A COOL day

We may not have had snow, but what a COOL day it was!  

After sending a letter of request to Frosty asking for snow, Ms Redd made a special delivery. He brought a letter back, leaving her so cold she had to wear her coat and gloves!

We spent the rest of the day cutting snowflakes, writing about being special, building sugar cube castles, and a real old fashioned snow ball fight. The day ended with a lesson on temperature, a white snack, and Frosty. 

It was a perfect day, full of cool things and warm moments. 

just because... not PLANNED!

WOW!  learning can happen anywhere!  Today as we were reading a letter that was sent to out class from Raymond's mom, I read the word SPONTANEOUS.  Madison asked what that word meant.  After explaining that the word meant something you do quick with out having it planned.  I thought... "WHAT BETTER WAY TO TEACH THE WORD, than to do it!"  We SPONTANEOUSLY got up and went outside (yes, in the cold morning) to run a lap.  We finished the day by making a a daily twitter ticket to tell about a time you did something SPONTANEOUSLY!

Be sure to ask your student about the change in the day that happened so quick!

All things move...

As we start to explore motion, we learned that a push or a pull makes something move. The object stays in motion until something stops it. 

Yesterday we made boats and watched them move as we tested them in water. Stay tuned for our roller coasters next week!

Tis the season...

Today marks the start of the holiday season!  The Harbor Light Choir is always a great treat. We all loved seeing our friends perform!

Author of the day!

Today we were treated to a very special author visit. The class learned about topic writing, by looking at the great things our Author did in her book. 

Meet our Author of the Day... Emerson Berg!

Pancakes, Play Dough, and Problem Solving

We have been busy.  Last Friday, we worked so hard we earned our class reward.  After making pancakes to watch a liquid change to a solid with heat, we used our problem solving skills to think deeper.  To reward the hard work, we spent the last hour playing with play dough. I loved Raymond's recreation of the Mayflower. 

Weeks like the last 1, reminds me of the many blessings I have in my class. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Making an educated guess

Today we learned about making a hypothesis. We all tried to determine the best way to make the solid ice cube change into a liquid.  After we formed our hypothesis, we tested it out. 

Caden used a light

Eliana and Holly thought throwing it on the wall

Madison and Nikolas thought putting it in their mouth. 

Raymond and Orion thought about using their hands. 

After some cold hands and wet papers, our class looked at what they learned and realized that hear was the common factor.   The more heat, the faster the melting.   Students realized that are body (hands and mouth) produce heat!

Examining liquids!

We took time investigate liquid. Students sorted the liquids by their properties!  Take time to ask students what a liquid is?  

Putting Our Best Foot Forward

Red ribbon week was a success!  Thanks to sweet room moms who helped put our poster together. It's been a busy week. 

I loved visiting with everyone at conferences. As always, please let me know if you have concerns. 

It was a beautiful day

FIELD TRIP!

We could not ask for a better day. Thank you to our PTA for giving us the gift to learn in the field!  We spent the morning running and rolling (great for our motion unit) and picnicking in the park. The afternoon was spent exploring the Children's Museum. My highlight was going up the power tower. Be sure to ask what your student loved. Look back tomorrow and I will post some tweets from them!  

Doing it all...

Last week we used ALL our skills to write and solve our own math word problems. Students created a setting (to work as the story mat), wrote a problem, and then edited it for capitalization and punctuation. We passed the problems to another group to solve the student created problems. It was truly mixing reading, writing and math!

Making Math Matter

Part of learning requires students to own what they are doing. As we learn new math vocabulary, we draw pictures to illustrate the meaning. The last 2 weeks we have been working on addition and subtraction problems. As an adult, we just know what the + and - sign mean. Today we drew pictures to illustrate addition and subtraction. Students came up with lots of different illustrations!  I love to see deeper thinking. 

When you have apples...

Make applesauce!  Today we summed up our learning about story elements by reading about Johnny Appleseed and making applesauce. John Chapman was a great character to study and he lived in a very different setting than we do!  The class decided that they " didn't have Krogers" so Johnny planted apple seeds to help feed people. This helped us identify the problem and solution. 

Our rooms smelled extra yummy, and we had a sweet treat before we left for the weekend!  It was a great way to integrate learning (senses, cooking, writing, reading, and a little math). 

Be sure to ask your student about pips!

Thinking Hard

I love problem solving!  Today we were working on problem solving and WOW what a great start. Be sure to ask your kid about ump statements. After decided what we were looking for, we had to "figurer it out" (according to Kaila). We practiced acting it out and then drawing a picture to represent our thinking. 

It was great to see the EVERY student work hard!  

Friday Reading Circle!

My dad always said the best part of the weekend was 4pm on Friday, because he had everything ahead of him. The best part for me in Friday at 2:30. We take time to just stretch out and enjoy some story time. We are reading Ivy and Bean (some kids call it Ivy and Jelly Bean).   It's great to stretch out on the floor and settle in for a relaxing story. 

I know the kids love it as much as I do!  It's a great reward to the hard working week!  

Happy weekend, our middle son is in flight to Paris (for the next 6 weeks for work)... Bon jour until Monday!

Science Tools to Explore!

As we learn about scientist, today we had time to explore different tools.  Students went to stations and had fun trying everything out.