K-2's Weekly News (Dec. 17-21)

All About Me
It was great to learn all about Blaike this week!  Not only did we learn that Blaike loves ballet and Tae Kwon Do, we also learned that she is quite the artist!  If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the beautiful painting Blaike made for the cover of her Me Box and the cute Tooth Fairy box she made with her grandma.  So neat!  Thanks for sharing Blaike!

Singing carols with Mr. Deptula during music class.

Spending some time in the gym with Mrs. Sessler and Mr. Robinson!

PJ and Stuffed Animal Day---can you tell they had a great day?!





I hope everyone has a relaxing winter vacation with time to spend with family and friends.  Looking forward to an amazing 2013 with your children.
Can't wait to see them again in January!

K-2's Weekly News (Dec. 10-14)

All About Me
This week we learned all about Mark's favorite things!  As you can see from the photo below, Mark loves sports---football, fishing, and especially hockey.  Mark LOVES to play hockey, and he is a huge Blackhawks fan!  Mark loves Corvettes and collecting shells too, and he even has a green thumb.  It was neat to see the sunflower seeds that came from a flower that Mark grew! 

Math
We integrated our gingerbread theme into our math activities this week!  We introduced the concept of measuring length using nonstandard units such as small and large gingerbread, and we used paperclips to do some measuring as well.

We practiced our graphing skills this week as we played a gingerbread themed game called "Spin and Graph."  Using a spinner with different gingerbread friends, we took turns spinning the wheel and graphing our results.

Gingerbread Literacy Unit
The children are loving our gingerbread unit!  We have read and compared several versions of the familiar story The Gingerbread Man.  For each story, we worked together to identify the characters, the setting, the problem, and the solution.  Then we used a simple technique to practicing retelling the main events in each story.  Using the words, somebody, wanted, but, and so, we were able to summarize and retell the key points in each story.  Using the original story, for example, we were able to summarize the story with this statement: The gingerbread man wanted to escape from the oven and run away, but everyone wanted to eat him so he trusted the fox and he was gobbled right up!  Take a peek below to see which versions we have read so far!

iPad Projects
The students have been doing a great job using the iPads.  We have completed several projects using different apps on the iPads over the last several weeks.  Check out our digital ABC Book and our symmetry posters below!

K-2's Healthy Foods ABC Book

Symmetry Posters Using Pic Collage

Thanks for reading!

And thank you all for sharing your children with me each day.  I really enjoy working with each of the students in my class, and I am truly grateful to be their teacher!

Weekly News (Dec. 3-7)

All About Me
Zach did a great job sharing his "Me Box" this week, and we all loved learning about some of his favorite things.  The class thought it was neat that Zach's grandpa carved a car out of wood, and they loved Zach's mini piano.  We were even treated to a rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!"  Way to go Zach!

Math

This week the students played a game called "Roll and Record."  After rolling a die and counting the number of dots, the students practiced tracing the corresponding number and graphing their results.  It was a fun way to review and practice several math skills at once!

We also introduced using a pan balance this week.  We introduced the concepts of lighter and heavier, and we talked about what it means when the pans are equal or balanced.  We experimented weighing several different objects, and the students were able to experiment with the balance on their own during center time this week as well.

We completed several activities this week that reinforced the concept of ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th...)  For some more at-home practice with ordinal numbers, check out the link below.  There are several fun online games to play that reinforce this concept!

http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com/2012/03/ordinal-numbers.html

The children were excited to use a new app on the iPads this week called Monster Squeeze.  The students loved playing this game with a partner as they used their reasoning skills to reveal the "mystery number."  

We also used the iPads to revisit the concept of number stories by creating our own picture number stories using an app called Doodle Buddy.  Check out some of our work below!

Arya

Jolly Phonics

We finished Book 5 this week as we introduced the following sounds.  Please note the two different sounds for "oo."

ng as in "sing"

Vv as in "van"

oo as in "book"

oo as in "moon"

We will finish the last two Jolly Phonics books when we return from winter vacation, so there will not be any Jolly Phonics homework until after break.

Literacy

We continued our theme of healthy eating in Treasures this week, and we worked hard to complete the final two sections of our workbook for Unit 4.  I was so impressed with how well the students did stretching out their sounds on the last page of their workbooks.  We keep reviewing our Jolly Phonics sounds, especially the vowels, and it seems to be making a difference!  Next week we will begin a two-week Gingerbread Unit that will include several reading and writing activities.  I know the children will love it!!

We completed several sequencing activities this week in order to reinforce the concept of putting events in a logical order.  We will continue to practice sequencing pictures to help prepare the students for retelling the events of a story, and we will practice using words such as first, then, next, and last to help us retell the events.  

Adventure Course in Gym

This week in gym, Miss O'Sullivan's class helped the students in our class complete an adventure course where the students pretended they were the blood circulating throughout the body.  It was a great learning experience for both classes!  

Thanks for reading!

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update (Nov. 26-30)

It was great to be back with the children after the week long break.  I missed seeing them each day!

All About Me
Kelly did a great job sharing her Me Box this week!  She shared a picture of her aunt and talked about how much she loves her little cousin.  She also showed us a sticker chart she keeps at home to do chores.  She even modeled her favorite sunglasses for us and talked about her favorite movie--Rapunzel!  Thanks so much for sharing Kelly!

Math
Several concepts were introduced in math this week.  Earlier this week the students learned about estimation.  During our lesson, we compared making an estimate to a "thoughtful guess."  During our interactive whiteboard lesson, the students counted 10 cubes inside a jar and then used that information to estimate how many cubes were placed in a second jar.  Comparing the jars side-by-side, the students were able to make thoughtful estimates.  For example, in the sample below, they knew there were a few more than 10 cubes in the second jar but not quite enough to make 20.  We completed several examples like this during our lesson.

The students were also introduced to the concept of number stories this week.  We practiced using pictures to solve both simple addition and subtraction number stories, and we talked about how certain words in a number story, such as "in all" or "gave away," are clues to help us find the answer.  We also introduced the concept of a number model to show our thinking.  For example, when we solved the problem, "There were 5 gray squirrels and 2 black squirrels in a tree.  How many squirrels were there in all?," we recorded 5 + 2 = 7 to show our thinking.

Jolly Phonics

We introduced two new letters in Jolly Phonics this week, and we continued to review the sounds that have already been introduced.  Our new sounds are:

Zz as in "zebra"

Ww as in "wind"

The students are becoming more and more comfortable stretching out the sounds they hear when writing and many are beginning to discriminate the short vowel sounds.  Any extra time you can dedicate to reinforcing the vowel sounds--both the short vowel sounds and the long vowel sounds that have been introduced--will be tremendously helpful for your child as we continue to develop our writing and reading skills.

Literacy
We began a new unit in our Treasures reading program this week, which focuses on food and healthy eating.  We began our unit with a funny story titled Gregory, The Terrible Eater, which is a story about a young goat who is a picky eater.  Instead of eating tin cans and old tires like a typical goat, Gregory prefers healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.  We also learned more about healthy eating by reading an online interactive Time for Kids magazine about making healthy food choices and keeping your body in tip top shape!

We also read a story this week called Apple Farmer Annie. This is a story about an apple farmer named Annie who works hard each fall to pick the apples from the trees in her orchard and to bring her apples to the farmer's market to sell.  After reading the story, we practiced summarizing and sequencing the events from the story in order.

During Writer's Workshop this week, we practiced using more sight words in our writing as well as adding more details to our sentences.  We worked on leaving spaces between words as well and checking for capitals and periods.  Check out some of our K-2 writers in action below!

iPad Project
After reading an ABC book called Eating the Alphabet, we worked together as a class to create a digital alphabet book of our own about healthy foods.  I will post it on our blog soon!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Thanks for reading!