February 21, 2014

Classroom News:Next week is vacation. The kids have been working so hard... they deserve a good break! I hope you all have lots of fun and family time over vacation.

The kids come back to school on Wednesday, March, 5.  
 
Literacy Focus: 

We are finishing up our nonfiction unit by reading and writing about penguins. Miss Borowski has been reading great penguin books and the students have written penguin reports focusing on how penguins are odd birds.

Math  Focus:
We finished up our measurement unit. The mathematicians did some nice group work creating their own fish that had to be keepers,  then they worked together to measure all the fish and order them from shortest to longest.

Science:
We are looking at foods and how they are grouped. The children created posters of foods from all the food groups. After vacation we will be learning about healthy snacks.


We had a visit from the VSO Musical Petting Zoo. I love this program! Instruments from all the orchestra groups are brought in and the kids get to try all of them! (Don't worry, they are disinfected between each user.) We had so much fun and the kids all showed expected behaviors.

February 14, 2014

February 14, 2014

 

Classroom News:
 This coming Wednesday is a late start day.

One more week until February vacation. 
 
Literacy Focus/Social Studies:  Nonfiction continues! We spent time on Monday morning going through our bags of books and making sure everyone had some nonfiction books. The excitement from reading our nonfiction books has created a noisier work time, but it is so much fun hearing the kids excitedly share facts about the books they are reading. Some topics the students are becoming experts in are: seals, the sun, dolphins, whales, volcanoes, dogs, plants, bugs.

Math  Focus:
Measurement continues! This week we have been comparing the lengths of fish. We have had story problems with different fish and the students need to solve them. The mathematicians' representations need to also have equations that support their thinking.

Science:
The students are taking turns caring for our hermit crabs. Responsibilities include feeding, squirting with water bottle, filling water bowls, and taking a picture with our iPad.




We also have been learning about the food groups and how to make healthy food choices.
Social Thinking: Last week we had a school wide celebration for earning 100,000 stars! The local group A2VT came and performed. We loved it! 
 

Busy Hermit Crabs!

I came into school this weekend to do some schoolwork and I peeked in on our hermit crabs. Holy cow! It looked like an earthquake had hit the tank!

The water bowl was emptied, the food bowl was tipped with another shell thrown into it, one hermit crab was buried so deep in the bedding I had trouble finding him, and one of our wood pieces was turned over upside down!

February 7

February 7, 2014

Classroom News:
 Next week is our Valentine's Day Healthy Heart Celebration!

This Saturday is the Penguin Plunge. I am part of our Winooski School District team. I don't know what I was thinking when I signed up to do this! Feel free to come on down and cheer us on. Information about the Plunge can be found here: http://www.specialolympicsvermont.org/fundraising-events/penguin-plunge/burlington/
   

Literacy Focus/Social Studies:  
During our accountable talk read aloud time this week, we have been diving into nonfiction books. We've read a variety of books in order to become more aware of the features found in nonfiction books. We've looked at captions, table of contents, photographs, and labels. Then, we have discussed how those features help us to better understand the book and the information.

During writing time, we finished up writing about Rosa Parks and have now started looking at ourselves... how can we be heroes and make the world a better place.

Math  Focus: 
Our study of measurement continues! This week we measured a variety of fish and determined which were keepers. As a class, our measurements have become more accurate. 

We have created a public record of strategies and rules that mathematicians use when measuring length of an object. Theo and Bri even have strategies named after them! Nice work mathematicians!


Science:
Our hermit crabs have arrived! Woo hoo! I'll post pictures next week


Social Thinking:
We love our movement breaks! We always take a dance break in the morning after working so hard on our reading and writing. We have such a roomful of GREAT dancers! Every single student joins in! They asked me to share one of favorites with you. Thanks goes out to MIss Kirsten for recommending this one!