News You Can Use!

Literacy

Treasures: 

This week, in Treasures the children worked with ending blends (nd, st, nt, nk). They enjoyed a sorting activity called, “Stop Those Silly Blends.” The children had to place soccer balls (with words containing ending blends) into the correct net (labeled with one of the four blends). 

The children listened to and read different stories about teamwork. They learned that teamwork happens when: we work together, while playing sports, when working together on a project, we help one another, or when we cooperate to complete a task. The children read three different genres this week: fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. After each reading, the children worked on determining the author's purpose. Why did they write their story? Was it to teach the reader something or to entertain the reader. After reading, the children looked back in the text for clues and came up with the author's purpose. They determined that for two of our pieces this week, the purpose was to teach the reader about soccer and what happens during the game. 

Grammar Packets:

The children continued to work with writing sentences in our grammar packet this week. They had to proofread sentences and check for capitals at the beginning and to make sure that each sentence had a special end mark (period, question mark, or exclamation mark). They also had to unscramble a few sentences and write them in the correct word order.

Guided Reading:

We will be taking a short break from guided reading groups next week. I will be meeting with the children one on one to do a second round of running records. Reassessing allows me to make sure that each child is receiving reading instruction that best fits their instructional reading level. 

Writing

This week, the 1-1 authors published their narrative writing pieces. They worked extremely hard at rewriting their story in their best handwriting and adding careful, colorful, and detailed illustrations to support their writing. The authors also added an opening and closing sentence to complete their small moment piece. These will be on display in the hallway at conference time so you can enjoy them!  

Math 

In Math, the children worked with recognizing, describing, and creating visual patterns. They found patterns around our classroom and then worked with a partner to create their own patterns using craft sticks. 

The children were also introduced to even and odd numbers. They worked with their tool kit pennies to explore even and odd number patterns. The children noticed the following patterns:

-Even numbers end in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8.

-Odd numbers end in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9.

-Even numbers are counts by 2s, starting with 0.

Later in the week, the children worked with their number grids to describe and compare number patterns. They looked at number patterns for counts of 2s, 5s, and 10s. 

Science

The scientists worked hard this week to complete three exploration lessons. On Tuesday, they worked with identifying plant parts: the stem, leaf, fruit, and seeds. The scientists learned that we call the part of the plant containing the seeds, the fruit. They worked in small groups to dissect three fruits: an apple, corn, and green bean. They observed the fruits and discussed what the fruit and seeds looked like. They chose one to observe further and wrote about it in their science journal. 

On Wednesday, the scientists enjoyed a lesson on seed dispersal. They learned that seed dispersal is the way that a seed travels away from the parent plant. The scientists watched a short video showing the three ways that seeds are dispersed: by animals, wind, and water. After, they worked together to complete a seed sort where they had to move different seeds into the correct seed dispersal category. 

On Friday, the scientists continued their study of seeds, they observed and dissected a lima bean seed to see what was inside. Then they prepared the lima bean and some corn seeds to try and sprout in a moist paper towel. Over the next week, the scientists will observe and monitor the growth of the sprouts.  

Pumpkin Math and Pumpkin Carving

The children had a great time on their pumpkin fun Friday. In the morning, they enjoyed a trip to the Dryden Pumpkin Patch to select their very own pumpkin. Then they became a pumpkin investigator as they used their pumpkin to complete a pumpkin math packet. The investigators began by estimating the height, weight, measurement, and number of lines on their pumpkin. Then using their investigative tools they found out the correct height, weight, measurement, and number of lines on their pumpkin. They also drew a picture of what they wanted their carved pumpkin to look like.  

In the afternoon, the children loved having a family member or volunteer come in to help them carve their pumpkin. What a sight it was to see the children and volunteers hard at work carving so many pumpkins. Thank you to everyone for coming and making this an enjoyable event for the children. The pumpkins looked great! Enjoy a slide show below of the day’s activities. 

Star Student

Jackson was our star student this week. Thanks Jackson for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

A special thank you to Jackson’s Mom, she joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to two wonderful books, Pigs Can’t Fly! and I’m So Embarrassed. 

Notes:

-Monday, October 29th- November 15th: Dryden Food Drive, please read the flyer from the last post for more information.

-Wednesday, October 31st: The Halloween Parade will start at about 1:15. We will parade out the front doors and head north on Dryden to Fairview, west on Fairview to Bristol, south on Bristol to Rockwell, east on Rockwell to Lincoln, returning to the school  playground area. Following the parade, the students will have a brief recess period, then return to our classroom for some fun activities. For more information on Halloween lunch procedures and costume questions, read this weeks Dolphin Splash. 

-Here are some Halloween Safety tips: 

 Have a great rest of the weekend! 

Dryden Food Drive

News You Can Use!

Read all about our week!

Literacy

Treasures: 

This week, in Treasures the children worked with words containing r-blends (br, cr, fr, gr, tr).  Their stories for the week were all about pets. The children read both fiction and non-fiction pieces about different kinds of pets and the things they need and do. They made predictions both before and during reading. The children worked with identifying the setting and discussing who the characters were and what they did in the story. This week, we also worked with finding the main idea and supporting details. We continue to practice sequencing events, retelling the story in the order that it took place. 

Grammar Packets:

The children continued to work with sentence structure in our grammar packets this week. They worked with question and exclamation sentences. They are working really hard on remembering to begin their sentences with capitals and end them with either periods, questions marks, or exclamation marks.  

Super Sentences:

On Friday, the children turned into super sentence heros! Each child created their own super sentence hero mask. Using their graphic organizers from earlier in the week, they chose one telling, asking, and exciting sentence to glue onto their mask. The children had a lot of fun with this activity and enjoyed sharing their sentences with one another.  

Writing

This week, the children continued to work on their narrative writing pieces. They reread their story and worked on adding detail. The children have worked very hard to be “brave spellers” and stretch out the words that they don’t know how to spell. They also had a chance to meet with a writing partner. Each partner had the opportunity to share their story, after they discussed what they liked about each others stories and shared ideas for zooming in even further. Next week, the children will publish their small moment stories.

  

Math 

In Math, the children were introduced to change to less number stories. We started with one amount of cups, took a few away, and then ended with less cups. The children learned how to write a subtraction number model. They worked with a partner to create twelve subtraction number models. They each rolled a die, recorded both numbers (remembering to put the higher number first), then subtracted the lower number to get their answer. 

On Tuesday, the children worked with pennies and nickels to show amounts of money with the least number of coins. They also practiced adding to find the sum of 3 numbers. 

On Wednesday, the children reviewed all the concepts from Unit 2 using Mimio vote. They were very excited when our room once again turned into the set of, Math Review, Mimio Vote! The children became the contestants and played the game using their very own clickers. 

They did a great job on the math test on Thursday!

Science

The scientists continue to enjoy the hands on science lesson. They are very engaged and have wonderful discussions with one another on the different topics.This week, the scientists worked on three different science lessons. 

On Tuesday, they studied the leaves they brought in from their nature walk. We started the lesson by creating a KWL on leaves, the scientists listed all the things they already know about leaves and then generated some questions about what they want to know about leaves. We will add to the L section as we learn new things about leaves. After, the scientists worked in their table groups to sort a pile of leaves by their own chosen category. Some of the categories were color, texture, shape, size, and shine. Each scientist then chose one leaf to study on their own. They drew a detailed picture of the front and the back of their leaf, labeled it’s parts, recorded a measurement, and wrote down what else they observed about their leaf in their science journal. 

On Wednesday, the scientists went to work on comparing animals and plants. They made two collages showing plants and two different collages showing animals. Then, they discussed the characteristics of plants and animals. We ended the lesson by creating a venn diagram on animals and plants, we talked about how they are different and how they are the same. 

On Friday, the scientists were very excited to study Gold Fish. They began by focusing on how we breathe, they noted how our chest rises and falls and what parts of our body we use to breathe. The scientists then studied a diagram of a Fish and discussed the different body parts. After learning all the body parts, the scientists took turns coming up to the board and labeling the body parts on a picture of a fish. Then the scientists worked with a partner to observe their very own Gold Fish. Using a magnifying glass and ruler, the scientists recorded information about their fish. They worked very hard and drew detailed diagrams, making sure to label the parts of their fish. All the scientists wrote down additional notes on what they learned from observing their fish. The scientists had a great discussion at the end on how the fish, crickets, and brine shrimp are similar. They talked about how each of these animals breathe.

Enjoy a slide show of our science photos from this week!

Star Student

Connor was our star student this week. Thanks Connor for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

Thank you to Connor’s Dad, he joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to three wonderful books, The Hallo-Wiener, Where the Wild Things Are and Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. 

Notes:

• Don’t forget to read and return your purple poetry folder!
• Just a reminder to send in your field trip form and money, if you have not done so already.
• Next week is Red Ribbon/ Character Counts week. Each day we will review one of the six pillars. The children will learn that the week is about making safe and healthy choices for our minds and bodies and about treating others in a way that is safe and healthy for them, too. 
• On Tuesday, the children will learn about Caring. Please have your child wear red to show they care about the Dryden community. 
• I look forward to seeing you at Pumpkin Craving this Friday, October 26th at 1:00. Please bring a big spoon to scoop out the pumpkin seeds! 

Have a great rest of the weekend! 

News You Can Use!

Read all about our wonderful learning adventures below! Feel free to post a comment on what your favorite part of the week was. 

Literacy

Treasures: 

This week, in Treasures the children worked with short /i/ words. The stories this week, followed the theme of growing up. The children read non-fiction pieces about animals and humans growing up. Their favorite story of the week was, Growing Up. They enjoyed looking at the photographs and discussing what else they could learn about the animals from just looking at the photos. We also worked with sequencing events, the children retold the story in the order that it happened. 

Grammar Packets:

The children continued to work with sentence structure in our grammar packets this week. They had to determine if the sentences were statements. The children learned that a statement is a sentence that tells something and it has to begin with a capital and end with a period. Next week, the children will work with question and exclamation sentences. At the end of the week, they will become super sentence heros! Each child will create a project involving telling, asking, and exciting sentences. 

Writing

This week, the children continued to learn about narrative writing. We read the story, The Kissing Hand, and talked about the small moment the author focused on in the story. The children decided that the author was writing about Chester receiving his kissing hand. 

They brainstormed a list of small moments from their life. After choosing their favorite one, they zoomed in and began writing. The children will take this piece all the way through the writing process. They are currently working on their rough draft where  they sketch pictures, label, and write their story. Next week, they will reread their story and work on adding detail. The children will also go back and stretch out words that they did not know how to spell. Ask your child what their small moment is, try and help them recall the event in great detail. This will help them zoom in even further and add important details to their writing next week. 

Math 

In Math, the children explored nickels. They identified the characteristics of a nickel and learned how to write it’s value. They enjoyed learning a poem about the nickel: 

Nickel, nickel

Thick and fat

You’re worth five cents

I know that!

They also counted groups of nickels and pennies and recorded the values in cent notation. The children worked with exchanging pennies for nickels. To enhance this skill the children played, the Penny-Nickel Exchange game. 

On Thursday, the children were introduced to change to more number stories. We started with one amount of pennies, added some more, and ended with a new amount.

The children also learned how to write an addition number model. They worked with a partner to create twelve addition number models. They each rolled a die, recorded both numbers, then added them together to get an answer. 

Next week, we will wrap up Unit 2. On Wednesday, the children will review all the concepts from Unit 2 using Mimio vote. They will be very excited when our room once again turns into the set of, Math Review, Mimio Vote! The children become the contestants and play the game using their very own clickers. Our test will be on Thursday. 

Science

We have wonderful scientists in our room! They worked very hard this week learning about living things. On Tuesday, the scientists tested their hypothesis from last week by looking at the substances in jar A and B. They were very excited to observe that they were correct. Jar A held the live contents, Brine Shrimp. The scientists learned that jar B held white sand. They observed both jars using a ProScope and magnifying glasses. The scientists discovered that not only did we have Brine Shrimp, but our jars were growing algae, which is also alive. After observing the two jars the children recorded their observations in their science notebooks.  

Jar B - White Sand

Jar A - Brine Shrimps Eggs

Jar A - Brine Shrimp

Observing Jars A and B

On Wednesday, the scientists went to work on observing the contents of their nature walk bag. They had a great discussion on what was nonliving in their bags and what items had once been alive. The scientists then chose one item to photograph. Each scientist wrote a picture caption to explain what their photograph showed. They used descriptive words that we brainstormed together as a class. I have complied their pages into a class book titled, Fall Nature Walk.

On Friday, the scientists were very excited to study Crickets. They began by studying a diagram of a Cricket and discussing the different body parts. After learning all the body parts, the scientists took turns coming up to the board and labeling the body parts on a picture of a Cricket. Then the scientists worked with a partner to observe their very own Cricket. Using a magnifying box and ruler, the scientists recorded information about their Cricket. They worked very hard and drew descriptive diagrams, making sure to label the parts of their Cricket. Some of the scientists even wrote down a page worth of notes on what they learned from observing their cricket.

Thinking Skills

On Friday, Mrs. Schwarz came in for her last visit. The children worked with attribute blocks, identifying the shape, size, thickness, and color of each block. They enjoyed playing a game where one student would close their eyes and choose a block from the basket. Using their hands they would have to determine what shape the block was, if it was big or little, thick or thin, and for fun, they could try and guess the color. Then all the children compared two attributes blocks, they had to identify how many attributes the blocks had in common and how many attributes were different. This activity helped the children work on their critical thinking skills. Thanks Mrs. Schwarz, we really enjoyed your visits!

Star Student

Nate was our star student this week. Thanks Nate for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

Thank you to Nate’s Mom, she joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to two wonderful books, Room on the Broom and The Incredible Book-Eating Boy. 

Notes:

• Don’t forget to read and return your purple poetry folder!
• We are in need of child friendly magazines or calendars for one of our science lessons next week. A note will come home on Monday, but if you find any this weekend please send them in. We need the magazines or calendars by Wednesday, October 17th. 
• If you are interested in ordering any books from our scholastic book order, please do so by this Wednesday. I will place the order after school. Thank you to those of you who have already placed orders, you are helping to support a love of reading and earning free books for our classroom! 
• Please send in your Pumpkin Carving slips as soon as possible. Thanks! 

Have a great rest of the weekend!