Teacher Appreciated!!

Thank you to all my very wonderful parents for working so hard to make sure this week was special for me.   The cards and the flowers were  a wonderful surprise. (extra bonus-they made the room smell good!)  The personal touch on the door design was a great idea!  Thank you again for taking the time and making the effort to show your appreciation! 

ABCD Drawing

ABCD stands for Accurate, Big, Colorful, Detailed.  We use this technique for our science inquiry lessons.   Students show what they know by creating an illustration based on the lesson. Today we illustrated the parts of a plant and wrote three sentences explaining what we know about plants. 

SEEDS!

We are exploring natural resources by taking a closer look at different types of seeds.  This week after the rain storm seemed like the perfect time to think about planting them.  We took a walk outside for our lesson.  Some of the seeds/beans that had water, air and light had begun to sprout.  The seeds/beans with no water had no changes.  We planted all of them and as we were walking back inside - the sun came out.   The Superheroes spontaneously all lifted their cups towards the sun!

Contraction Action!!

The Superheroes continue to explore using contractions in their writing.  I continue to explore fun ways to learn all the contractions!  Today we did a cooperative group activity where we had to use our transdisciplinary skills to communicate our knowledge about contractions. 

 It's fun to move and learn at the same time! 

How We Express Ourselves

Our new planner is all about expressing ideas, thoughts and feelings using art.  How perfect that Madilyn's mom came to do an art a la carte lesson today!  We enjoyed it very much!  

Peeps

I took advantage of the sale of marshmallow peeps and created a science experiment!  We began be determining if Peeps were a natural resource.  If not, then what natural resources were used to make Peeps.  The results were interesting.  Next, we used our scientific skills to explore using our senses and then develop hypothesis based on our previous planner exploring states of matter.  Of course, you can not eat your science experiment so I bought plenty of Peeps so everyone could EAT one!

SCOOT!

Today we engaged in a fun learning activity called Scoot!  The students had to move from desk to desk to determine if the object they found was a living or non-living thing.  

Buddy Reading

Our new favorite way to explore a book is through buddy reading.  With a buddy, we read a book and then answer questions about the beginning, middle and end.  We also have to discuss what the author's purpose is.  After all that conversation we know the story very well.  The final step is to create a zig zag book where we summarize the beginning, middle and end in our own words. 

Using -est to compare things

Here is the bulletin board of all our story pages.  I realize my pictures do not show the super sentences that we wrote to go along with our illustrations.  Please take a minute to come by and admire our hard work.  We even challenge you to make a sentence using a comparative adjective!

Comparative Adjectives

Today we read a very interesting story where the author used comparative adjectives.  After much discussion we of course decided to write our own book using comparative adjectives.  The end result is quite funny and good.  My pictures do not do the work justice!  

Stop Drop & Write

One of our favorite literacy stations is Stop, Drop and Write.  The students can choose different building materials or the theater to begin creating their story.  Halfway through the station time they must stop, drop and write.  The building stops and the creating begins!  The students work together to write down the story that goes along with whatever they have built.  

You Can't Catch Me...

  We enjoyed reading everyone's new versions of the Gingerbread Man!