Our 100 year old outfits!
Teachers too!
It was a fun day!
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
100th DAY!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Buses and snowy weather
Red and purple bus left at 2pm. No other buses for our students have arrived. I am with the students in the cafeteria. Students are doing really well. We put on a movie which has helped pass the time.
Car riders are waiting in the library.
Day car riders are waiting in ms. Jackson's room.
---update----
Now they are consolidating buses into designated rooms. So far....
520-gym
119- ms. Goodwins room
Car riders are waiting in the library.
Day car riders are waiting in ms. Jackson's room.
---update----
Now they are consolidating buses into designated rooms. So far....
520-gym
119- ms. Goodwins room
Monday, January 20, 2014
What We're Learning Jan. 20th
MATH
In math, we started our measurement units. The two standards students are mastering this unit are:
Students have learned about length, width, and height. We have measured things around the classroom with nonstandard units like cubes and paperclips. Students have also compared objects by length, height, and weight. We have used the vocabulary words shorter, longer, shortest, longest, heavy, light, tallest, shortest, tall, and short. At the end of the week, students worked with scales and weighed various objects.
Next week, students will learn about capacity. Capacity is the amount something can hold. Students will put all of their knowledge together in an activity comparing objects from the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This book will come home at the end of next week. We will also discuss the different tools you would use to measure objects. For example, a ruler will be used to measure length not weight.
READING
Due to the shorter weeks, our center rotation is a little off. We are finished letter O centers for 2 days this week. As a class, we are learning about opposites. Next week, students will create an opposite class book. Each child is learning new reading skills in their small group. Book in a bags are coming home Mon.-Thur. Please let your child read their book in a bag each night at home. Also, continue to practice sight words as they will greatly impact your child's reading.
WRITING
At the beginning of the semester, students finished a final draft of a how to hot chocolate writing. We celebrated our writing by sharing it while drinking hot chocolate. Now students are learning about persuasive writing. Students have learned persuasive writing shares an opinion. The purpose is to get the reader to agree with you. The writer must also give reasons to support their opinion. Students wrote about the best dessert and which playground I should take them to last week. Students also had the opportunity to choose their own topic and share their writing with a peer. Students are still practicing writing with correct capitalization and punctuation.
Next week, students will work on their book for the school publishing project. Each child is writing a book about their favorite things. We will complete our rough draft and final draft next week. There will be an About the Author paper coming home on Tuesday. Please fill it out with your child and return it to school. It will be typed up and go in the back of your child's book.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Students learned about Martin Luther King Jr. They learned he was a hero who wanted everybody to be treated fairly no matter what they looked like. On Friday, students made peace prizes for MLK and shared why he deserved the award. On Tuesday, students will write what their dream and how they would want to make the world a better place.
SCIENCE
Our next science unit will start Tuesday. Students will be learning about rocks and soils. The goal of the unit is for students to describe physical attributes of rocks and soils. This week we will be focusing on that concept that the Earth is made up of soils, rocks, water, and air. Students will explain why each material is important. Then, we will describe rocks with our five senses. The class will visit the science lab for an experiment tomorrow.
OTHER NEWS
- Sharing Letter B this week. Monday sharers can bring sharing on Tuesday.
-Thank you so much for the surprise birthday celebration. I loved my birthday book and other gifts!The kids kept the secret!
In math, we started our measurement units. The two standards students are mastering this unit are:
MCC.K.MD.1 Describe measureable attributes of objects, such as
length or weight. Describe several measureable attributes of a single object.
MCC.K.MD.2 Directly
compare two objects with a measureable attribute in common, to see which object
has “more of”/”less of” the attribute, and describe the difference. Students have learned about length, width, and height. We have measured things around the classroom with nonstandard units like cubes and paperclips. Students have also compared objects by length, height, and weight. We have used the vocabulary words shorter, longer, shortest, longest, heavy, light, tallest, shortest, tall, and short. At the end of the week, students worked with scales and weighed various objects.
Next week, students will learn about capacity. Capacity is the amount something can hold. Students will put all of their knowledge together in an activity comparing objects from the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This book will come home at the end of next week. We will also discuss the different tools you would use to measure objects. For example, a ruler will be used to measure length not weight.
READING
Due to the shorter weeks, our center rotation is a little off. We are finished letter O centers for 2 days this week. As a class, we are learning about opposites. Next week, students will create an opposite class book. Each child is learning new reading skills in their small group. Book in a bags are coming home Mon.-Thur. Please let your child read their book in a bag each night at home. Also, continue to practice sight words as they will greatly impact your child's reading.
WRITING
At the beginning of the semester, students finished a final draft of a how to hot chocolate writing. We celebrated our writing by sharing it while drinking hot chocolate. Now students are learning about persuasive writing. Students have learned persuasive writing shares an opinion. The purpose is to get the reader to agree with you. The writer must also give reasons to support their opinion. Students wrote about the best dessert and which playground I should take them to last week. Students also had the opportunity to choose their own topic and share their writing with a peer. Students are still practicing writing with correct capitalization and punctuation.
Next week, students will work on their book for the school publishing project. Each child is writing a book about their favorite things. We will complete our rough draft and final draft next week. There will be an About the Author paper coming home on Tuesday. Please fill it out with your child and return it to school. It will be typed up and go in the back of your child's book.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Students learned about Martin Luther King Jr. They learned he was a hero who wanted everybody to be treated fairly no matter what they looked like. On Friday, students made peace prizes for MLK and shared why he deserved the award. On Tuesday, students will write what their dream and how they would want to make the world a better place.
SCIENCE
Our next science unit will start Tuesday. Students will be learning about rocks and soils. The goal of the unit is for students to describe physical attributes of rocks and soils. This week we will be focusing on that concept that the Earth is made up of soils, rocks, water, and air. Students will explain why each material is important. Then, we will describe rocks with our five senses. The class will visit the science lab for an experiment tomorrow.
OTHER NEWS
- Sharing Letter B this week. Monday sharers can bring sharing on Tuesday.
-Thank you so much for the surprise birthday celebration. I loved my birthday book and other gifts!The kids kept the secret!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
What do you think?
Please give me your feedback on the website! I want to make it the most beneficial for you. You can take the brief survey linked below or leave a comment. Thanks!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GVSY55Y
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GVSY55Y
Changes in 2014
Happy New Year! There are a few changes I always make midyear. Explainations are below.
Eaglets
Eaglets are paper dollars that students can earn for good behavior. It is an additional behavior management system. We will continue to have clips and red/yellow/green marked in folders. The eaglets are meant to positively reinforce great choices and offer new motivation. I have found it helpful to give students a new reward when returning from the holiday break. Students will earn eaglets throughout the week and on Friday's they will visit the treasure box. Items in the treasure box cost ten eaglets. If students do not have ten yet, they will keep what they have earned and add more the following week. If students earn twenty, they can pick a second prize or a bigger prize. I would LOVE donations to the treasure box. It does not have to be anything big. Many items have come from the Target dollar section. Anything your child would like other kids will too! Thank you in advance!
Book in a Bag
Students have grown so much in their reading skills through hard work, various teaching strategies, and your support at home. To continue this growth, students will each have their own book in a bag. It will contain a book on your child's level and that we have worked on in our reading group. Students will take it home each night and need to bring it back each day. These are the books we read in groups to it is very important they have them for class. Some may be on white copy paper, but they still belong to the classroom. Please let your child read the book to you at home. They will receive the same book on multiple days during the week to build their confidence and reading fluency. In the bag will also be strategies we use in the class to help students decode (figure out) the words.
Centers
Students have particpated in literacy centers first semester. Literacy centers will continue during second semester with one adjustment. Previously, I created 10 centers for students to visit throuhgout the week. In 2014, students will visit 8 mandatory centers and choose from some teacher created options for their other two centers.
Their rotation will now look like this:
Eaglets
Eaglets are paper dollars that students can earn for good behavior. It is an additional behavior management system. We will continue to have clips and red/yellow/green marked in folders. The eaglets are meant to positively reinforce great choices and offer new motivation. I have found it helpful to give students a new reward when returning from the holiday break. Students will earn eaglets throughout the week and on Friday's they will visit the treasure box. Items in the treasure box cost ten eaglets. If students do not have ten yet, they will keep what they have earned and add more the following week. If students earn twenty, they can pick a second prize or a bigger prize. I would LOVE donations to the treasure box. It does not have to be anything big. Many items have come from the Target dollar section. Anything your child would like other kids will too! Thank you in advance!
Book in a Bag
Students have grown so much in their reading skills through hard work, various teaching strategies, and your support at home. To continue this growth, students will each have their own book in a bag. It will contain a book on your child's level and that we have worked on in our reading group. Students will take it home each night and need to bring it back each day. These are the books we read in groups to it is very important they have them for class. Some may be on white copy paper, but they still belong to the classroom. Please let your child read the book to you at home. They will receive the same book on multiple days during the week to build their confidence and reading fluency. In the bag will also be strategies we use in the class to help students decode (figure out) the words.
Centers
Students have particpated in literacy centers first semester. Literacy centers will continue during second semester with one adjustment. Previously, I created 10 centers for students to visit throuhgout the week. In 2014, students will visit 8 mandatory centers and choose from some teacher created options for their other two centers.
Their rotation will now look like this:
Literacy Centers
1)
Library
2)
ABC
3)
Choice
4)
Pocket Chart
5)
Computer
6)
Writing
7)
Creation
8)
Choice
9)
Listening
10) Activboard
Some of the choices: write the room, journals, whiteboards,
drama, fine motor, sight words, ipad, games
Holiday Party
Our holiday party was the Thursday before break. Students decorated gingerbread houses. Hopefully they made it home in one piece. Then students played a gingerbread game. They rolled a dice and colored in the corresponding numeral. Last, students ate a snowman popcorn snack. Many thanks to Andrea Ritchie and Megan Klein for planning this holiday celebration and organizing volunteers. Also, thank you to those who were able to donate supplies to make the party possible and those of you who visited our party. It's always nice to have extra hands to help students.
Monday, January 6, 2014
A Rainy Week
A week of rain meant inside recess five days in a row! The kids did well. Here are pictures of legos, blocks, and two girls creating a plan to spy on the teacher. Students also do puzzles, draw on whiteboards, computers, and more.
We will most likely have inside recess a few days in January due to the cold. Teachers decide based on the 'feels like' temperature. Wind chill can be brutal! Please make sure your child has a warm coat and other warm clothing for recess and dismissal. Also, label outerwear with your child's first and last name. We do our best to make sure each child empty's their cubbies at the end of the day; however, the stack of lost, unclaimed coats given to charity at the end of December was huge.
Game Day
Students earned an hour of playing games for earning 60 stepping stones. Stepping stones are given by staff members other than myself for the class' great behavior. They were so excited! thanks for those of you who were able to send in a game. It was fun to watch and even join in! Students went from game to game freely. Here are a few pics.
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