Monday, February 13, 2012

Math centers

Last week we began our new Math Stations. This is a time kids can play games they have learned through Math Investigations or complete activities that reinforce skills that we have been working on. Here are some of our new math stations:





*** skip counting by 5's and 10's












***making 10














***roll and record























***number concentration

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Friday, February 3, 2012

The Science behind our toys

As we finish up our unit on Force and Motion we spent an afternoon exploring how many familiar toys move with push and pulls. Students took turns playing with each toy and deciding how they moved. We had fun exploring yo-yo's, trucks, paddle balls, and mini-skateboards pushed and pulled. Take a look around your house and see all the things you can find that push and pull.



Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Awards Ceremony

Thank you to all the families that joined us for our 2nd 9-week awards ceremony this morning. We love to see a room full of parents celebrate their children's successes. We appreciate all you do to help our class.

Friday, January 27, 2012

It has been a busy week

Well this was the first week in the 3rd nine week period. At this time of the year we are beginning to talk to the kids about getting closer to first grade. June will be here before we know it.

We have been working hard on bossy e words and reviewing short vowel sounds. Vowels such as e and i can be very difficult for kids to master so we have been working on distinguishing those sounds. Today we took a spelling test where where students had to spell CVC words (consonant /vowel/ consonant words such as fat). In Reader's Workshop we have been reviewing our Reading Strategies that we have learned and how we can use these strategies together to help us become good readers. This week the students had to prove what strategy they worked on during our closing. It was great to see them using strategies such as familiar word families, WOW words, and small words inside big words. In Writer's Workshop we have been continuing writing small moments. We have been reinforcing adding details to our stories as well as writing in lowercase letters, spacing between our words, and stretching our words out so that we hear all the sounds. In Math we have been working on measurement. Today the students continued practicing measure different lengths with Popsicle sticks and comparing their findings with others. Measurement is a fun thing to practice at home - which one is longer/shorter? Which one is heavier/lighter? Which one is bigger/ smaller? Which one holds more? In science we have started discussing force and motion. Ask your child what types of things at home they can find that push/pull. January also included our social studies discussion on Martin Luther King. Check out our Standards Board to see the great work that we did as we learned about this great leader.

Now that we are done testing we are on to new and exciting things. Make sure you check planners daily for upcoming information such as 100th day of school on February 3rd and our Valentine's Day Exchange on February 14th.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

It's Mrs. Wright's Birthday!

January has been a month for birthdays. Not only was it Courtney's birthday but it was Mrs. Wright's too! We had a small celebration where the kids presented her with a stack of cards while they ate ice cream. We also made her a flower pot that was decorated by all the kids. She was very surprised and loved it. Thank you for helping us make her day special.








Monday, January 9, 2012

Carmen Agra Deedy




On Friday we had a wonderful visit from Carmen Agra Deedy. She is an amazing story teller. We spent the week reading many of her stories. Below are the stories we read - they can easily be found at any bookstore or library if you would like to share them with your child.