Article posted March 19, 2013 at 11:55 AM GMT-5 •
comment • Reads 296
Hmmm, Spring is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Did anyone tell Mother Nature? The Groundhog was definitely wrong this year. At least the snow day has provided me with the opportunity to post a few photos and give a brief update about our classroom!
March is just flying by. We have been very busy applying all the skills we've been learning all year. During Reading we are applying our phonics skills so we can read more challenging books with better fluency and expression. We are also learning comprehension strategies and strategies for making inferences as we read. As you can see in the photos below, we are also mastering our sight words.
While writing we are now applying our knowledge of quality sentences and grammar to writing fiction and non-fiction texts. We are practicing writing nonfiction paragraphs with introductory sentences and closing sentences. When writing fiction we are focusing on short stories with attention to the story elements of a beginning, problem, solution, and ending.
In Math we continue to stress the importance of mastering the math facts for fluency. Math facts through 10 need to be fluent by the end of the year. We have been learning about time to the hour and 1/2 hour, coin identification through 25 cents, and are beginning to learn about fair shares and fractions.
Buddy Bear has almost completed his tour of homes. We have a few friends still waiting the opportunity to bring Buddy Bear home for a visit. They have been very patient. We're saving the best for last for our friend, Buddy!
Enjoy the snow day boys and girls!
March 19 on PhotoPeach
Article posted March 19, 2013 at 11:55 AM GMT-5 •
comment • Reads 296
Article posted February 23, 2013 at 09:20 AM GMT-5 •
comment • Reads 545
Great News... my eye surgery is over and everything is progressing very nicely. My surgeon is very pleased. I have been given permission to return to work and I'm "looking" forward to "seeing" my students on Monday! Thank you to all for your well wishes and a special thank you to Mrs. LaMarche for taking such wonderful care of my class!
Article posted February 23, 2013 at 09:20 AM GMT-5 •
comment • Reads 545
Article posted February 1, 2013 at 03:39 PM GMT-5 •
comment • Reads 173
This week we started using a new website called Samson's Classroom. I have a 1 month free trial of this website. We've been working very hard to learn the sight words in each list so we can earn different leveled belts. We have our first Black Belt Master already! Congratulations KF. We have many others who will be earning a black belt very soon! Also during ELA we
learned about conjunctions with our Shape Up Grammar. We had fun learning the School House Rock's song Conjunction Junction What's Your Function! (Remember that???!!!)
In Math we started learning about clocks and the measurement of time. We have learned that 5 minutes isn't very long! In Math we also did some data collection about the groundhog's weather prediction. We had very mixed results, we'll have to wait and see what the groundhog predicts tomorrow. We also learned a lot of interesting facts about groundhogs, it was interesting to learn how they can dig and move up to 700 pounds of dirt and rock in 1 day to make huge tunnels underground. Did you know their heart beats only 1 time every 5 minutes when they are in hibernation?
Speaking of hibernation, this week we also started a fun tradition that I have had in my room for many years. I have a little friend, Buddy Bear, that loves to come out of hibernation to visit with students at their home. This week Buddy had the chance to visit 3 friends' homes and he had some great adventures to share in his travel journal!
Today we started talking about all the things in Feb. We started learning about good dental health and we made a big toothbrush chart to help us keep track of our brushing and flossing all Feb. This month we will be having our 100th day of school, we'll talk and learn about Presidents Washington and Lincoln, and we'll talk about heart healthy habits! Our Valentine's day party will be heart healthy too! Also, this month Tanglewood is holding its first Walk-a-Thon for Marathon on Feb. 15th. So much fun for such a short month!
We are thrilled to say that we are having many friends redeeming Scootpad points for special prizes and priveleges. Today we also enjoyed showing Mr. Hills how well we can do our Phonics Dance! It's been a great week. We are looking forward to many fun learning this Feb.!
Article posted February 1, 2013 at 03:39 PM GMT-5 •
comment • Reads 173
Article posted January 18, 2013 at 02:44 PM GMT-5 •
comment • Reads 310
This week we practiced our Math by using our white board markers and a plastic sleeve to write our answers on our paper. That way we are trying to save on using too much paper. We learned how to make mini "poof" books to put our fact families in as well as to write mini books!
In writing, we worked on a non fiction report about penguins,we also learned how to make shape poems. That was fun!
During ELA we learned about compound words and we reviewed contractions. We also learned about the CVCe pattern for long vowel sounds.
Today we spent quite a bit of time having some wonderful discussions about Martin Luther King Jr. and how we all are bucketfillers in our classroom because we try to be kind to one another. We always try to include everyone. Mrs. Berg read the story What If The Zebras Lost Their Stripes? By John Reitano. We know the zebras are smart enough to see that it doesn't matter what the outside looks like, all that counts is what's inside!
Finally, we ended our week with some friends going to Mrs. Berg's Boutique. These friends had some good behavior chips in the jar and were chosen at random to have the priviledge of shopping today. Congratulations to Zach, (2 times!), Xavier, Emily and to Brielle for having the most chips in the jar. We also had many friends redeeming their Scootpad coins for different priviledges. We had friends for lunch, friends sharing with a show n tell, a friend buy a limited quanity snowman beanbag and a friend buy a trip to the Boutique. Next week we already have friends to read a book, and to have lunch in the classroom. Congratulations on all your hard work.
Finally, a private message to Dominic. Get Well Soon!
PS. This week's Bucketfiller names were: Anthony L and Sophia! Congratulations...keep up the great Bucketfilling!
Article posted January 18, 2013 at 02:44 PM GMT-5 •
comment • Reads 310
