Friday, December 21, 2012

Snowman Day and Winding Down the Year

Whew!  What a week!  We had a great time yesterday with Snowman Day (check out the pictures below) and then on Friday, we spent the afternoon making crafts!  I find myself with icing all over my shirt - I don't know how many people I had to tell that no, I did NOT have a cupcake attack. :)

I want to wish your family a very merry and safe holiday.  Thank you for all you do for your child's education!  I'll see you again in 2013!  (Wow!).

























Friday, December 14, 2012

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

We have stayed pretty busy this week!  Students have been working on their sparkle points to receive treats from the elves!  We also wrote letters to Santa, explored the Grinch's story and thought about ways to make him smile, and rescued Santa from being stuck in a chimney!

We also continued our study on graphs and created a survey, where we asked our classmates questions and had them vote on choices.  We took the data and created bar graphs and pictographs.  On Friday, we created questions about our graph and this coming Monday, we'll be able to have a "Graph Party" and go around the room, exploring the graphs and answering the student-created questions!

We had a pirate treasure hunt with verb tenses.  Students had a great time finding special envelopes and writing answers on their treasure maps!  There were also some "Argh!" cards scattered in, where students had to perform verbs, such as dances, sing pirate songs, and bunny hop to the teacher!

We'll finish our Elf Economics unit this week with a test on Wednesday.  The goods and services the students created were great!  Students enjoyed bartering (trading) not only their projects, but also goods that they had on special cards.  Did you know one of the bracelets was worth a chocolate cake AND a sheep? :)

One more week to go! Excitement has been building in the classroom, but we still have a lot to pack in this week!  Don't forget Snowman Day is THIS Thursday, and we'll have our class party on Friday.  Friday's also a 1pm dismissal!




Friday, December 7, 2012

Elf Economics!

We have had fun this week with our economics unit since it has a seasonal theme.  Did you know it's important for elves to know the difference between producers and consumers, or about capital resources?  It is!  Students are working hard on learning how to pass the "elf exam" so Santa can call on them in case of emergency!  It also ties in with our monthly behavior program.  Students are earning "sparkle points" each day.  To earn a point, they must behave and follow directions, as well as show evidence of learning and being kind to others!  Check out the ETC, or Elf Training Center, on our class wiki page!

Students are also excited about the Economics project, which is due this Wednesday.  Papers went home this past Monday in their homework folder, and is due in class on Wednesday, December 12th.  In the previous post, I had examples of past projects, which I've also shown to students to inspire them to create their good or service!

Can't find the sheet? I've uploaded it as a Word Document in Google Drive.  You can access it {here}.




We also got a chance to play with our iPod Touches, funded by a grant from our PTA!  We will be using the 3 iPods, plus the additional one we earned from Donors Choose, in small group settings with Math, Reading, and Writing. Have a great weekend! :)

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Senses, Triangles, and Economics - Oh My!

We culminated our unit on Famous Americans this week with Helen Keller.  What a fascinating American! To give students an idea of how she was able to overcome her own disabilities (being blind and deaf), we used our sense of smell and touch to figure out the "world" around us!

First, students had scent boxes, where they had to guess what the smell was!  Then, students felt in paper bags to guess ordinary objects, such as scissors, a calculator, brush, and pencil.


This week, we'll be starting our Economics unit.  On Monday, your child will receive a project assignment that is due Wednesday, December 12th.  Students must either choose a service (such as homework helper, nail artist, art teacher, etc.) or a good to share with the class.  We'll also be incorporating our study of barter/cash during that time as students trade goods and services!

Past examples of this project have included a homework machine, house built from Legoes, "beauty services" including nails and hair, doll clothes a student made, video game cheats (he would get you to a certain point in the game you couldn't get past!), and a pet sitter/dog walker.  I would like the student to actually create the project from clay, blocks, etc.  For the service, students can create business cards to give out to their classmates (hand made or computer-made). If you have any questions, please let me know!






Triangles:  Students brought home their triangle flash cards last week. They were so excited to choose the characters on their cards!  An information sheet was also sent home on how these cards "worked," and students have had plenty of practice!  They are based on related facts (fact families) and will help students increase their speed (fluency) of basic math facts to 20.  I also included the 10s as well.

As part of their homework, students will practice their cards one night and their math game another night - so two nights are now more "hands on" for students to practice their math skills!  They were VERY excited when I announced that.  Our next check on fact fluency will be in January!


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope your family has a wonderful holiday and stays safe!

This week was a short one, but we managed to squeeze in a lot!  Students started learning about related facts (fact families) in Math, which gives them another strategy to use when solving those basic facts!  I'll be teaching them how to use the triangle flash cards, so you should see those coming home soon to help practice!

In History, we studied Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jackie Robinson this week...be sure to check out our wiki pages for more information!

On Wednesday, we focused the day on Thanksgiving activities and, of course, wild turkeys!  Check out the turkey calls we made below...I am sure you are already enjoying the sound of "cutting" which is a more common turkey sound than the typical "gobble gobble."
See you in December! :)

Friday, November 16, 2012

Having Fun with History

We still are bringing in objects from the past, which is always fun to see!

One of the students brought in an oil lamp that his Granny used.


We're also having fun learning about famous Americans, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.  Students have had a lot of fun creating paper bag books, where we are storing our facts about these heroes. 



We also have been able to look at actual photographs of Abraham Lincoln and today, we watched part of the "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.  The kids thought it was pretty amazing being able to watch and listen to what his voice really sounded like!  It definitely makes history come alive and seem more "real."  Be sure to check out all our famous American pages on our class wiki!  I can't wait to show students the video of Helen Keller!!!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Past and Present

This week, we talked about the election process, which was a review from our Citizenship unit from the beginning of the year.  We followed up the discussion with a read aloud this week, Bad Kitty for President, which is a humorous (although scarily accurate) view of the whole campaign process. 

We also finished our Community (Past and Present) unit with one of our students bringing in a washboard from the past, who told us what it was used for.  I think overall, students have decided that although they might like to spend one day in the past, they'd rather live in the present.  I think I agree with them! :)



In Math, we continued with our place value unit, building numbers in the hundreds place.  Students seem to have a good grasp of this and we will progress in our unit to include problem solving, ordinal numbers, and related facts.

Speaking of related facts, several of you had questions about the fluency program that MNES has started.  Students were given a pretest, where we were able to record their automaticity of basic facts, both addition and subtraction, through a timed Powerpoint.  Like sight words in reading, we were looking to see which ones students knew just by "sight."  To help students review their basic facts, I am going to be sending home flash cards that might seem a little unusual.  They are triangular, with 3 numbers on them.  Students will be using "fact families," or related facts, to help them learn their facts.  Another great way to practice is by playing the math games in their folders!  Games such as "Tens Go Fish" and "Make 10" help students find combinations of 10s, and the more they practice, the better they are about remembering combinations that make 10.  You can also enhance this game by making another number ("Make 15" for example might include 3 cards).

Please let me know if you have any questions about this program.  Our next "check" will be in January.  I have tried to make the cards fun for students and will teach how to use them in class before sending them home.  See below for a sample!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

A Visit to the Past

It was a short week, what with Hurricane Sandy "visiting" the east coast!  It was fortunate that we were missed!  So, the week started on Halloween, but the kids were surprisingly calm.  I had planned on decorating the room on Tuesday afternoon to surprise the kids the next day, but alas, it did not go as planned.  However, they received both goodie bags from myself and Mrs. Mackey, so I think they were pretty happy!

A few students dressed for "Book Character Day"....don't they look cute?


On Friday, we visited the Frontier Culture Museum - our big Fall Field Trip!  The kids had a GREAT time!  It was a little blustery in the morning, but the sun came out and warmed up the afternoon.  I'm not sure what the kids were more excited about - what they learned or the fact they got to ride the "cool buses with the videos"!  They will be disappointed with our Spring trip when we have to take "regular" school buses! :)  I have posted pictures on here as well as on our web site for you to see things we learned!  We'll be doing some follow up activities this week about our trip, as well as assessing our Community Past and Present (2.3) unit.

Here's to a great week! :)