January 30, 2016

Important Dates and Reminders:
Tuesday: Library
February 6: Penguin Plunge
February 17 - Delayed start
February 18 - Coffee with Sara Rabbe in the library
Ongoing until February 19 - Big Change Round Up

Big Change Round Up
A baggie with information about the Big Change Round Up went home last week. We are collecting change for the University of Vermont Children's Hospital. Kids can bring in change and put it in one of the containers in the office. There is a container for 10 different staff members. The staff member that gets the most money will have to dye their hair a crazy color. And yes, I'm one of those staff members. I dropped to 6th place this week! Check out the containers in the main office.

Literacy:

We continued our study of people who changed the world. This week, we read biographies about Ruby Bridges and Rosa Parks. Our writers are not working on writing their own books about the important people we have been studying.

We also are continuing to learn about nonfiction and ways to organize the information in nonfiction texts. Students are reading books at their independent level and finding their own ways to share the information they are learning.

Math:
We finished up our study of geometry and the mathematicians did great! Sarah Forbes (our ELL teacher who co-teaches math in our room) and I were so impressed with how they handled the complex vocabulary and connected the geometry concepts to our earlier work with number sense. It was so helpful to have Tul Niroula, our Nepali liaison, in our classroom. He has taught geometry at the high school level and was able to answer some tricky questions that the class had about some different shapes. Thanks Tul!

Science: Have I mentioned how much fun we are having during science? Each day we have different force and motion question to explore. He is a slow motion video of one partnership working on using what they know about force and motion to have a ball hit a target.

 I love seeing the perseverance and the flexibility in thinking the the students are using to investigate the questions. At the end of the week, we started working on giving and receiving feedback. This will prepare the class for the work they will be doing in our PBL (Project Based Learning) investigation which starts this coming week.






Classroom Fun:
Two cool things happened this week in class. First, Gabo brought in a 2 dollar bill. The students were fascinated with the picture on the back, so we did some research and we found about the painting on the back of the two dollar bill. It turns out that it is a painting by John Trumball which shows the committee showing the draft of the Declaration of Independence, not the signing of it.


The second fun event was when Abdikarim's mom came in and demonstrated on me how she does henna drawings. Other students shared what they knew about similar art forms in their cultures.

January 23, 2016

Important Dates and Reminders:
Tuesday: Library
February 6: Penguin Plunge
February 17 - Delayed start
February 18 - Coffeee with Sara Rabbe in the library
Ongoing until February 19 - Big Change Round Up

Big Change Round Up
A baggie with information about the Big Change Round Up went home on Tuesday. We are collecting change for the University of Vermont Children's Hospital. Kids can bring in change and put it in one of the containers in the office. There is a container for 10 different staff members. Which ever staff member gets the most money will have to dye their hair a crazy color. And yes, I'm one of those staff members. Right now I'm in 5th place. Check out our containers in office.

Classroom News:
The kids were so flexible this week! I had a conference to go to on Wednesday and then I ended up getting sick and missing school on Thursday. I'm so proud of how the students handled two days of having a substitute! The substitute left great notes and listed all the students who were extra helpful. Thanks boys and girls for helping out!

Book Order:
I sent home a book order on Friday. You can send in an order with the order form and a check or cash. You can also order books right on line. Here is the link: January/February Book Order.



Literacy:

The children have loved learning about Martin Luther King Jr. We have read several biographies about his life. I have also shown parts of his I Have a Dream Speech. The students are amazed by the amount of people who came to hear the speech. 

We also really enjoyed listening to a song that Lin-Maneul Miranda (the writer and star of the musical Hamilton) shared about Martin Luther King Jr. I think we listened to it 4 times on Tuesday! That video is at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!




Math:

More geometry work this week! Miss Sarah (Sarah Forbes our ELL teacher) did a great game where kids had to guess the shape that was attached to their back. Their partner described the attributes of the shape to help their partner make a guess. For example, if a child had a square on her back, her partner would say, "Your shape has 4 straight sides. They are all equal. There are 4 vertices." The mathematicians had so much playing the game and developing their geometry vocabulary. On Friday, the students were partnered up and worked on sorting shapes based on their attributes. Next week, we will be sharing out this work.


Science: We continue to use the scientific method to discover more about how forces work. Some questions we investigated are: How does the height of a ramp change the motion of a ball? What happens when the ball collides with a cup? How can you change the motion of a cup using a ramp and a ball? The scientists are having so much fun, using scientific vocabulary, and coming up with good plans to investigate their hypothesis.

January 18, 2016

Important Dates and Reminders:
Tuesday: Library
February 6: Penguin Plunge

Winooski School District is participating in the Penguin Plunge for the third year in a row! This year it is Saturday, February 6. Click on the link if you would like to join or for more information. I can't wait to jump in the lake again in support of a great cause, Special Olympics Vermont!


Just a reminder, it has finally turned cold! Make sure to send in warm clothing for recess. We go outside almost everyday so kids need to be bundled up.

Literacy:
We are diving deep into our nonfiction unit. The students are using nonfiction features (headings, pictures, labels, and words) to figure out what the big idea is in each section.


We also are looking at some biographies of civil rights leaders. We started with a book about Martin Luther King, Jr. on Friday. They loved learning all about this important person in our nation's history. We will continue with this theme during the next couple of weeks.


Math:
Miss Sarah (our ELL teacher) co-teaches math with me everyday. We have been so impressed with how hard the mathematicians are pushing their thinking during math time. We have pressed them with some tough concepts in geometry and fractions. Their perseverance is amazing! The hour and 15 minutes of  math goes by in a blink!




Science:
Everyone is having so much fun during science time! We are working on asking a scientific question, coming up with a hypothesis, sharing our ideas, investigating our thinking, and then reflecting and sharing our conclusions. We start each science class with a scientist meeting on the carpet, go back to do independent thinking, share ideas in partnership or small groups, then investigate with a partner, and share out with our whole scientist meeting at the end. We love it!


Classroom Fun:
My birthday is same as Martin Luther King's birthday. The students surprised me in the morning by singing Happy Birthday during morning meeting. Many students also made me cards throughout the day. The students made the day such a fun day!

Jauary 10, 2016

Important Dates and Reminders:
Tuesday: Library
January 13- Delayed Start
January 18 - No School

Classroom needs: glue sticks, extra mittens


I was so happy to see all the students last week! It was good to be back and the students jumped into three new units! There is a lot of learning going on!

Literacy:
We started our study of nonfiction. First, we discussed the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Then, we started looking at the features that authors use to give us information: headings, pictures, labels, words. We will looking at other text features as the unit continues. As I predicted, the class LOVES this unit. All morning long I hear readers shout, "Miss J, listen to this cool fact!" They can't wait to share the new information they are learning.

Math;

Another new unit we started with geometry! This unit is fun! The first day, we explore different shapes and students discovered the attributes that described each shape. Some of our new vocabulary words include: sides, angles, vertices, closed shape, open shape, straight, and curved. The students played a game where they had to describe a hidden shape using our new attribute vocabulary to try to to get their partner to guess the shape.

The students were able to connect geometry to our previous study of numbers. They realized, that just as we can break numbers apart (10 = 5 + 5), you can break shapes apart into smaller shapes! The class is using this knowledge to figure out different ways to fill in a given area. Check out all the different ways students found to make a hexagon!



Science:
The third new unit we started last week was force and motion. We are learning how scientists investigate questions, make predictions, conduct an experiment, and come up with a conclusion. Just like in math, we work hard on sharing our thinking with a partner, compare ideas, and adjusting our thinking.



Classroom fun:
Breakfast in the classroom has been so successful! The students help organize the breakfast food, pass it out, and clean it up. I like knowing that everyone has a chance to eat breakfast. It also gives us a little more time to chat in the morning while everyone is eating.

January 2, 2016

Important Dates and Reminders:
Tuesday: Library
January 13- Delayed Start
January 18 - No School

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has enjoyed vacation. I had a great time with my family and friends. I'm looking forward to seeing the kids on Monday and getting back into our routine.

Just a reminder, it has finally turned cold! Make sure to send in warm clothing for recess. We go outside almost everyday so kids need to be bundled up.

Literacy:
The week before vacation we enjoyed reading some books about snow, including Ezra Jack Keat's The Snowy Day. After reading The Snowy Day, we worked on some paintings using water color and crayon. The class of artists worked really hard and did a beautiful job. i wish I had taken a picture of the finished products! When we come back from vacation, we will be starting a study of nonfiction. I think this class of readers will enjoy this unit.

Math;
We finished our study of measurement and we will be starting our geometry unit. This is a fun, hands on unit that students always enjoy.




Classroom fun:

One day before vacation we got a little snow. There wasn't much on the ground, but the kids were determined to make a snowman. They did it, thanks to teamwork and perseverance!

On the last day before vacation, we made a yummy treat using rice cakes, cream cheese (or peanut butter) and honeycomb cereal. It was a big hit! We all devoured our yummy treat!