Today was a busy day! Our question of the day was: Which animal would you rather have as a pet: an elephant, a pig, or a bear? We learned that 24 of our friends would rather have a pig, 4 of our friends would like an elephant, and 8 of our friends preferred a bear. We also practiced writing math sentences to show that 24 is greater than 4, 8 is greater than 4, and 8 is less than 24.
During Reading Workshop, we learned a new strategy to help us when reading non-fiction books, visualizing, where we make pictures in our heads to help us understand what the author is telling us. We practiced reading one page at a time, and then drawing what we heard. After we drew what we pictured in our head, we compared it to what the illustrator drew, and talked about similarities or differences.
During Writing Workshop, we gathered all of our notes that we have been taking about Spiders and each of us chose three important facts that we are going to use to include in our class book All About Spiders. We then wrote out our sentences on sentence strips, which will help us when we organize our facts to put the information into various sections.
Our word study activity for Thursday is Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. We continued to practice this, as some of our friends are still working on writing them one word at a time: first using the pencil, then in crayon, and finally in marker. This is a great practice for our word study tests, which are on Fridays.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 25th
This morning our question of the day was can you do a sumersult. We seem to have some gymnist in our class beacsue we found out that 31 of our friends can do a sumersult and only 7 can not. We wrote a number sentence to show that 31 is greater than 7 (31>7) and that 7 is less than 31 (7<31). During our morning meeting we also tried to make 25 cents using coins. One friend used two dimes and a nickel and another friend was able to make 25 cents using a quarter. After our morning meeting we had our reading workshop mini lesson. We once again worked on taking notes after listing to a non-fiction story and using the illustrations in the text to gather information.We are learning so many interesting things about Spiders that we will be able to add to our class report about spiders.
We started the afternoon off with a read aloud. Today was a special story, one of our classmates favorites...Alexander and the terrible, no good, very bad day. We learned that many of us have had days just as bad as Alexanders. After our read aloud we practice our word study words by sorting our words as quickly as we could. It was then time for math. Today the red rhinos practiced solving a story problem. The number sentence for today's problem was three addends! We discussed efficient strategies for solving these problems such as looking for the addends that can be combined to equal ten or looking for doubles. After our story problem, we had a number talk about place value. The students used the place value mats to actually build numbers. Today we built the number 6 and the number 11. After our number talk the students had a chance to play the new game "Guess my secrete rule." Students sorted shaped into groups with similar attributes and their partner had to try to guess why they sorted them like they did. In math, the green gators worked on counting by 1's and 2's to thirty two and identifying the parts of the body (in Spanish).
We started the afternoon off with a read aloud. Today was a special story, one of our classmates favorites...Alexander and the terrible, no good, very bad day. We learned that many of us have had days just as bad as Alexanders. After our read aloud we practice our word study words by sorting our words as quickly as we could. It was then time for math. Today the red rhinos practiced solving a story problem. The number sentence for today's problem was three addends! We discussed efficient strategies for solving these problems such as looking for the addends that can be combined to equal ten or looking for doubles. After our story problem, we had a number talk about place value. The students used the place value mats to actually build numbers. Today we built the number 6 and the number 11. After our number talk the students had a chance to play the new game "Guess my secrete rule." Students sorted shaped into groups with similar attributes and their partner had to try to guess why they sorted them like they did. In math, the green gators worked on counting by 1's and 2's to thirty two and identifying the parts of the body (in Spanish).
Tuesday, Februuary 24th
Today was the 100th day of school. We celebrated this special day by working with the number 100 all day. We started our morning working on making marshmellow consturctions. We worked with a partner to use toothpicks and marshmellows to construct something special. Of course we had to use 100 marshmellows! There were many different creative structures. Some friends constructed apartment buildings, hoses, and there was even a jungle house. After our constructions were complete we started to work on our 100th Day books. We wrote what we would like to have 100 of and what we wouldbuy if we had 100 dollars. On our way to lunch we took some time to admire of the amazing 100th Day collections that have been displayed in our school. We saw 100 cotton balls, 100 pony-tails, and 100 puzzle pieces.
We started our afternoon off with a trip to the multipurpose room where we did 100 excercises. We did 10 different exercises 10 times. Ask your child what excercises we did. When we returned to the classroom we read a book called The 100th Day Of School. Then we started another project working with 100 things. We made necklaces out of 100 fruit loops. Many friends ate their necklace as a snack before they had a chance to bring it home. We ended our day with a special 100 day snack. We made trail mix. We used 10 different foods and put 10 of each thing in our snack. It was delicious! Ask your child to share with you what was in their trail mix. Overall we had a fantastic 100th day celebration. We are looking forward many more exciting days of learning.
We started our afternoon off with a trip to the multipurpose room where we did 100 excercises. We did 10 different exercises 10 times. Ask your child what excercises we did. When we returned to the classroom we read a book called The 100th Day Of School. Then we started another project working with 100 things. We made necklaces out of 100 fruit loops. Many friends ate their necklace as a snack before they had a chance to bring it home. We ended our day with a special 100 day snack. We made trail mix. We used 10 different foods and put 10 of each thing in our snack. It was delicious! Ask your child to share with you what was in their trail mix. Overall we had a fantastic 100th day celebration. We are looking forward many more exciting days of learning.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday, February 23rd
We were so excited to be back to school today. We started our day with our word study routine for Mondays which is cutting out our new word sorts. Our question of the day today was "Did you travel over the break." We learned that 14 friends did travel over the break and 24 friends did not. We decided that there was a greater number of friends in our class that did not travel over the break. Next, we read a new poem. In English we read a poem all about the night called "Night Sky." In Spanish some friends read the poem "Inviero es Paesia" which was all about the four seasons. During the daily five, we met with our teachers to learn our new word study patterns. Lunch was special today because we got to eat in our classroom. Our teachers were very impressed with our "lunch" behavior.
After lunch, we finished our non-fiction book about Sea Turtles. We learned that there is a sea turtle hospital where the turtles can go when they are hurt or sick. We also learned that sea turtles can die from pollution like plastic bags and garbage. In handwriting the green gators practiced writing the letter A and the red rhinos practiced the letter m. Today we started new math units. The green gators worked on solving how many people were in their math class. The red rhinos, learned a new game called guess My rule. The object of the game is to sort shapes by similar attributes. We are excited because tomorrow is the 100th day of school!
After lunch, we finished our non-fiction book about Sea Turtles. We learned that there is a sea turtle hospital where the turtles can go when they are hurt or sick. We also learned that sea turtles can die from pollution like plastic bags and garbage. In handwriting the green gators practiced writing the letter A and the red rhinos practiced the letter m. Today we started new math units. The green gators worked on solving how many people were in their math class. The red rhinos, learned a new game called guess My rule. The object of the game is to sort shapes by similar attributes. We are excited because tomorrow is the 100th day of school!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Wednesday, February 11th
Today was a busy day! We started off our day with the question of the day: Can you Whistle? We learned that 24 of our friends do know how to whistle, and 17 friends do not know how to whistle. We practiced using money and different coins to show 11 cents as well. We have been practicing finding our sight words and writing them as part of our morning message as well. During the Daily Five today, we reviewed the rules for reading to someone and resding to self, and how important it is that we complete these activities during our independent work time.
This afternoon, we completed our Valentine's Day bags that we will be putting our valentine's in on Friday. Parents, please send in your child's completed valentines in a bag labeled with their name. This will help us when the students pass them out during the party. We do ask that the students make a valentine for EACH student in the class, to avoid any hurt feelings.
We have really enjoyed the 100th Day projects that have been coming in--please send those in by this Friday, February 13th. We are excited to have all of the students' hard work on display for our 100th Day Celebration, which will be on Tuesday, February 24th. If you are able to send in any items or are able to assist with completing these special activities, we would greatly appreciate your help!
Also--we have received several papers from families already indicating that your child(ren) will be continuing with the program next year. If you could please return those papers ASAP we would greatly appreciate that as well.
REMINDER: There is NO SCHOOL Next week, February 16-21, due to February Break. Enjoy the time off!
This afternoon, we completed our Valentine's Day bags that we will be putting our valentine's in on Friday. Parents, please send in your child's completed valentines in a bag labeled with their name. This will help us when the students pass them out during the party. We do ask that the students make a valentine for EACH student in the class, to avoid any hurt feelings.
We have really enjoyed the 100th Day projects that have been coming in--please send those in by this Friday, February 13th. We are excited to have all of the students' hard work on display for our 100th Day Celebration, which will be on Tuesday, February 24th. If you are able to send in any items or are able to assist with completing these special activities, we would greatly appreciate your help!
Also--we have received several papers from families already indicating that your child(ren) will be continuing with the program next year. If you could please return those papers ASAP we would greatly appreciate that as well.
REMINDER: There is NO SCHOOL Next week, February 16-21, due to February Break. Enjoy the time off!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Tuesday, January 3rd
Today our question of the day was Have you ever ice skated before. We learned that 13 friends have been iceskating before and 25 have not. We wrote a number sentence that showed 25 is greater than 13 (25>13). After morning meeting we were introduced to a new visitor to our class...Harry the tarantula! Harry is visiting from Mrs. Maier's class. we are observing him and recording information about what he looks like, what he eats and drink, and the things he does so that we can use this information to write a class report about spiders. Ask your child about any interesting things that they were able to learn about spiders from Harry. After writing, we had our reading workshop minilesson. Today we agin practiced taking notes to help us recall and retell information from a non-fiction text. We will use this information to help us wirte our class report as well. Ask your child if they can recall the information from the text.
We started the afternoon with our non-fiction read aloud about groundhogs. We are learning so much about these interesting creatures! We then did a making words activity. The green gators made words that end with in, an, and at. The red rhinos made the words always, was, as, lays and saw. Then we did our word study routine for Tuesdays, Resort and Write. We ended the day with mathematics and our study of geometry. Ask your child what they learned about shapes today!
We started the afternoon with our non-fiction read aloud about groundhogs. We are learning so much about these interesting creatures! We then did a making words activity. The green gators made words that end with in, an, and at. The red rhinos made the words always, was, as, lays and saw. Then we did our word study routine for Tuesdays, Resort and Write. We ended the day with mathematics and our study of geometry. Ask your child what they learned about shapes today!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Monday, February 2nd
Today we started off our morning with our question of the day...Did you watch the SuperBowl last night? We learned that 32 of our friends did watch the SuperBowl, and 6 friends did not. We practiced writing number sentences to show which number was more and which was less. We also practiced our song about money, and how much each is worth.
During our read aloud today, we learned all about groundhogs, since today is Groundhogs Day. We learned that they are related to prairie dogs, squirrels, and chipmunks. We also learned that they climb trees to escape their enemies.
During handwriting today, the green gators practiced the letter G, while the red rhinos practiced the letter n. For our poem of the week, some friends read a poem called "Little Groundhog", and other friends read the poem, "Que Colores veo?" and practiced finding question marks and exclamation marks in the poem.
During writing today, we began our unit on All-About books, and started by writing down what we knew about an animal. We tried to use the conventions of non-fiction books when writing our books. We will begin our class All-About books tomorrow with a special surprise visitor!
During our read aloud today, we learned all about groundhogs, since today is Groundhogs Day. We learned that they are related to prairie dogs, squirrels, and chipmunks. We also learned that they climb trees to escape their enemies.
During handwriting today, the green gators practiced the letter G, while the red rhinos practiced the letter n. For our poem of the week, some friends read a poem called "Little Groundhog", and other friends read the poem, "Que Colores veo?" and practiced finding question marks and exclamation marks in the poem.
During writing today, we began our unit on All-About books, and started by writing down what we knew about an animal. We tried to use the conventions of non-fiction books when writing our books. We will begin our class All-About books tomorrow with a special surprise visitor!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)