Classroom News

Science and Engineering: Three Little Pigs Project

Day 1:

Today students were introduced to the concept of "Scientist Meetings."  We came up with a list of rules for sitting at the circle in our chairs.  An introduction of the Three Pigs engineering project was explained. Students made a list of materials that they would be using to construct their house. 

Day 2:

Today we began designing our three pigs house with the materials given. Students had to figure out how to build a house that would withstand the wolf's huffing and puffing (hair dryer).  

Day 3:

Students worked with a partner that had a similar design to discuss how they could make their structure even better.  We looked at pictures of other projects engineered by children. 

Day 4:

Building day!  Students built their structures with a partner using the materials given.  Half way through, we stopped and thought about what was working well and what problems they could be facing.  

Day 5:

Experiment time! Students got to watch their peers structures go up against THE BIG BAD HAIR DRYER. Afterwards, students wrote about what happened to their structure and what they would do differently next time. 

Classroom News

Science

We had a blast practicing inquiry during our ice balloon experiment. Students were broken up into four tables. Each table had to first decide what temperature of water they were going to put in their bucket. This experiment showed students the importance of teamwork and compromise. As students were ask questions, adults at each table wrote down what the children were saying. At the conclusion of the experiment, we worked on the smart board to move these sticky notes into two columns, either a "Research Question" or  an "Experiment Question."  Our next step would be to look at our research questions (ex: Why does the salt melt the ice?) and find answers! 

Math

This week we have been focusing on showing numbers to 20 on our fingers.  This has helped students understand the concept of teen numbers.  We are working on decomposing a number to tens and ones.  Example: 14 is made of 1 group of ten and 4 ones. 

Important Date:

February 3rd will be our 100th day of school unless there is a snow day between now and then!  Be on the look out for information on the blog and in folders next week about our 100th day celebration. 

Classroom News

Literacy

I have been blown away by the gains that the children have made, in just a short month since I last tested students on their reading levels.  Each child has a Book Box that contains books that they have read in reading group, or books that I believe can challenge them during quiet reading time.  We are continuing to grind away at our letter sounds and sight words.  Children have realized that by learning these sounds and sight words, they are now able to read a lot more in their books and around the classroom.

Book Buddies

Today we had the opportunity to meet with our 2nd grade Book Buddies from Mrs. Bissonette's class.  We had not met with them since our Gingerbread play back in December!  Students were eager to share how far they have come in their reading since we last read together.  Students were paired with a 2nd grader and they each got to read a book to one another, while working on reading with expression and comprehension!

Science

This week we began learning about winter and what weather this season may bring.  As you can see in our Classdojo blog, we made predictions on what would happen to water of equal temperature when it was placed outside with winter clothes and without any clothes.  We will continue to conduct multiple science experiments with water and snow.  Many of the children enjoy this hands-on experience.  We are working on the skill of making realistic predictions and drawing scientific pictures that match our words. 

Reminders

**There is NO school on Monday, January 18th for students

**Scholastic Book Order due back by Wednesday, January 20th

**If you have not sent in an extra change of WINTER clothes for your child, please make sure to do so.  Even without accidents, students can get wet at recess and need to change.  Thank you in advance!

**Please be on the look out for a yellow information sheet on the school Musical in your child's red folder.  Our class is scheduled to perform on the evening on February 10th! 

Classroom News

Welcome Back!

This week we took the time to revisit our classroom rules and get back into the routine.  Students did a great job jumping right back into things.  I was impressed with how well they were able to get right to work.  This is the time of year where you can see students start to take off!

Despite a decent transition back to school, I still wanted to emphasize the importance of following our rules and being kind to one another.  Currently, our hardest promise to stick with is calling out. Interruptions have plagued our classroom this year! We came up with a list of promises to follow.  

Our Promises:

We promise not to call out.
We promise to stay in our own bubble.
We promise to be bucket fillers.
We promise to be kind and respectful of others and our things. 

Reminder

Please send your child with appropriate winter attire.  Each day they should bring snow pants, a winter jacket, hat, gloves, boots, and so forth.  Please make sure to pack their sneakers with them.  If you would like to keep an extra pair with your child at school, you are more than welcome to do so!


Donations

Our classroom is in need of Kleenex boxes.  Runny noses and coughs seem to be revisiting our classroom again :(

Paper towel rolls

If you have any extra CLEAN winter gloves or hats lying around that you need to get rid of, please considering donating them to our classroom stash.  If students have come to school unprepared for the cold weather, we have properly cloth them! 

New Year's Resolutions

This week we focused on the New Year! Students did a great job grasping the concept of New Year's Resolutions.

 I have listed some of their brilliant ideas:

help others
mop the floor once a week
make my bed
be nice to my brother/sister
wear my glasses every day
don't call out
read more books on my own
work my hardest at school every day
be a good listener
be a good friend

Math

This week was spent getting back into the swing of things during math class and refreshing on brains on composing numbers. Students worked together to make trains of cubes to 20.  They learned that there was a new twist to this game.  They had to have the exact number in order to win the game.  This was a bit of a challenge for some students, but they quickly learned the rules and how to be a good sport when they won or lost!  In addition to working on composing numbers, students worked on writing their numbers to 100.  We will be working on making number scrolls out of our number sheets.  This helps students visually understand the patterns in our 100's chart and at the same time they are practicing the correct number formations. 

Quick Reminder

The whole school sing a long is today at 1:50 if anyone would like to join us!

We will not be having a formal holiday celebration.  Our big celebration was the construction of our gingerbread houses last week!  As this time of the year gets extremely busy and students become excited for the holidays, I like to keep it very simple on Tuesday.  We will be enjoying the end of our Holiday's Around the World unit with a snack and winter movie.  

Classroom News 

Sight Words

By request, we had our first sight word test today!  I had mentioned a while back that I used to do sight word tests so I could see how students were doing with their practice.  To my amazement, students asked if we could do this!  They LOVED it!  Each and every one of them took our "test" very seriously.  We had the talk about the importance of trying our best and making sure to keep our eyes on our own papers.  We send these papers home on Thursday, so you could get a better understanding of where your child is at with their knowledge of sight words thus far.  It is important for students to not only be able to read the sight word, but to be able to write it as well! 

Holidays Around the World:

We learned that the Christmas tree is not native to Iceland.  A long time ago, they used to use a wooden pole and stick branches into it and spray paint it all green and then decorate it.  Everyone loved listening to the story of the Yule Lads, or little mischievous elves that visit the towns each night for 13 nights around the holiday season. We decided that they have very silly names:

Stekkjarstaur - Gimpy
Giljagaur - Gully Imp
Stúfur - Itty Bitty
Þvörusleikir - Pot Scraper Licker
Pottasleikir - Pot Licker
Askasleikir - Bowl Licker
Hurðaskellir - Door Slammer
Skyrgámur - Skyr Gobbler (Skyr, an Icelandic yoghurt)
Bjúgnakrækir - Sausage Snatcher
Gluggagægir - Window Peeper
GáttaÞefur - Doorway Sniffer
Ketkrókur - Meat Hooker
Kertasníkir - Candle Beggar

We visited Japan and learned about the how they celebrate the Japanese New Year. Students learned how to make oragami foxes and paper fans.  They even learned how to say "decorations, shrine, money, New Years Eve, cooking and gift" in Japanese!  

, 

Students are learning a song about Kwanzaa in music class and a while back they asked if this is something that we could learn about.  Students learned that Kwanzaa is based on the year-end harvest festivals that used to take place in Africa. The name comes from Swahili meaning "first fruits of the harvest."  We each made a Kinara (which friends made the connection between the Kinara and the Menorah because they look very similar)!

We will continue our Holiday's Around the World theme with our last stop being the United States.  Children will share about what their traditions are around the holiday season! Please be on the look out for your child's blue Passport next week! 

Remember:

We have school 12/21 and 12/22 and then I will see everyone back at school on Monday, 1/4

Classroom News

Math

This week during math, we have been learning about how to decompose and compose numbers to 10.  We learned how to play "Bears on a Bus." Below are pictures of students filling up the bus!  A card was drawn and students had to figure out how many more people were needed to get to 10.  Finding partner numbers to 10 is something that you can continue to practice at home!

Gingerbread Houses

Thank you to all of the families that made donations to our class Gingerbread making project.  Students had a wonderful time learning about the various types of gingerbread books.  They enjoyed writing about how they would catch a gingerbread man.  We have a lot of creative friends! We worked vigorously preparing for our Gingerbread play with the second grade book buddies.  Despite being a difficult task, the students did a tremendous job in front of their peers!

Sight Words of the Week

he

she

Social Studies: Holidays Around the World

This week our class took a plane to visit Israel to celebrate Hanukkah and Germany to celebrate Christmas.  They loved the idea of following along with the flight simulator video to pretend to fly to a new country.  In Israel, students learn about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.  We learned about the Festival of Lights and how one candle is lit each night.  Students were surprised to hear that children get one gift each of the 8 nights of celebration.  In Germany, we learned about the nutcracker and yule log.  We made our own Christmas tree advent calendars as an art project.  Germany is one of my favorite places to visit because I get to bring my pickle ornament in and teach children about my family tradition.  A pickle ornament is placed on our Christmas tree last by a parent.  After all presents are open, the children try to be the first person to find the pickle.  That person gets an extra present and as the story goes, they will receive good luck for the year.