muncha!

Show and Tell: Today Luke brought in a compass to share with the class. He explained that it could be used to help you figure out which way you need to go. He even elaborated what each of the letters stands for (N-north, S-south, etc)

Writer's Workshop: Today we introduced our newest ongoing project which is publishing a piece of informational writing. This writing will contain information about farm animals. Students were given a check-list of things that need to be done in order to publish:
_ Cover
_ Title Page
_ About the Author
_ Dedication
_ Gather Ideas
_ Write Pages
_ Illustrate Pages
_ Share with a Friend
Today we gathered ideas, creating a chart of things that would be appropriate to write about (what animals are used for, what animals look like, what animals sound like, etc.)

Math: We reviewed the hour/minute hands on a clock. Students will be focusing on the hour hand, so during math today the minute hand stayed on the 12 (or the o'clock).. Students used their individual clocks to identify and replicate several different times (3:00, 6:00, and the biggest challenge "move the clock to the time when you go to bed")

Penmanship: We introduced the letter Nn. We created a list of N words which brought up the tricky issue of silent letters (as students brought up such words are gnarly and knee).. After creating the list, students rainbow traced the letter Nn and made their own list on the back with pictures or words.

Library: Today Mrs. Williams read our class Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! and we checked out new books.

Art: After a short slideshow of pictures of flowers, and a small introduction to drawing flowers, students were given the task of creating a work of art with the only instructions (or guidelines) being that it had to contain at least 4 flowers, and that it had to be drawn in crayon. After they completed the drawing we did a watercolor wash which resisted the crayon. They turned out great and will raelly make our classroom festive for the spring season.

Colorful Eggs

Assembly: Alexa recieved this month's Citizenship Award for her excellent behavior this past month.

Activity: Since we've been working on farm animals and the sounds that they make, we created a craft that incorporates the two. Children colored and cut out a page that had a barn (with a door that folded open) and a poem (with a cut-out window). Behind this went a wheel that spins and has both pictures of animals and the sounds they make. When positioned correctly, the sound is displayed through the window and the door can be opened to reveal the animal.

Math: We continued our unit on time today, learning about the hands on a clock. The short one tells the hours. The longer one tells the minutes. On some clocks there is a third hand (usually a different color or very skinny) that tells seconds. Students used brads to created their own clocks that we will be using as we continue to work on telling time.

Literacy: After reviewing colors, students made a book titled "Colorful Eggs".. Each pages contained the prompt for a different color egg and three lines: ( __ ______ __ ).. Students filled in "I see a" and then underlined the color word and drew that color egg. Students then were able to practice reading these books to themselves and one another.

"just right" reading

Guided Reading: Today we began guided reading. This basically involves pulling small groups (currently no more than two per group) based on their reading level. We will work on strategies for reading and then choose a book that is "just right" for them to take home and practice with. These books are being sent home in labeled ziploc bags. Please take a chance to let your child read these with you, then bring them back to school. At least once a week a new book will be sent home to continue to practice with.

Activity:

Social Studies: Today we read the Let's Find Out about buildings on a farm: Silo, Stable, Barn, Coop, Pen, etc. After reading and examining the pictures, table teams were asked to work together to create one of these for our window mural.

P.E.: In P.E. we played Totally It Tag and are continuing to encourage students to play honestly, freezing when tagged and if they accidentally go out of bounds. This is beginning to be a problem with some students in both classes.

Annie is Caring

Math: Today we introduced the concept of time, talking about things that we do in the morning, afternoon, and evening.

Literacy: We cut, assembled, wrote, and colored am in book called "The Farm". The students were HUGELY successful with this and these have now been placed in their book boxes to practice.

Spirit Assembly: At the Spirit Assembly today, Annie earned the award for this month's lifeskill of Caring.

Music: Today in music, we learned and practiced the rest of our songs for our Kinder Concert.

Write the Room

Writer's Workshop: Today students were introduced to a new activity called "Write the Room". Students take a board, piece of paper, and pencil. They travel around the classroom copying any words onto that paper that they find around the classroom (on word walls, on charts, on cubbies, on papers, etc) STUDENTS LOVED IT AND DID AN AMAZING JOB!

We are continuing to practice songs for our upcoming Spring Sing Concert. We now know/practice: This Land is Your Land, The Worm Song, Each of Us is a Flower, and Buzz Buzz Buzz

Science: We introduced pigs. Students learned several interesting facts about pigs and even informally compared them to pigs (they both have bodies, 4 legs, hooves, etc.)

Art: We did step-by-step drawings of a pig. Then students learned the strategy of coloring in their picture by tracing their outline in markers and then colors in with crayon or colored pencil.

Library: Today Mrs. Williams read us I Wanna Iguana and we voted on our favorite book that has been read to us throughout the year thus far.

Cow says "Moo!"

Show and Tell: Nikhil shared a robotic Scorpion that he created from a kit that he received as a gift.

Activity: We worked step-by-step to complete a spring bunny. They were ADORABLE!

Science: We completed a cow pictorial, drawing and labeling the parts of a cow (body,spots,udders,head,tail,etc)

Art: Students were given black, white and pink construction paper to do tear art of a cow.

Social Studies: We did a final assessment for our National Symbols unit, students had to discriminate between different flags, statues, birds, and bells. They had to circle the correct national symbols.

P.E.: Today we played North Wind, South Wind with Miss Ciampa's class.

Ll is for Lamb

Literacy: We introduced Eric Carle, who is an excellent author and illustrator who we will begin another author study on in the coming weeks.

Science: Our first farm animal that we studied was the lamb. We made a
list of important information to know about a lamb:
1. A lamb is a baby sheep.
2 Mom is a ewe.
3. Dad is a ram.
4. Lamb says "Baa!"
5. It gives us wool to make clothes.

Art: We made VERY cute lambs by tracing our hands on black construction paper and then covering the palm with cotton balls. (Imagine the thumb sticking out as the head and the other four fingers being the legs)

Social Studies: We used star stickers to complete our Flag Book covers. We added our hands to the "We Salute You" page. We compiled our books and they are now ready to publish.

We Salute You

Penmanship: Today we introduced the letter Ll. We practiced the /l/ sound and listed words that begin with the letter Ll. We came up with 58!!! Students then did a tracing of a lion along with rainbow tracing of the letter Ll.

Science: For science today I did a baseline assessment of student's knowledge of Farm Animals (as well as informative writing). They were asked to write what they know about farm animals. Students did a surprisingly impressive job at the task, writing sentences about what animals make for us. (cows-milk, pigs-pork, etc) We will begin studying several animals from the farm over the next couple of weeks, then do one last writing at the end of the farm unit.

Social Studies: For Social Studies today we completed the last page for our Flag Book. This page contains a self portrait, and we will later attach a hand that will go across their body to be over their heart. The page is titled "We Salute You". We will put these books together, but they will remain at school and continue to be displayed.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This morning we walked into the classroom to find that "leprechauns" has visited our classroom over the weekend and left little green footprints and strewn tons of our supplies about (crayons, chairs, books, etc.) After a clean-up effort by the whole class, we were able to start the day.

Writer's Workshop: After discovering that "leprechauns" had visited our class, we decided to write letters to the leprechauns. We reviewed the elements of letters (date, dear ________, message, closing, and our name). Students came up with messages including: "What do you eat?", "Where do you live?", and "Do you want your gold back?"

Activity: We made large leprechauns and decorated them. They turned out GREAT!

Library: Today in Library Mrs. Williams read us two stories - one fiction and one non-fiction. We also were able to check out new library books.

Social Studies: We completed another page for our Flag book (which is almost done) which told us the colors of the flag and what they stood for. Red is for courage. White is for truth. Blue is for Loyalty.

Hidden Villa Farms

Today we visited Hidden Villa Farms in Los Altos. Our day was EXCELLENT!

We saw their garden and tasted things like nectar, persimmons, broccoli flowers, oats, and other edible leaves. Animals that we saw included cows, pigs, roosters, sheep, goats, chicks, and hens. We even got to pet the sheep and goats and feed the chickens.

After Lunch we did a Five Senses Farm activity, listing and drawing things that we saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and touched at the farm. Our group discussion was very lively, with every child participating, and their individual lists came out nicely as well.

Lucky Dog

Today I was away from the classroom at an in service for Writers Workshop. It was VERY informative, I got some excellent insight and ideas to implement in the classroom.

Sub Plans were as follows:
Writers Workshop: Students wrote their three wishes that they would like if they were to capture a leprechaun. These went onto a template with the frame: ""

Activity: Students created "Lucky Dog" by cutting out a large shamrock shape. Once cut, this shamrock was flipped upside down (stem on the top). Then white, black, and red paper were used to create eyes, a nose, and a tongue. These, paired along with the three wishes will make a lovely decoration for our classroom for the remainder of March.

Penmanship: We introduced the letter Ff yesterday, ask students to first list words that start with Ff. Write them on white board. After, I let them take 3 minutes to walk around the classroom and come up with more words that they can find/think of. I also write those words on the board. Students then go back to their seat and rainbow trace the Ff outlines. When they have finished, they may turn their paper over and draw/write words that start with the letter Ff.

Art: Students use markers, crayons, or colored pencils to color in patterned shamrocks.

P.E.: Miss Ciampa will led P.E. in a game of North Wind/South Wind.

Show and Tell: Eva showed her stuffed animal Simba today that she's had for 5 years.

Writer's Workshop: We introduced the word "like". Students listed things that they liked and in their Sourcebooks wrote sentences of "I like ________."

Buddies: Today we read outside on the Kinder Lawn with our 4th grade buddies. After reading for a while in the sun, we joined together with Mrs. Robinson's class and Mrs. Varveris' whole class for a Healthy Play game of ghost tag AND totally-it tag.

Activity: We completed BOTH of our quilt squares for the March quilt.

Pennies for Patients

Reader's Workshop: Students did a spectacular job with private reading today, using picture clues to help figure out words in the text.

Penmanship: Students were introduced to the letter Rr, we practiced the /r/ sound and listed words that started with the letter R. Students did rainbow tracing and drew objects that started with Rr.

Library: Mrs. Williams read us a modern day variation on Old McDonald story.

Assembly: We had a school wide assembly about our newest Community Service project - Pennies for Patients. A volunteer from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society did an excellent presentation explaining the blood diseases and what students can do to help (raise money). We will be collecting change in our class, and school wide.

Book Fair: We did our walk-through of the Book Fair, students had a chance to look through the wonderful selection of Scholastic books.

Math: Today we created FOUR graphs as a class.
1. Do you like green eggs and ham?
2. Which is your favorite Dr. Seuss book? (Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, Are You My Mother?, One Fish Two Fish)
3. What is your favorite national symbol? (eagle, flag, Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore)
4. Which Jan Brett book did you like the best? (all books we've read)

The Tooth Fairy!

Show and Tell: Eesha brought in a doll to share that can grow larger and shrink smaller.

Healthy Play: Sabina came today and we reviewed "Totally It Tag" before learning a new variation on tag called "North Wind, South Wind". In this game the person holding the "Yellow Ball of Peace" was able to unfreeze students that were frozen by those who're it.


Writer's Workshop: Today students chose their strongest page from their "I see a _______." books and copied it as a final draft on larger paper. Some are displayed around the classroom while others will be sent home. ALL students were successful in writing this sentence and illustrating.

Choice: Our buddy reading today was canceled due to our Special Guest, so instead students received a bit of Friday Funday after recess.

Special Guest: One of Ms. Stryker's friend, who is a dental hygienist, does the favor of visiting school dressed as the tooth fairy to promote dental health. She shared foods that are good for our teeth (milk, fruits, vegetables) as well as foods that're not-so-good for our teeth (soda, sugars, etc).


Read Aloud: Mrs. Mathur came in to read a book to us, When Will Spring Be Here?

I see a ________

Writer's Workshop: Today we learned a new sight word - see. We listed things that you could see. Each student then created a book that was four pages. Each page contained the same sentence skeleton "I see a _______." They were responsible for writing these four sentences and illustrating their book.

Science: Today we began our unit on the farm. We made a chart of "What we think we know about farms" which included things about growing vegetables and fruit, farmers who take care of animals and also a list of things we might see there: barn, hay, eggs, etc.

Math: Today we reviewed counting to teens and placing numbers in the correct place values. Students completed another worksheet which involved counting, recording, and this time creating their own.

P.E.: We played another version of Under-Over Kickball, this time it was a Battle of the Sexes. I played with the Girls Team against Miss Ciampa and the Boys Team. Another close battle, I think this one ended in a true tie.

Red, White, and Blue

Reader's Workshop: Our mini-lesson today focused on strategies to help beginning readers. Emphasis was placed on two strategies - First, students were encouraged to place their finger under the first letter of the word they are reading. If they can decode the initial sound, it may help to guess what the word will be. Second, students were instructed that if they cannot sound out the words phonetically, they should use the illustrations to figure out the word from meaning.

Art: Since this week's letter is Bb, we completed a directed draw of a butterfly. Students learned about symmetry (things are the same on one side as they are on another). They designed identical wings and used watercolor to paint them.

Social Studies: We discussed the colors of the American Flag once again - red, white, and blue. We created another page for our Flag Book which explains the colors of the flag. Students pasted colored paper to create the page and wrote out the words "red" , "white", "and blue".

Music: TOday we began to learn our music for the Spring Concert. We learned "The Worm Song" and practiced it several times. We also were introduced to "This Land is Your Land" which we will also be learning the sign language to go along with.

Counting in the Teens

Show and Tell: Christian was very excited to share with us his Thomas computer game this morning. He even played a letter identification game as an example. During Choice several students even had a chance to try using his toy.

Penmanship: We introduced the letter Bb. After practicing formation and the letter sound, we made a long list of words that start with the letter Bb.

Math: We discussed teen numbers and worked as a whole class counting and representing them using the accurate place values. We counted, once we got to ten we grouped them, then continued to count. The leftovers were placed in the ones "house". Then the groups of ten ere counted and that number was placed in the tens "house".

Computer Lab: In Computer Lab, we moved into another game in the Arthur Math Games computer program.

Activity: After Computer Lab we finished our modern flag page for our American Flag book and our Hina Matsuri page from yesterday.

Dr. Seuss Day AND Hina Matsuri

Cooking: This morning Mrs. McDermott's class joined us to cook green eggs and ham. Students sliced up Canadian Bacon, cracked an egg, added "Seuss Juice" (green food coloring) and scrambled the eggs. Most of the class enjoyed them!

Video: While students were pulled in small groups, the rest of the class watched Dr. Seuss cartoon short films of many of our favorite Dr. Seuss stories.

Hina Matsuri: Today is Japanese Girl's Day (Hina Matsuri). We visited Mrs. McDermott's class for a presentation by one of her room's parents. We learned about the history, and I even got to be the model for a Kimono.

The Cat in the Hat: After reading the story, we created red and white striped Dr. Seuss hats.

Dr. Seuss books read: Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Are You My Mother?, and ABC