In centers we made our own parrots, just like in the story Tough Boris. We learned from this book that even pirates cry sometimes, and talked about the lifecycle, in that sometimes our beloved pets die and how it is okay to be sad and cry about this. The students had lots of personal experience stories to share with us on this topic. We made books about koala bears. We learned that koala's are not really bears, they are actually marsupials. This was a new vocabulary word for many of the children. We learned that a marsupial is an animal that can carry their babies in their pouch. We found out that a marsupial that lives in the United States is a possum. In our next center, students worked on their fine motor skills by tearing tissue paper into small pieces and glueing them on a cut out of the world. We put a peace symbol on top. This went along with the story Whoever You Are. These can be used as sun catchers if you hang them up in a window at home. Finally, we did some invisible writing, just like the character Hush was in the story Possum Magic. Students painted over an "invisible name" (written in white crayon) to reveal which classmate's name they had. Next, they drew a picture of that classmate and wrote a sentence about him/her. They had lots of fun making the names go from invisible to visible!
In math this week we worked on range cards using jewels and beans. We also introduced a new way to do range cards, by telling number stories. Students are given a baggie with all the facts for a certain number in it. They have to pull the facts from the bag and using whatever manipulative they choose (i.e.: plastic animals, emoji erasers, coins, etc) they tell a number story to match that fact. After they tell their story they record the fact on their recording sheet. We are having lots of fun building our math fact fluency. We also played a leprechaun counting game using ten frames. Students had lots of fun listening to a story and matching the correct number of coins on the ten frame. This week we will work on non-standard measurement along with range cards.
In science we did an experiment using Skittles to create a rainbow. We placed a variety of different colored Skittles around the edge of a paper plate and then added warm water. Students first made a prediction about what they thought would happen to the Skittles and then noted what they observed on their recording sheet. They were very excited to watch the Skittles colors wash off and form a rainbow in the water. It was very beautiful indeed! They were excited to see that when the color came off of the Skittle they were white underneath. One student posed the question that he wondered what might happen if we tried this same experiment with M&M's? We all wondered together if you would get the same result or different result, as we noted that M&M's are made from chocolate and Skittles are not. We told students if they try this with M&M's at home to let us know their results! :) We have some budding scientist on our hands for sure!
In literacy this week we played a writing game. We read the book, Guess What?, by Mem Fox. It is a book in which the students have to make a prediction about what is going to happen next in the story. The outcome is different than one might expect. We then decided to play our own writing guessing game. I modeled for students three sentences about myself. Two of the sentences were true statements and one was false. They had to use the clues they know about me to figure out which one was false. They thought this was great fun! :) Then each student tried his/her hand at this. They really enjoyed writing these and then sharing with the class to see if we could determine their false statement. There was lots of laughter involved! :) We also did some more writing in our journals this week. This is a time where students are able to choose the topic he/she wants to write about. In readers workshop we talked about word families, and the patterns we notice in these families. We made a chart with several different word families and the students looked through the books in their book boxes to see if they could find any words in their books that would match the pattern of the word families on our chart. We were excited to see the students come up and list many different words on our word family chart. We also worked on word sorts this week. Students sorted for short vowel sounds, and then they either worked on a making words activity or sorted for beginning consonant sounds. We were all very impressed with the progress each child is making!
Writing and Reading Together at Home
As you read to your child you will be helping him/her become familiar with the sounds of the English language. As you read together look for words with similar letter patterns (flow-er, pow-er). Have your child think of additional words with the same sound patterns. Dramatize your voice as you read. Your child will delight in hearing words "come to life." Take turns reading different parts, or invite your child to act out each role as you share stories aloud.
Upcoming Events
March 19 - ASE session 4 begins
March 20 - Love and Logic class 8:30 am
March 21 - Schoolwide Wacky Sock Day...wear your wackiest socks to school
March 21-24 - The Little Mermaid performance by the Middle School students
March 27 - Love and Logic class 8:30 am
Parent Safety Meeting 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm HS Blackbox
March 30 - Spring Break begins
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