News You Can Use!

The children had a wonderful week! Read all about it below.

Literacy

This week, we read books about snow. The children started the week with a Picture Aloud. I showed the children a photograph that was covered up. Slowly, I removed the covers one at a time. The children turned and talked to a partner. They discussed the information they could gather from each part of the photograph. At the end, they realized it was a photograph of a snowstorm. Then, the children worked together to create a caption to describe the photograph. Later in the week, we read the story, The Snowy Day. After, the children completed a Setting Guru page. They chose one illustration from the text. They drew the illustration and explained how the illustration helped them learn more about the setting of the story.

After our second read, the children retold the story in their own words by writing a retelling of The Snowy Day. They also illustrated their book using careful, colorful, detailed pictures.

On Friday, the children listened to the story, Stellaluna. After, they discussed what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Then, they wrote their own sequencing cards. One for the beginning, middle, and end of the story. They glued their cards to their very own Stellaluna bat. They look great hanging from our ceiling!

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. Tomorrow, they will have a chance to meet with a writing partner. Each partner will have the opportunity to share their story, after they will discuss what they liked about each others stories and shared ideas for zooming in even further. Then, the children will begin publishing their small moment stories.

  

Math 

On Monday, the children reviewed all the concepts from Unit 2 using Mimio vote. They enjoyed reviewing different strategies to help them solve the different math problems. On Tuesday, they took their Unit 2 math test. I am proud of how hard the children worked, they did an excellent job on the test!

Science

This week, the scientists worked with understanding how water changes from a liquid to vapor and back again. They explored the idea that water can be part of the air, an invisible gas called water vapor. They did three experiments where they watched liquid water disappear into the air as it evaporated. The scientists used the terms; evaporate, humidity, and water vapor to explain what they noticed about the disappearing water. 

Later in the week, they continued to explore the idea that water can be part of the air. They watched as water condensed out of the air and formed droplets on a cold surface. 

The scientists learned all about the water cycle. We watched a short Brainpop video about the water cycle. Then, the scientists took turns coming up to label the three parts and explain them in detail. To help them remember the parts of the water cycle, they learned a water cycle song. Ask your scientist to sing it to you!

Water travels in a cycle, yes it does!

Water travels in a cycle, yes it does!

It goes up as evaporation

Forms clouds of condensation

Then comes down as precipitation, yes it does!

On Friday, the scientists learned about wind. They also created their own wind tool, a windsock. Next week, the scientists will use their windsock to determine the strength and speed of the wind. 

Pumpkin Math and Pumpkin Carving

On Tuesday morning, the children enjoyed a trip to the Dryden Pumpkin Patch to select their very own pumpkin. They had so much fun!

Then, on Thursday we had a fun filled pumpkin day! The children started off the day by becoming 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
Tyler was our star student this week. Thanks Tyler for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

Thank you to Tyler’s Mom, she joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children loved listening to two great books, Dogzilla and How To Babysit A Grandpa.

Birthday Wishes

A very big thank you to the children for sending me a birthday video on Friday. I loved hearing everyone sing me happy birthday. What a very special surprise! Thank you also for the flowers and birthday wishes. I can not wait to see them tomorrow morning! 

Notes:

-Friday, 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.

Happy Sunday! 

New You Can Use!

Enjoy reading all about our week!

Literacy

This week, the children had two close reading lessons with books about twisters. We read a realistic fiction book, titled Twisters. During the reading, the children worked on visualizing. They shared what they were picturing or imagining in their mind. The children recorded their visualizations on a graphic organizer, they included illustrations and a sentence describing what they imagined. 

With our nonfiction text, also titled Twisters!, the children worked on identifying nonfiction text features and how they help us to gain more information on the topic.

Grammar:

The children continued to work with sentence structure during grammar 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. 

Writing

This week, the children zoomed in on their favorite small moment 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 additional 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 worked with exchanging pennies for nickels. They were introduced to change to more number stories and change to less number stories. The children also learned how to write addition and subtraction number models. 

Next Monday, the children will review all the concepts from Unit 2 using Mimio vote. They will take their Unit 2 math test on Tuesday. I will send them home by the end of next week. 

Science

This week, the scientists worked with thermometers to measure temperature. They measured the temperature of their hands, the air, and water. They discussed what they noticed about the thermometers and the different temperature readings. They recorded the temperatures using the thermometer color scale. 

Later in the week, the scientists worked with understanding how water changes from a liquid to a solid and back again. They experimented with placing small objects into a glass of water and observing what happens when they freeze. They learned that freeze means to change from a liquid to a solid. 

Today, the scientists experimented with their frozen ice. They explored different ways of making their ice melt. The scientists came up with many different techniques: breathing on it, rubbing it, using salt, wrapping their hands around it, carving it into smaller pieces, and running it under warm water. They learned that the term melt means to change from a solid to a liquid. 

Star Student

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

Royal Reader

Thank you to Mason’s Mom, she joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to two wonderful books, The Day the Crayons Quit and When I Grow Up.

Happy Birthday

This week, we celebrated two birthdays. Happy Birthday to Brooke and Mary!  

Notes:

• Remember our pumpkin carving day is October 23rd at 2:15. I look forward to seeing all our parent/ family volunteers. Please remember to bring a large scooping spoon! 
• We kicked off Character Counts/Red Ribbon Week today! It will continue next week. Everyone is invited to wear a special color each day of the week to promote each Character Counts pillar:

*Monday, October 20--Wear YELLOW for RESPECT

*Tuesday, October 21--Wear RED for CARING

*Wednesday, October 22--Wear BLUE for TRUSTWORTHINESS

*Thursday, October 23--Wear ORANGE for FAIRNESS

*Friday, October 24--Wear PURPLE for CITIZENSHIP

Have a great weekend! 

News You Can Use!

What a busy group we were last week. Read all about our exciting learning adventures below! 

Literacy

Last week, the children read books about weather. The children worked on describing the differences between nonfiction and fiction texts. They also worked with retelling stories including key details and asking questions. The children begin creating a RAN graphic organizer, which will help us organize our ideas about weather. We will categorize the information that we know and learn about weather over the next few weeks. Last week, we added sticky notes for What We Think We Know and Wonderings. We will continue to add to our organizer during Reading and Science for the next couple weeks. 

Grammar Notebooks:

We started grammar last week. The children worked with sentences. They focused on recognizing the difference between a complete and incomplete sentence and learned that all sentences must start with a capital and end with an ending mark. 

Writing:

Last week, the children begin the process of writing their very own small moment story. They brainstormed a list of small moments topics they would like to write about. They chose their favorite small moment and described it in detail to a table mate. This week, the children will begin writing about their favorite small moment in lots of detail. 

Math 

In Math, the children enjoyed explorations in math. They rotated through three stations: domino sorting ( learning that the dot patterns on dominos represent numbers), straight line dot to dot (using rulers), and estimating relative lengths of objects (sorting objects into two groups, smaller and larger than a six inch ruler).  

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the children explored pennies and nickels. They identified the characteristics of each coin and learned how to write their values. They enjoyed learning two poems:

Penny 

Penny, penny 

Easily spent

Copper brown

And worth one cent!

Nickel

Nickel, nickel

Thick and fat

You’re worth five cents

I know that!

The children also named values of different groups of pennies. They also counted groups of nickels and pennies and recorded the values in cent notation. The children worked with exchanging pennies for nickels. 

Science

This week, we began our first science unit. The children learned all about what a scientist does. We read the book, What Is a Scientist and worked together to create a chart listing everything that a scientist does. Then, the children created their own super scientist. Inside the lab jacket they wrote about what a scientist does. 

Later in the week, we started our unit on Weather. The scientists defined weather as, how the sky looks and feels. They learned that the main parts of weather are: temperate, sunlight, wind, clouds, and moisture.

The scientists learned about meteorologists. A meteorologist is a person who studies weather. The scientists researched about meteorologists using pebblego.com and by watching a weather report. The scientists became meteorologists themselves and took turns reporting the weather. 

Star Student

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

Royal Reader

Thank you to RoseMarie’s Mom, she joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to two wonderful books, The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor and Llama Llama and the Bully Goat. 

Notes:

• If you are the adult coming to our pumpkin carving day please bring your diver’s license and plan to arrive a few minutes early. Everyone must have their license scanned before they can come down to our classroom. Our pumpkin carving day is October 23rd at 2:15. I look forward to seeing everyone next week!
• If your child’s purple poetry folder is still at home please send it back to school. They will need it this Friday to add a new poem!