An Exciting Day

Hi Everyone,

What a day!  The children did a phenomenal job during their flag day performance.  It was great to see all their faces so happy and proud.

I hope you enjoyed our presentation today.  Thank you so much for those who helped the room parents with the treats.

Here is the video version of our American Symbol Ebook.

Some Exciting Things!

Wow...a lot has been happening in Room 11.

• Don't forget to send Booktime books in to school on Wednesday's.  If we don't do it Wednesday we always do it Thursday.
• Take a peek at the math tab at the top of the blog.  I put some of the links to math games that they have been using this year.

Here is a peek at just a few of the things we have been up to:

• We had a visit from the author Melissa Stewart.  She writes nonfiction texts.  We learned how important it is to make sure that the pictures match the text.  It took her 10 years to write No Monkeys, No Chocolate.

• We had another fun hour with Kibo!  This time the students were given 2 additional coding blocks; singing and respond to sound.  They could program Kibo to start with a clap.  Some kids even took the challenge of getting Kibo to go under the bookcase or chair.

• We finished up a fun unit on presidents.  We took time to ask questions,  We went to the library and found books we could use.  Mrs. Groden taught us about Pebble Go; a data base of information that we could use.  We read stories and even wrote letters to the president (or POTUS).  Then found a way that we could teach our information using organized writing. here is a picture of our "questions and facts door".

• We wrapped up a nonfiction writing unit.  The kids have come so far in writing a teaching book including things like:  tables of contents, introductions, different kinds of chapters and conclusions.  No we are on to our next unit of study...opinion writing!

• In Math we have been spending a great deal of time talking about place value.  This has been building all year and I am amazed at what a great job they are doing solving two digit and two digit addition equations.  They are able to show their thinking in so many ways; drawing the blocks, using an open number line and writing equations to match their mental math equations.

Kibo!

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.

 

Happy New Year!

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
• Talked about things we were thankful for

October Updates

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.

Wow...September flew by!

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.

Busy First Weeks

Parent Information

• 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.
• Used subtraction to solve comparing stories

Social Studies

• Played a name game to get to know each other.
• Created class rules together.
• Practiced fire drill and safety drill procedures.