Can You Believe It's Almost Thanksgiving?

Wow, this year has gone by fast!  I feel like just last week was the first part of November!

This week, students finished our Famous Americans study with a writing "craftivity" on which famous American they would love to have dinner with and talk to.

I wasn't able to get pictures of all the fabulous turkeys that came in this week, so be sure to look over the Thanksgiving weekend for that!

Our Veterans pictures will be going to the Louisa VFW to help brighten their walls and give thanks to the men and women who have served!

Don't forget!  Jamestown is coming THIS TUESDAY.  Please make sure you sent in the $1.25 with your student.  I'll be posting pics on the blog this week about it! :)

A Few Famous Americans....Including Dr. Seuss!

What a great week!  We started the week finishing our animal unit and students created a "graffiti wall" using a "mind dump."  What exactly does that mean?  It means they took all the information from their mind about animals, life cycles, habitats, and adaptations and drew pictures and wrote information on bulletin board paper!  It was a fun way to review and brought out the students' creative side!

In the past couple of weeks, we've also finished contractions and sent a shout out to the end of winter with a snowball fight and Valentine's Day.

This week, we also shared our Famous American projects.  We had 9 Jackie Robinsons (!), 4 Helen Kellers, a Billie Holiday (and we listened to her music as well!), Albert Einstein, Morgan Garrett (inventor of the traffic signal), Thomas Edison, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Harriet Tubman.  I loved the variety of people we learned about!

We also celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday with activities all week, including wockets in our pockets, making our own green eggs and ham poetry, what we would say to Horton if we were a Who, and creating a hat using a glyph about what we like to read!

Next week, we will be starting our plant unit (life cycle, parts, uses, and erosion) as well as our friendly letter unit.  It's also back to the homework packets!  Please make sure to keep practicing those math facts with your child, as well as telling time and counting money!  These are basic skills students need to master before third grade! ;)

Building Contractions and Famous Americans Project

This week, we've been focusing on contractions.  A fun way to do this and learn just how to combine the two words with a contraction was this activity.  We called it "Building Contractions."  We spelled out the two words, then had a "bossy apostrophe" tell certain letters to "sit down" and he/she took their cards, then put the apostrophe in that place.  It really helped students visualize exactly how contractions work!

For the next several weeks, homework will be the "Famous American Project."  A letter will be going home on Monday in the homework folder that gives more details about the project, as well as a "how to" sheet and a rubric.

Students may choose any famous American - not just the ones we studied - for the project.  It can be someone modern or from the past.  Below are pictures from some of last year's projects to give you an idea!  Please email or write a note if you have any questions on your child's choice.  I will try to help them narrow it down this coming week in class.

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!

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!!!