We are so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Kibo with Mrs. Gorden in the library! Kibo is a robot that responds to code. To build on our "hour of code" from back in December, we brought the children down to the library to meet Kibo and design code to move it.
The students had to think like engineers. They had to work together to: ask questions, imagine, plan, create, test & improve and share. The conversations were amazing!
Thank you MCPE for supporting this grant!
Here is a short video of one group testing their code.
We have begun the new year full speed ahead! Room 11 has built a tremendous classroom culture. Those that have volunteered to help in the classroom have commented on what a great class we have and I couldn't agree more!
Things to Note:
Check out our "class reporters"! You will find videos that they created on their own to show you what we are learning in Room 11. They are embedded below.
Please send back Booktime books on Wednesday. It is part of our center routine on Wednesdays, unless I am not there and then we do it on Thursday.
Look for our new classroom pet "Snowball" to be coming home for weekend visits.
Pajama day was a hit! Here they are reading to their stuffed animals
Language Arts
Continued work with the digraphs wh, ch, sh, th & ck
Worked with the "glued sounds" - all, -am & an
Introduced the concept of a suffix: an ending added to a base word. We are working with the suffix (-s) to show more than one; making a word plural
Continued to talk about characters and settings
Finished up our small moment unit in writer's workshop. We looked at authors' to discover how they write.
Learned how to use ellipses (...), make our words bold, & show movement in our words
We continued to bring our characters to life
Math
Worked with addition & subtraction
Focused on a variety of strategies: doubles, doubles plus 1 & 2, make 10, open number line
Continue to show our thinking on paper
Social Studies
Learned about the pilgrims: why they left England, how they traveled, what they learned from the Native Americans, what the first Thanksgiving was like
Room 11 is like a well oiled machine. We have routines in place, friendships forming, and learning blooming. Parent Information
Conference sign up is on the top tab of the blog. Please be sure to sign up for a slot for your child.
On October 30th we will have our Halloween parade at 9:30. We will have our Halloween party in the afternoon. Please send your child's costume to school in their backpack.
Literacy
Introduced word work center. Students have been sorting words and building words. Choices for this center will continue to grow.
Talked about two reading strategies:
Talked about character traits. We learned that we can look at characters actions, words and feelings to describe their traits. We tried it on ourselves!
Continued to work on tapping and blending three-sound short vowel words.
Introduced the trick words (high frequency) the, a, and, is, his & of. These need to be read and spelled correctly.
Introduced the digraphs wh, ch, sh, th & ck. Digraphs are two consonants that work together to make one new sound.
In writer's workshop we learned the difference between watermelon and seed stories. We learned to zoom in.
Worked with partners to plan our stories
Took a "museum walk" and looked at our friends stories to celebrate the first bend of our writing.
Math
Learned addition strategies to help solve problems: count on 1, 2, 3, count on using the number line, doubles, near doubles, facts with 5 on a tens frame, facts to make 10 on a tens frame.
Learned that you can change the order of the addends and still have the same sum.
Learned subtraction strategies to help solve problems: count back 1, 2, 3 & count back on a number line.
Social Studies
Read two stories about Johnny Appleseed. Looked at how the authors illustrated the details in different ways. One told a tall tale version.
Read and learned about how Christopher Columbus discovered a new world.
I can't believe how quickly September flew by! The children have done a remarkable job learning how use whole body listening looks and developing class rules. It was important to have them come up with the rules to help create a class community. Parent Information
October 9th we have no school. It is a teacher professional day.
I am continuing to send poem notebooks home on Friday...however do not feel that you need to do them on the weekend. Please return them on Tuesday of the following week.
Literacy
Continued to build stamina for our two literacy centers; Read to Self & Read to Someone. They are able to do these centers for 15 minutes each.
Introduced writing center and word center introducing the expectations for each.
Fundations - finished reviewing letter sounds and formations. Began working on "tapping words to read" & "tapping words to spell". Look for the unit two parent letter to come home.
Continued writing small moment stories in writer's workshop. Learned that "When we're done; we've just begun". We are learning to go back and ask question words (who, what, when, where, why & how) to add more detail to our stories.
Looked at different ways to spell words that challenge us during writer's workshop
Math
Continued working and reviewing math concepts: add to, put together, take from, and comparing
Learned how to solve for missing parts
Learned how to use pictures, numbers and words to create a math argument
Whole-part-part mats are a helpful too we are using. Here is a picture.
Parent Information Night is tomorrow...9/21/15 @ 6:30. I hope to see everyone. I will be sharing with you what our typical day looks like and my classroom expectations.
Scholastic Book orders will be sent home tomorrow. If you are interested in ordering books, just click on the tab at the top of this blog. Please fill all orders online. Please place orders by the end of the day on September 28th.
If you haven't sent in an art smock please do so.
Literacy
Began our first center "Read to Self". We have spent time defining expectations, practicing the "right way" & "wrong way" and have been working on building our reading stamina. We are up to 11 minutes!
Reviewed letter sounds and formations
Began writer's workshop. We have begun to write "small moment" stories; stories that are about real events that have happened to writers. We are learning to plan our story across pages.
Math
Put parts together to make a whole.
Solved unknown parts to make a whole.
Solved for a missing part using subtraction equations.
