing. I just love watching how they are growing as writers! It is simply amazing! We learned how to use notebook software recently and the kids are off and running with it. They take every opportunity they can to work on their stories on the computers.
We read one of my favorite books today titled Thank You, Mr. Falker. I think the kids enjoyed almost as much as I do. We had such a wonderful discussion about individuality and differences. Our classroom community has become so caring and respectful of others. This is very evident during our writer's workshop. They are helping each other and learning how to offer respectful feedback to their peers. Our author shares have been awesome.
We are busy working on place value as it applies to larger numbers now. The transition in to thousands can be challenging. We are learning how to count by 100's beyond 1000, as well as by 25's. We also learned about a new website this week to practice our math facts. It's called arcademics. There is a link on our froggy fun page. The kids are LOVING it!
We are in need of some sticky back velcro for our word building folders. We would appreciate any and all donations. We are also looking for some candy for our Frog Shop and our Roar Bucket. If you have left over Halloween candy you'd like to get rid of please consider sending some our way.
I'll be posting more pictures soon. Check back later this weekend! =)
We read one of my favorite books today titled Thank You, Mr. Falker. I think the kids enjoyed almost as much as I do. We had such a wonderful discussion about individuality and differences. Our classroom community has become so caring and respectful of others. This is very evident during our writer's workshop. They are helping each other and learning how to offer respectful feedback to their peers. Our author shares have been awesome.
We are busy working on place value as it applies to larger numbers now. The transition in to thousands can be challenging. We are learning how to count by 100's beyond 1000, as well as by 25's. We also learned about a new website this week to practice our math facts. It's called arcademics. There is a link on our froggy fun page. The kids are LOVING it!
We are in need of some sticky back velcro for our word building folders. We would appreciate any and all donations. We are also looking for some candy for our Frog Shop and our Roar Bucket. If you have left over Halloween candy you'd like to get rid of please consider sending some our way.
I'll be posting more pictures soon. Check back later this weekend! =)
Monday, October 22, 2012
Peek in our classroom this week and you'll see a lot of busy workers!
The kids have had a great time writing silly stories over the past few weeks. Today we learned about another type of silly story authors can write about... silly scary stories. No, we aren't talking blood and guts. =) We are looking at silly monster stories and other similar "scary" stories. Today we read about the terrible whatzit. The kids were excited to get started on their own silly scary stories. Before we launched into work time though we took time to learn about the rubric that they will be using this week. The rubric is designed just for kids so that they know exactly how their piece will be scored. The kids put their rubrics in their writing folders to use this week as they write. Looking ahead this week, much of our time in writer's workshop will be focusing on using juicy words in our piece in order to paint a picture in the reader's mind.
This pairs very well with our current unit in reader's workshop. We are learning to visualize and use our own imaginations to paint a picture in our heads as we read. It's like making a movie of the story as we read. Last week we read an awesome story called Roxaboxen and talked about taking our imaginations on a magic carpet ride as we read. Today we extended that idea as we learned to put ourselves inside the story. We imagined ourselves as the butterflies in the story. It was pretty incredible! We also took time to visualize a variety of different things and then shared our mental images with our partners. It was amazing how everyone's green thing looked so different and yet so alike. We will be doing a lot more visualizing this week as we read together as a group, with partners, and alone.
Our focus in math this week is measurement. We'll be looking at not only linear measurement, but also at weight. Today we learned how to use a pan scale and a spring scale. We'll get more opportunities this week to explore with these items. Problem solving will continue to take a front row seat in our math lessons this week as well.
All of our butterflies have hatched and we are having a wonderful time watching them and caring for them. We experienced a powerful and sad lesson in science last week. Several of our butterflies died. We took them down to 3rd grade to feed to their crayfish. It was a good lesson on the life cycle of living creatures. Still, it was sad.
We have been learning a lot of new spelling songs this week. The kids love singing them! They are always ready to sing them again. We are focusing on the oo spelling chunk this week in phonics. Our everyday words are each, will, up, about, were and where. There are many great ways for children to study spelling words and spelling patterns. Try having your child write their words in shaving cream or whipped cream. It's a fun way to practice.
Mrs. Munch came to visit at the end of last week and we are anticipating a visit from Gogo any day now. The kids are super excited. They can never get enough of that Mrs. Munch! Gogo comes in a close 2nd. Today they discovered that Mrs. Munch has some babies up in my cupboards. They can't wait for them to join us.
We have many fun filled days ahead!
The kids have had a great time writing silly stories over the past few weeks. Today we learned about another type of silly story authors can write about... silly scary stories. No, we aren't talking blood and guts. =) We are looking at silly monster stories and other similar "scary" stories. Today we read about the terrible whatzit. The kids were excited to get started on their own silly scary stories. Before we launched into work time though we took time to learn about the rubric that they will be using this week. The rubric is designed just for kids so that they know exactly how their piece will be scored. The kids put their rubrics in their writing folders to use this week as they write. Looking ahead this week, much of our time in writer's workshop will be focusing on using juicy words in our piece in order to paint a picture in the reader's mind.
This pairs very well with our current unit in reader's workshop. We are learning to visualize and use our own imaginations to paint a picture in our heads as we read. It's like making a movie of the story as we read. Last week we read an awesome story called Roxaboxen and talked about taking our imaginations on a magic carpet ride as we read. Today we extended that idea as we learned to put ourselves inside the story. We imagined ourselves as the butterflies in the story. It was pretty incredible! We also took time to visualize a variety of different things and then shared our mental images with our partners. It was amazing how everyone's green thing looked so different and yet so alike. We will be doing a lot more visualizing this week as we read together as a group, with partners, and alone.
Our focus in math this week is measurement. We'll be looking at not only linear measurement, but also at weight. Today we learned how to use a pan scale and a spring scale. We'll get more opportunities this week to explore with these items. Problem solving will continue to take a front row seat in our math lessons this week as well.
All of our butterflies have hatched and we are having a wonderful time watching them and caring for them. We experienced a powerful and sad lesson in science last week. Several of our butterflies died. We took them down to 3rd grade to feed to their crayfish. It was a good lesson on the life cycle of living creatures. Still, it was sad.
We have been learning a lot of new spelling songs this week. The kids love singing them! They are always ready to sing them again. We are focusing on the oo spelling chunk this week in phonics. Our everyday words are each, will, up, about, were and where. There are many great ways for children to study spelling words and spelling patterns. Try having your child write their words in shaving cream or whipped cream. It's a fun way to practice.
Mrs. Munch came to visit at the end of last week and we are anticipating a visit from Gogo any day now. The kids are super excited. They can never get enough of that Mrs. Munch! Gogo comes in a close 2nd. Today they discovered that Mrs. Munch has some babies up in my cupboards. They can't wait for them to join us.
We have many fun filled days ahead!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Our first butterfly hatched today during lunch! Everyone was so excited! We got to watch it as it dried its wings and then saw it take its first flight. We are now eagerly anticipating the arrival of more butterflies in the next few days.
We are continuing with our unit on ideas in writer's workshop. Today we read a story about a little sister who eats a hare... and many other unusual things. It was quite silly. We talked about how writers can write about silly animals, but they can also write silly people stories. Our writing project this week is to write a silly people story. The kids were off to a great start today.
We finished up our unit on making connections last week and began our unit on visualizing. We read A Tree is Nice without looking at the pictures. Instead we visualized and shared our visual images with our talking partners. We will tie in some poetry with this unit as it is wonderful for painting vivid images in the minds eye.
Mr. Nine is quite the hit in math and we are learning all kinds of trick to help us learn our math facts. I'm excited about how quickly the kids are learning the 9 facts. We have also learned to skip count by 4's and learned a new song to help us remember the x4 facts. We finished off math with domino top it.
We are continuing with our unit on ideas in writer's workshop. Today we read a story about a little sister who eats a hare... and many other unusual things. It was quite silly. We talked about how writers can write about silly animals, but they can also write silly people stories. Our writing project this week is to write a silly people story. The kids were off to a great start today.
We finished up our unit on making connections last week and began our unit on visualizing. We read A Tree is Nice without looking at the pictures. Instead we visualized and shared our visual images with our talking partners. We will tie in some poetry with this unit as it is wonderful for painting vivid images in the minds eye.
Mr. Nine is quite the hit in math and we are learning all kinds of trick to help us learn our math facts. I'm excited about how quickly the kids are learning the 9 facts. We have also learned to skip count by 4's and learned a new song to help us remember the x4 facts. We finished off math with domino top it.
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