Students enjoyed our latest math unit, Geometry, by examining real life examples of 2D shapes, creating Geometry Robots and comparing attributes of quadrilaterals, cubes and even shapes with up to 12 sides. One favorite along the way was the Polygon song. Click here but beware, it is a catchy little tune that you will be singing over and over. http://safeshare.tv/w/rFtSErKJRu We will be exploring arrays and 3 digit addition and subtraction next.
Congratulations to students who worked hard to reach the Achieve 3000 goal in Jan. (30 stories completed) and Feb (8 or more stories scoring 75% or better on the FIRST try). We are hoping to win that pizza party!! We read The SNOW Day from the Black Lagoon, discussed real SNOWY weather around the globe, made summary headbands (see the class slide show) and then explored a literacy unit on Twister on Tuesday. All this discussion of extreme weather will lead us into our weather unit in Science. Will March come in like a LION and go out like a LAMB? We'll see. We ended 2014 with such interesting and engaging projects and learning experiences. Students spent the first two weeks on comprehension and writing activities from the book Harry and the Holidaze. They really looked forward to learning of the celebrations of other cultures each day. The last week of the month included a board game about Polar Habitats and arctic animal facts.
Each day our Math Stations of collaborative learning integrated double digit addition and subtraction with a holiday theme. Students work with a small group on activities that are leveled to their ability, allowing for success and growth. Thank you to all who made our Polar Express party a perfect success. We are so appreciative of the donations and incredible amount of time our volunteers give. We could not have any of these awesome experiences without YOU! This month, we will begin our study of penguins while reading, writing, and learning facts about them. We will have our Case 21 Reading and Math tests on January 15th and 16th. In Math this month, we will continue to review addition and subtraction within 100 and begin Time and Money. Matter will be our next Science unit. Hope you had a joyful holiday and Happy New Year to ALL! After a very busy November, we are ready to take on more exciting learning tasks in December Last month, student immersed themselves in the historical significance of the PIlgrims and Wampanoag Indians. They finished a fiction and nonfiction chapter book with extensive writing experiences. The completed unit, "If I were a Pilgrim" craftivity and Wampanoag nonfiction lapbooks will be coming home soon. At month's end, our amazing volunteers helped us celebrate our learning with authentic Native American corn husk dolls and jewelry, and a feast of foods representing those of the first Thanksgiving. We are so lucky to have amazing and generous volunteers!!!
In Math, we studied skip counting larger numbers, place value drawings and comparing 3-digit numbers. Students will now begin addition strategies and word problems with 2 digit numbers. December flew by while we learned about how other cultures (and ours) celebrate the holidays. Studying subtraction and sound kept us busy while we worked toward our Polar Express celebration which was truly awesome because of our AMAZING mom helpers. The hot cocoa made from scratch and candy trains were BIG hits!
January has been packed with Time and Money Math. We are continuing to work on word problems with money. Students can get strong with money by using the money games at sheppardsoftware.com. Geometry is coming soon. This month, students also learned about main idea, text features and author's purpose while reading and gathering facts about penguins and the arctic. We previewed our weather unit with the FANTASTIC brochure EXTREME WEATHER projects that are on display outside our classroom. Our weather unit will start soon and this will be a great connection to our literacy unit, Twister on Tuesday and Twisters (nonfiction companion). THANK YOU to everyone that sent those books to help us have enough for all. Last week, we were busy with Museum Day which was LOVED by all. Check out some of the pictures on the CLASS NEWS page. We even had another class visit to enjoy the exhibits. Just when you think, wow that is a lot of busy, we have been practicing the whole month for the TALENT SHOW this FRIDAY. Come see us shine! ***Please feel free to post encouraging comments or student feedback to the blog. We ended November with an amazing array of learning experiences. We had a lot of fun at Marbles Museum and the IMAX Theater. There was so much to learn including how weather (a science unit we will be starting soon) affects the lives of polar animals.
We finished our historical study of Native Americans and Pilgrims using two companion fiction/non-fiction Magic Treehouse Books. We practiced finding evidence in the text to justify our answers. Students are becoming much better writers because of their interest in this unit. Our final learning experiences came together at our Thanksgiving celebration. where we made authentic Native American corn husk dolls and necklaces. We even made butter like the Pilgrims and enjoyed several first Thanksgiving foods made with apples and pumpkin. Thank you to all the parents who donated food and supplies and shared their time to help make a successful day for the students. In addition, your amazing generosity helped our class win a fun pajama day for collecting the MOST CANNED GOODS for the Food Bank Gobble ON!! I enjoyed seeing all the parents who came to visit during parent conferences over the last two weeks. Report cards will be coming home soon. Please email any time you have a question about your child's progress!
Lately, we have been focusing on our Fiction/Nonfiction Literacy Study with the books Thanksgiving on Thursday and Pilgrims. Thanks to those who provided copies of the book for their child to use so we had enough books! Students have been working on comprehension questions and vocabulary with these novels. We have been learning many aspects of the first Thanksgiving including the Mayflower voyage, life in the Pilgrim village and how the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims survive in the New World. In math, we are learning more about one and two step word problems. Soon, students will be creating their own Word Problem board game. We have celebrated earning our second month "HOUSE goal" with flashlight reading (see some of our cool pictures on our CLASS NEWS page) and also hope to earn the reward in November. We look forward to our Thanksgiving Celebration on Nov 26th after the hard work we show each day learning so much about the 102 Pilgrims who came to America on their 66 day journey. Happy Thanksgiving!! It is exciting to see the boys and girls settling into the classroom routine. Dress Up Day and Game Day were enjoyed by all and we are well on our way to earning our next reward. Ask your child about the new star cards. They are practicing good behavior in the hall and hard work in the classroom to earn their STARS.
We have been working on mental math addition strategies (make a ten, counting on, doubles and doubles plus one) and will begin subtraction strategies this week. We have explored many ways to understand what we read by using context clues, locating the main idea and using illustrations to understand the text. Enjoy the cool fall weather! Thank you to all who placed a September book order!! We are very excited to order so many NEW books for our class library. I will try to post a grand total of books that we receive once our points are used. THANK YOU!!
Students have been working hard on place value, comparing three digit numbers, and writing these numbers in expanded, word and standard form. We have been comparing and contrasting fiction and non-fiction books. We had some excitement on Friday. New blacktop was poured on our cool New playground. Since we "do" real life problem solving and writing, our class observed for a few minutes then came back to class to summarize all the DETAILS of our MAIN IDEA "How To Make NEW Blacktop on the Playground". Stop by anytime at the end of the week to see our work. Have a wonderful week! We have had an amazing first eight days. Students are doing an excellent job building their reading stamina. We went from 4 minutes to 17 minutes in just eight days. We also analyzed reading strategies like summarizing, predicting, clarifying, questioning and more with the beloved Toot and Puddle books. In Math, we are becoming masters of drawing quick 100s and understanding patterns in the 200s chart.
We are quickly learning our classroom rules and routines. Please be sure to empty your child's folder each night but RETURN the Behavior log and Homework sheets each day. On Friday, you may remove everything from the folder so we start fresh on Monday. Today, we took home our first book order due Sept 20th, If you can help us reach our goal of $300, we will earn 10,000 bonus points for books for our classroom library. We already have $75 in ! Order online and you receive a book free PLUS I am giving a free book for those who order if we meet our $300 goal PLUS we also get a free classroom book--all from that same order. Have a wonderful long weekend-No school Friday 9/6. Oh and most importantly, (you have probably heard), our NEW playground is NOW OPEN!! |
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September 2018
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