Tuesday, December 19, 2017

We are thoroughly enjoying our last week before the winter break.  Our classroom is filled with music, laughter, craft projects and as of today..."slime!"  

Our winter art thus far has included a crayon resist painting, beaded snowflakes and paper chain snowmen.  These crafts have been a great way for us to practice our fine motor skills and learn about combining materials.

This afternoon, we made holiday slime!  We learned how to use measuring tools for following a recipe.  Since we only had one official measuring cup, we had to make additional ones on our own.  First we filled the measuring cup to 1/2 a cup, then we poured that water into a paper cup and marked the water level.  We did this several times over, until we had several extra measuring cups made.

Then, we unpacked the ingredients bag and wrote our instructions (recipe) as a class.  After doing a demo as a whole group, we split into smaller teams to create our own batches of slime.

Reminders:

• Report cards are coming home today.  Please sign and return the envelope and IPP signature page (if applicable).  Keep the report card itself at home.
• December 19 and 20: Popcorn days ($2/bag)
• December 20: Pajama Day
• December 20: Class performance at 1:30
• December 21: Last day of classes (early dismissal)

Friday, December 15, 2017

We are continuing our unit on the five senses.  This week, many students brought containers with mystery scents inside.  We used our noses to describe and guess what the scents were.  Some of the scents were strong and others were sweet.

In math, we have been talking about estimating.  To make a reasonable guess, we envision the objects in groups of 2, 5, or 10.  After estimating, we then physically organize the objects into these groups and use our skip counting skills to count them.  You can try this at home too!  The pictures below show the steps.

In this picture, Grady estimated that Arfin had 64 dominoes.  Then, he organized the dominoes into groups of 2 and counted.

Here is a video of Rachel and Zainab estimating and then organizing their chips into groups of 5. 

Reminders:

• December 19 and 20: Popcorn days ($2/bag)
• December 20: Pajama Day
• December 20: Class performance at 1:30
• December 21: Last day of classes (early dismissal)

Tuesday, December 11, 2017

Today we took some time to reflect on why we are fortunate.  We discussed how material things are not as important as health or relationships.  In our writing, we learned a trick to help us remember how to spell the word "because."  The memory trick is: big elephants can always use some exercise.

In science, we are continuing our investigation into the five senses.  This Thursday we will be testing our sense of smell.  Students are encouraged to bring a container with a scent inside.  The container should be covered in paper so we can poke holes in it that day.

In math, we are becoming increasingly confident representing numbers to 100 using base ten blocks.  We have spent time learning that the tens digit represent groups of ten.

The next stage in our phonological awareness development is manipulating onsets and rimes.  Today we learned that the rime (not to be confused with rhyme) is the vowel and and any following consonant sounds in a syllable.  For example, in the work "yes, " the rime is "es."  In the word "backyard," the rime in the first syllable is "ack" and the rime in the second syllable is "ard."  To practice this, we orally blended onsets and rimes together and then determined if they created real or nonsense words.  You can practice this at home by giving your child one onset from the chart below, and one rime.  Ask them to blend the sounds together and determine if they have made a real or nonsense word.

Onset         Rime

h                   amp

bl                  et

th                  ole

gr                  een

Reminders:

• Library books due back this Friday.
• December 19 and 20: Popcorn days ($2/bag)
• December 20: Pajama Day
• December 20: Class performance at 1:30
• December 21: Last day of classes (early dismissal)

Thursday, December 7, 2017

This morning we were able to see and touch a real braille book and learn more about this method of reading.  At another station we played a bingo game to practice our blends and digraphs.

We have also been busy singing along to the "ph" rock and roll song.  Click on the link below to watch!

PH song

In math, we have continued to practice our backwards counting from 100.  This skill is helping us answer "2 less" questions such as, "What number is 2 less than ___."

Some students have requested access to a computer program we use at school.  If you are interested, please click on the link below and then enter the classroom access code: Z3CJDF

Education.com

Reminders:

• December 19 and 20: Popcorn days ($2/bag)
• December 20: Pajama Day
• December 20: Class performance at 1:30
• December 21: Last day of classes (early dismissal)

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

We began practicing skip counting by 2's this week.  We used a cheer that is common after sporting events to help us remember the pattern when counting by 2's: "0, 2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? Tigers, tigers, raw, raw, raw, raw."

Our investigation into the five senses is also continuing.  Today we discussed how people cope with the loss of one of their senses.  The example we covered was how people who are blind use guide dogs and braille to navigate the world.  Ask your child to tell you the five senses and make observations about their surroundings using them.

Reminders:

• No school this Friday.
• The holiday week schedule is posted below.

Winter Celebration Week Schedule

Please note the time our class will be performing.  Families are encouraged to attend!  Please note that students are expected to return to class after each of the assemblies and should not go home early with parents immediately following the performance.