Sunday, January 31, 2016

Week of January 29th

Happy Birthday to Milla!

Reading

This week in shared reading we talked about charts in books.  We noticed how they helped to "sum up" what we just read and we practiced using them to help remember things that we were told from.  

In literacy stations we:

Poetry- we added Wash Wash Wash Your Hands poem to our poetry notebooks.  When the kiddos finished the poem they could complete a rhyming train.
Word Work- we completed a little reader, The Mitten.  We read The Mitten last week in our storytelling station and this week the kids worked on this book by completing the sentences, "In went the (animal from the book)."
Writing- The kids can label, write a list, make a card, write a story, or write the beginning sound to some winter pictures.  
Star- The kids have had so much fun stringing letters on pipe cleaners to spell word wall words.  
Reading- This station never changes the kids can always read from their book bins or our classroom library. 
Computer- the kids love pebblego.com.  It is a free/ no subscription/no login website that reads non-fiction books to the kiddos!! This goes right along with our writing unit- All About books. 

Math

Last week (and some of this week) we started a measurement unit in math.  We measured length using non-standard forms of measurement (blocks, craft sticks, paperclips, etc.) We tried to measure things with our hands, but noticed that the number we got changed depending on the persons hand. We realized that it doesn't really matter what you measure with as long as the thing you measure with does not change size.  We measured things in the room using craft sticks and measured things on paper with cubes.  We will complete the measuring unit (weight and capacity) later.  
This week we started learning about numbers to 100! We talked about estimating.  We used pictures to help us compare and estimate which picture is closer to the number being requested.  We also talked about numbers to 30.  

Word Work

We learned about another secret story- super sonic blender.  The letters went into the blender and someone left it on too long so the letters go stuck together and now they must make their sounds together.  We are reading the blends chart everyday and choosing one blend to come up with words for.  We are continuing to practice handwriting and stretching out words by writing the blend words we come up with on white boards.  We are working so hard on hearing many sounds in words!

Health

We learned about germs this week.  We found out that germs are so small we can't see them without a special machine called a microscope.  Even though they are so small they are what make us sick.  We looked at lots of germs and even created our own.  We talked about hand washing, using soap and rubbing our hands while we sing the ABC's.  Then rinse our hands in the warm water and the germs go down the drain.  We also talked about how germs spread when we sneeze or cough.  We saw first hand how germs spread by putting "germs" on our hands and shaking each others hands.  Pretty soon everyone had germs on their hands!! We now know that we should wash our hands if we sneeze or cough, before we eat, and after we use the restroom.  

Monday, January 18, 2016

Week of January 15th

Important Reminders

Visitors Passes
Please stop by the office any time you come into the school (for breakfast, lunch or for a meeting, etc.) to get a visitors pass.    This is a safety issue and we need all adults who visit to get a visitors pass when they come in.

Breakfast
Breakfast stops being served at 8:15.  If you drop your child off please try to have them here by at least 8:15 if they need to eat breakfast at school.  We have been dealing with a lot of students who arrive right at 8:20 (which is when instruction is to begin) who have not eaten breakfast.  Eating in the classroom is a distraction and messy.  Thank you for your support in this!

Toys at School
I have seen a lot of toys lately coming to school.  They are a HUGE distraction.  Please keep toys at home. 

Snack

Please send an individual snack in your child’s backpack each day for him/her to eat during snack.  Snack is not provided for your child at school.  

A fourth grade student started this project. She chose to research homelessness in Columbia.  She contacted homeless shelters and surveyed them about their needs during this time of year.  Now, to help meet those needs she is hosting a drive to collect supplies. The drive ends at the end of January.  

Mrs. Townlain brought her puppy to class this week.  We learned about the brain with her and talked about how we may not be able to do certain things but instead of saying "I can't."  We say "I can't... YET!!" Our brain is amazing and we can learn all sorts of new things if we practice.  

Reading

In shared reading we discussed using the picture and beginning letter sounds to decode unknown words.  

In reading this week we got a few new literacy stations:
In the poetry station we added Five Little Snowmen to our poetry notebook and added said and want to the word wall.  These are actually first grade no excuse words, but they are so common in books we read that we added them this week.  The kids were really excited about having first grade words up! When the kids finished adding their new poem to their notebook they got to fish for beginning sounds.  
In star this week the kids got to use the Snowy Day story to create their own story map.  
In story telling we retold Snowy Day.  
In math the kids first worked on rainbow numbers... just like rainbow words the kiddos got to practice writing numbers to 20 using many different colors.  After that they used cars to drive on the numbers to practice formation.  

Writing

We continued to write All About books this week.  We charted different things we know all about and went step by step through the writing process for All About books.  We first chose a topic and illustrated the cover of our book and wrote the title.  Then we sketched across the pages, telling a different fact on each page.  Finally we wrote the words.  

Word Work

We continued to learn about secret stories this week.  We learned about ch.  We thought of different words that had the /ch/ sound and then used those words in silly sentences. 

Math

We finished up our unit on numbers to 20 this week.  We used our bodies to make the numbers 11-20, made a head band with a number to 20 on it and then formed a number line and we took a couple of end of unit assessments- write numbers to 20, rote count and number ID.  

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Week of January 8th

Here are a few pictures of our Winter party. I want to thank all of the parents who helped to organize and help out with the party. The kids had SO much fun!
Here are the kiddos opening their present from me.
We had a great week back at school!
In shared reading we practiced using background knowledge to help us understand the story better.

Reading

In literacy stations we worked on:

In word work we are practicing sight words by spelling them using many different materials, stamps, writing them in rainbow words, playdough and wikisticks.  

In writing we worked on labeling, writing a list, writing a card, or writing a story.  

In star station this week the kids made a resolution of what they would like to learn or do in 2016.  They wrote their resolution on a balloon that we put out in the hallway on the bulletin board.  The kids came up with great things that they wanted to do or learn this year!
In the math station the kids practiced numbers to 20 by forming the numeral with play dough and forming that many play dough balls to add to the 20's frame.  
At the smartboard station the kids did word searches with sight words.  

Writing

We started a new writing unit this week and the kids are really enjoying the change of pace!
We are writing non-fiction books (All About books).  The kids pick a topic that they know all about and write one fact on each page.  We are practicing coming up with a topic, sketching our facts across pages, and then writing the words.  

Word Work

This week we started learning about secret stories... the secrets in the way we spell things (digraphs, blends, spelling patterns, silent e, etc).  This week we learned about the digraphs th and sh.  We came up with words that had the digraphs in it and practiced stretching out the sounds and writing the sounds we heard.  We also practiced putting the words we came up with into silly sentences.  

Math

We are continuing to work on numbers to 20 this week in math.  We did inventory bags with items up to 20.  The kids had to count the items, write the number and represent the number using pictures.  


We are working on cooperating with each other and made Synergy Snowmen.

I heard great conversations between the kids where they were using kind words to ask for help or disagree with their group.  We overcame many problems by using words and listening to others.