Monday, March 31

Congratulations to Table 1!
     On Friday, Table 1 earned their tenth and final mark on our Terrific Table Graph, putting them at the top first!  Their self-control and integrity really stood out the past few weeks, earning them the prize!  Enjoy your Jelly Bellies!
     This morning, the students wandered around the room searching for their new seats in class.  They were all SO excited to sit next to some new friends.  We are eager to see how these new groups work together and which table wins the race this time.

We researched on the iPads in Social Studies last week...TWICE!
     We have really been digging into learning about our culture, and what better way than to do some real-life research!  We worked in partners to find out about American symbols such as the bald eagle, flag, and Statue of Liberty.  Then, we researched our national holidays and told the class about them.  The kiddos LOVE working on the iPads every chance they can get.  If you have tablets at home, please encourage them to bring them to school- they are such a great learning tool.

4th Quarter means new math centers!
     A brand new quarter brings brand new math centers.  Some of our new centers include measuring with traditional and nontraditional units, geometry, problem solving, graphing and plotting points, and working with money.  We have been practicing self-control during centers and increasing our stamina so that we can work the whole time and not get distracted.  Our 2nd unit of money is coming to a close, and we are focusing our attention this week on making change up to a dollar.  We found that it is usually easiest to count up from the price of something to find the change we need, instead of trying to do subtraction in our heads.  We are learning both ways though, so that we can use the method that works best for each situation.

Class Dojo
    Our Class Dojo monster points are adding up quickly!  When the whole class gets to 20 points, we get to have a party!  Don't forget to check the points at home and give your kiddo praise when they have a great day :o)

Happy spring break!!

Good morning everyone! Hope you are enjoying your spring break!

     Last week, we finished our unit on counting money and began a unit on using money. We created a web to show all the ways we can use our money. I took a picture to show you all because the things they picked as examples were so in keeping with their personalities- I felt the need to share :) 

   Last chapter, we learned that we should always use the least amount of change to make an amount if we have it available. Sometimes we have to use what we've got in our wallets or piggy banks though, so we practiced using different coin combinations to make the same amount. 

In Social Studies, we are learning about cultures and our ancestors, and everything that goes along with it.  Legends and cultural artwork were the focus on Thursday, and we listened to an old legend about how the rainbow was made.  The kids listened to the story, and then created a picture depicting all the details of the story that they remembered. We compared our pictures and discussed how easy it is for legends to change as they are passed down through generations.  The pictures turned out awesome and the kids LOVED the legend of the rainbow! Here is a link to the story if you'd like to read it for yourself :o)

Rainbow Legend

Please have your kids work on the timeline project due on Monday.  If you have any questions, feel free to email me. It got a little chaotic at the end of the day on Friday when we were going over directions :)  

Logan was our star of the week last week and will continue as our star the week we come back to school.  He only got a few days as the star since he was absent.  Bring in a favorite book and a toy to share with class, Logan :) 

Enjoy your break!!

Invention Convention!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day and got to spend some time outside.  We finished our inventions last Friday and finished writing up our reports Tuesday.  Sorry I didn't post this sooner- it's been a busy week!  The kids are excited to show off their inventions, so here they are!! 

Problem: My coat/hat/backpack keeps falling off my hook...

Problem: My eraser is too small and doesn't last long enough...

Problem: My desk keeps scooting all over the place...

Problem: I keep losing my supplies and need to get organized...

Problem: I can't see inside my dark desk...

Problem: My desk is just a little bit too short...

Problem: My pencils keep rolling off of my desk...

Congratulations to all the budding engineers in room 49! 

Baby Alexis is here!

Hello families!  I wanted to share the exciting news that my baby girl arrived last week on 2-18-14.

She is healthy and an absolute blessing to our family.  

7 pounds 6 ounces- the exact same as her brother!  20 and 1/4 inches

Thanks for your support and the target gift card!  Your thoughtfulness is so appreciated.  I can't wait to bring her up to school to meet the kiddos in April!

Writing, Counting, and Inventing, oh my!

As you know, we have been writing letters to friends and family about our opinions on the books we are reading. We decided to make a writer's inspiration wall to help us think when we get stuck. The kids love looking to the wall to get ideas from their peers' writing.  Writing rotates on the wall so that we can all have turns being featured for inspiration. 

We are getting really good at counting, recognizing, and sorting coins.  We learned that $1.00 equals 100 cents, and that we can make those cents lots of different ways.  A flip book we created is helping us remember the most common combinations of coins to make $1.00.  

Before beginning our inventions yesterday, we learned that people and animals can use their bodies as simple machines.  Groups were given animals to research and then present to the rest of the class about how they use their bodies as simple machines.  

Now that we know how the simple machines work, we can focus on these awesome inventions these scientists are creating!  Some use simple machines, and some don't. Either way, we are learning the process of creating something new.  So far, we have 1. Noticed a problem (at school), 2. Made a plan, 3. Chosen materials, and today we got to 4. Build it and test it out.  The kids had SO MUCH FUN building and testing their inventions today! Their was science language flying around everywhere in their conversations- it was awesome.  We will spend tomorrow building and testing again. Here are some previews of inventions "in the works." 

Since we trashed the room while being inventors, we took a few minutes at the end of the day to clean the room and our messy desks!  We are spick and span now :o) 

 

Happy Friday!

We had a great 4 days of learning and investigating this week!  Thumbs up if you enjoyed the warmer weather, I know I certainly did :)

     TUESDAY

Our team all-star this week was Samil.  He shared his poster with us, and we learned that he loves the zoo, Grant's Farm, washing the car, recess, and Transformers (the book)!  Samil brought in some yummy Bosnian candy bars called Bananko to share with the class.  They are made of chocolate and bananas!  We loved that he shared some of his culture with us!  

Our friend, Mr. Allen, came on Tuesday to teach us our final lesson about how to be a good friend.  We learned that friends should always laugh and have fun together, as long as we are being safe and healthy.  We got to practice laughing and having fun by creating silly imaginary animals and giving them funny names.  We will miss Mr. Allen and are grateful that he spent some time teaching us how to be a good friend.  Our friendship rules are:

Include others.

Give everyone a chance.

It's okay for friends to be different.

Friends should have fun and laugh while being safe and healthy.

Remind your children of these rules frequently, we all know it's easy to forget sometimes. 

WEDNESDAY

Now that we know all about technology, we are ready to learn about the simple machines that help make some of these awesome inventions possible!  We created a lever by placing a ruler on top of a pencil (fulcrum), and tried to lift a book off the table by moving the lever up and down.  We learned that the closer we move the fulcrum towards the weight, the easier it is to lift! 

THURSDAY

Opinion writing is in full swing around here!  For the past week and a half or so, we have been writing letters to our class, telling them our opinions about the books we read.  The kids LOVE finding letters inside books in the classroom library and reading their peer's opinions.  

    On Thursday we began writing letters to anyone we want!  Mom, Dad, Aunt Susie, our BFF, teachers...the list is endless.  This has really catapulted our writing to the next level!  They are so excited to write all of you letters about their books.  If you get a letter, don't hesitate to write back- they will find value in their writing if they know their intended audience is reading it and responding.

FRIDAY

   Today was Rams day! We had a great time at the assembly! I was reminded that eardrums REALLY DO vibrate during the screaming contest to see which side of the gym was loudest.  I think my ears are still ringing :) 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!  

Note: Conference letters went home this week. If I have not contacted you by Monday, and you would like to request a conference, please contact me and we can set up a time to meet on conference night.