April 3rd-6th

Hello parents!

We have had a great week before spring break.

Math Workshop:

This week we finished part/part total fact families. We finally rotated through everyone! We also made "bead counters." Each child received a string with 20 beads of two different colors. 10 dark beads and 10 light beads are strung onto a necklace. We use these for even/odd numbers, counting by 2s and 3s, addition and subtraction, tens and ones, and more. It's a tangible way for kids to experience the math topics that we are learning. We practiced using them with addition and subtraction this week.

Reader's Workshop:

We have many kids who have started working on typing their bear books pages! Lots of kids are editing their writing pieces and publishing things. It's so neat to see them working so hard on such a big project.

Each child received their leveled book this week. There were no word study words this week. It was a short week and we are ahead of the other classes so we took a short break this week. :)

Thematic Centers:

We are still studying artists and this week we studied Henri Matisse. He "painted with scissors." He made bright and bold pictures as well as more serious/darker pictures. Two of his art pieces are at the top of the blog. We rotated through 4 centers:

1. Make a replica of the dancing woman (these are at school)
2. Make a replica of the flower vase using bright colors, paper and tissue paper (these are at school)
3. "Dance" with scissors. Use bold paper and cut out different shapes to make a paper collage
4. Make a replica of Matisse's fish bowl using paper cut outs, paint and tissue paper (these are drying at school but will be sent home next week)

Play: We are working on songs here but need your help practicing play lines at home! Thank you for working with your child on their lines each week. It doesn't have to be "homework." You can simply practice while riding in the car, waiting at the grocery store etc.

Earth Day: We will need a few supplies for this day and we will be sending out a sign up genius soon. We will also need a few volunteers for that day so sign up if you are able!

I  hope everyone has a wonderful break!
Mrs. Schultz

Last Week of March

Center Time!

Hello! Please see the important list of dates for the rest of the year. How crazy is that?

Spring Break: April 7th-14th We return to school April 17th
Artist Play and Art Gallery May 4th at 11:00 in the black box and then our classroom
Organ Concert May 9th at 12:30 (We will need a few helpers for this)
No school: May 12th
Emerald Hollow Mine Field Trip: May 24th (we will need a few helpers for this)
No school: May 26th and 29th
Author's Tea: May 30th Time TBA
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL: May 31st

Reader's Workshop: Everyone received their leveled reader and worked on their passion project. Many children have started editing and it is so cool to see their polished writing.

Math Workshop: This week we worked on fact families using the part/part/total mats. This was really hard but everyone is slowly catching on. Example: I have 3 numbers, 6, 4 and 10 and I can make 4 equations out of that.
6+4=10
4+6=10
10-6=4
10-4=6

Science: I forgot to post that Ms. Rachel's experiment with the pennies the other week was really cool. Everyone experimented with leaving pennies in vinegar for a few minutes versus over the weekend. Then the leftover pennies were used at the end of their rainbows! The children received 3 primary colors and had to create the whole rainbow using just those 3 colors. Last week and this week there was no sci fri.

Thematic Centers: This week our artist was Picasso! What an interesting man. He sculpted, sketched and painted. We read numerous stories about him and his art and rotated through 4 centers:

1. Illustrate the How to Spot a Picasso book
2. After learning about the blue period, paint about a time that made you sad using shades of blue only. Write a sentence to go with it. (This is still at school.)
3. After learning about cubism, create your own portrait using shapes, lines and bright colors. (This is at school for the art show.)
4. Use black paper and chalk to create your own version of Picasso's rooster painting called "La Coq." (This is at school for the art show)
A quick note about these art centers. We are keeping many of these artist centers at school to hang for the gallery walk after our play. We cannot wait for you to see the art.

**We are also in need of baby wipes, spoons and forks if anyone has any to spare! We like to keep the spoons and forks here at school because many children do not pack them in their lunch box.  :)

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Schultz

March 13-17

What a busy, exciting week! I promise next week will be much calmer. ;)

Reader's Workshop:

This week there were NO leveled readers. We used this week to get a jump start on passion projects. We compiled everyone's research and started making dash facts for certain kids and brainstormed ideas. This took days but everyone is well on their way to having beautiful books. Everyone did received new word study words.

Writer's Workshop:

This fell on our camping day so we wrote letters home from the forest. These were hilarious and so creative. Please have your child read their letter today!

Math Workshop:

This week we rotated through a new tub dealing with building and creating your own word problem. You chose two numbers, a thing and a person. You plug in the items to the word problem formula and then solve! Example: I pulled out the numbers 5 and 29, the thing apples and the name of Ms. Alicia. My word problem would be "I have 5 apples. Ms. Alicia has 29 apples. We have 34 apples all together.: 5+29=35. For kids who are ready, they can also create the reverse operation. 29-5=5.

Camping Day: Thank you to everyone who shared a tent with us. The kids had a blast! We read Bailey Goes Camping by Kevin Henkes and really enjoyed our own camping day. Lots of special memories.

Thematic Unit:

We are still studying authors but this is the last week before we start artists. We read MANY books by Kevin Henkes and rotated through 4 centers:

1. After reading Crysanthamum, plot your name on the name bar graph and see how it compares to others. Answer questions like who has the longest? Shortest? How many more letters would you need to be as long as ____?
2. Choose two characters from the stories we read and compare and contrast them on a venn diagram.
3. After reading Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, make your own purse/bag. Learn about the different values of coins and choose your own amount of money to include in your purse/bag.
4. Read Egg by Kevin Henkes. Using liquid water colors and feathers, paint a picture. Imagine if birds had feathers that left colors behind them! How beautiful would the sky be?

Auction Book:
These are due tomorrow!

Pennies: Please bring in 5-10 dirty pennies for tomorrow's science experiment.

Leprechaun Traps: The traps are awesome and the kids are so excited to try to trap a leprechaun!

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Schultz

February 27th-March 3rd

What a great week and Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!

Reader's Workshop:

This week everyone received new word study words and their leveled reader. As we have studied Ezra Keats we have also talked about window and mirror characters. Window characters are characters that do not look like us or have similar experiences to us. Mirror characters are characters that look just like us! We have been looking for mirror and window characters this week as we are reading. We also enjoyed reading all day today in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday. We popped popcorn after reading Hop on Pop and wrote about if we wanted Thing 1 and Thing 2 to visit our house. We read A TON of books to celebrate Read Across America Day. We also read with book buddies. Below are two videos of a couple of tables popping pop corn.

Writer's Workshop:

The month of March's theme for writing is informational books. Many of the kids chose to start writing informational books about their passion project topic. A great idea.

Science:

Last week Ms. Rachel came to talk to us about chromatography. The kids chose a marker and colored a small bit on a coffee filter. They dipped/soaked the coffee filter in water and watched the coffee filter and water draw out all of the colors that made that one color. Who knew there were so many colors in one black marker! The video below shows how excited the kids were.

Thematic Unit:

This week we are still studying authors and we are continuing to study Ezra Keats. We still cannot believe how  beautiful his illustrations are. We also read countless Dr. Seuss books in honor of his birthday this week. We rotated through 3 centers and will continue Ezra next week:

1. We read the book Pet Show and had our very own show complete with a pet sharing and award ceremony.
2. Weigh and measure your pet. Fill out your recording sheet for what color, texture and habitat your pet lives in. Share with a partner.
3. We talked a lot about the setting of Ezra's books and how they took place in the city. Nobody in our class lives in the city so this was neat! We built maps of a make believe town and discussed cardinal directions (north, east, south, west).

Math Workshop:

Using addition, everyone got to create an alien in math! These came home in red folders.

We continued to practice Number Combo and Make 10.

Passion Projects:

Topics and supplies are due Monday!

Auction Book:

Don't forget to turn these in soon! The auction is right around the corner.

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Schultz

February 21st-24th

Hello!

Another short yet bust week.

Thematic Centers:

This week we continued our author's study of Helen Lester and started studying Ezra Keats. Our centers this week:
1. Torn Paper Penguin: Each child has been learning lots about penguins. We have been reading lots of non fiction literature about penguins because Helen as written so many Tacky books about penguins. Each child tore tiny pieces of paper (great fine motor exercise) and created a penguin and write a fact about penguins. These are hanging in the hall and look adorable.
2. Wrinkled Heart: We read Hurty Feelings and discussed how you can say sorry after you are unkind but it still leaves a wrinkle in your heart. Saying kind things to people is so important.
3. Collages: Ezra Keats has illustrations that are full of vibrant colors and lots of different art supplies. Each child chose a scene out of Peter's Chair to re-create using paint, foam, felt, paper, crayons and markers. We discussed how this art looked similar to Eric Carle's illustrations and required a lot of extra work compared to just coloring a picture.

Math Workshop:

We practiced playing make 10 (the game you can play at home with your child) and added two new games to our tubs.

1. Number combo: draw 2 cards and either add or subtract to get an answer. Cover up all the numbers as quickly as you can. We played this last week too.
2. Memory: Match the ten frame, the number spelled out and the actually numeral in order to get a match. This was hard because you had to remember where 3 cards were to get a match.

Writer's Workshop:

We discussed author's as mentors which perfectly ties into our unit. How can we be inspired by other author's around us? Can we use their ideas? Style of art?

We also went over details about the passion project and started brainstorming topics for children who had not picked yet. Don't forget to start gathering supplies!


Reader's Workshop:

Everyone received a leveled reader and we focused on comprehending the characters, main event and setting while we read. Even though we had another short week, we did get new spelling words this week. If the spell check does not go well tomorrow we can always repeat the words next week.

Science: No sci fri last week as we had conferences but we cannot wait to see what Ms. Rachel comes up with this week!

Auction: Thank you Heather for leading up the auction. I am so excited about the class book basket! Have your child start brainstorming which book they want to pick.

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Schultz

February 13th-15th

Hello parents!

So sorry it has been so long since I posted. It has been crazy around here! Thank you for coming to read poems with us yesterday. I told Ms. Pam that Valentine's Day here at CSD is one of my favorite days. I love reading all of the poems and spreading the love. :)

We have another short week this week. Optional parent/teacher conferences and teacher work days are tomorrow and Friday. President's Day is Monday. Enjoy the long weekend!

We have gotten back into somewhat of a normal routine this week. We did not do word study words this week as it was a short week but we did start thematic centers back up and learn a couple of new math games.

Math Workshop:

Cover it! Player 1 turns over two cards. You can either subtract or add your numbers together. Once you have your answer look for the answer on the game board. Then player 2 goes. The first person to cover the most numbers wins the game.

Make 10. There are cards with 2 numbers placed on them. You make 2 rows of 5. Each player takes turns finding a match to make 10. Example the card with 3 and 0 could be matched with 4 and 3. Because 7 and 3 make 10.

*Please continue to work on your 10 frame math cards at home each week. Remember if your child recognizes the dots, the next step is to work on the addition and subtraction facts to 10. We need your help with this! These just have to be memorized by lots of practice. Our math games here reinforce math facts to 10 but we need them practiced at home too.

Reader's Workshop:

Everyone received their leveled reader to go home and work on. We also reviewed all the word study words we have learned so far. Some of them have been tricky.

Science:

The past 2 weeks have been so fun! We made snow with Ms. Courtney and balancing robots with Ms. Rachel. Everyone loved it!

Thematic Centers:

We started our authors unit this week by studying Helen Lester. Her books are full of great lessons and cute characters! Many children recognized the Tacky the Penguin book right away. We read Listen Buddy, Tackylocks, Me First and several others. We only rotated through 2 centers this week and will rotate through 2 more next week.

1. After we read the book Listen Buddy we discussed the importance of using your listening ears. We talked about what it looks like to pay close attention to the sounds around you. Every child got to go on a sound walk all around the school (inside and out) and listen for what was happening. One little guy even said "wow I never knew how many planes flew over us!"

2. Because Helen Lester wrote so many books about Tack the Penguin we decided to study about penguins. We read several non fiction books about penguins and this week focused on blubber that keeps penguins warm. Blubber can also be found on polar bears and whales. Each child stuck their hand in ice water. They described what it felt like (it stung, it was freezing, it made my skin red etc). Then children got to place their hand in "blubber" (a bag full of Crisco). They immediately noticed the difference. There was a recording sheet to go with it. If you want to repeat this experiment at home, a quick google search will give you all the details of how to make the Crisco bag.


Have a great long weekend and safe travels to those of you who are traveling!
Mrs. Schultz

January 30th-February 3rd

What a great play! Thank you again for all of your support. Thank you for showing up yesterday, bringing in refreshments, practicing play lines and being so positive after the play. It means the world.

This blog will be short and sweet so that I can begin working on report cards and start thinking about what assessments I need to get started with. Thanks for understanding!

Math:

We are still working on telling time by the hour and half hour. Your child brought home a paper clock that they made this week during math tub time. Feel free to use this to practice!

Each child also worked in a small group with a teacher on how to tell time using the minute and hour hand.

We filled out the February calendar as well.

Reading:

Each child received their leveled reader this week and word study words. Word work was shaving cream letters this week. A class fave!

100's Day:

A huge milestone! We celebrated all day. We played Roll to 100, decorated crowns to wear all day, made structures out of 100 plastic cups, made gumball machines with 100 painted gum balls and made a class book about things we have heard 100 times. Look for this in your child's red folder. It is hilarious!

Writing:

There was not a formal writer's workshop this week due to the play but everyone wrote during reader's workshop and during morning journal time.

Centers:

There were no formal centers this week as we practiced the play every afternoon.

Announcements:

Next week (Tuesday) we have our big field trip to the children's theater. There are actually 4 parent slots (not 3, sorry about that). So sign up if you would like to go. Please allow parents who have not been before a chance to sign up first. Every child will need to be at school by 8:15 a.m Chaperones will need to arrive by 8. Chaperone tickets are $9. We do not want your child to be left behind so please do not be late that day!

Work on those valentines and send them in! We are working on decorating valentine bags here. You will not need to decorate a box or bag at home.

Book fair is next Thursday 2:00-2:30. Sign up to help the kids pick out books, pay etc. The kids are so excited about this.

Valentine Poem Party- February 14th at 1:00. All parents are invited to come in and help us read poems!

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Schultz