Thursday Thrills

Josh did a wonderful job as our child of the day. We enjoyed listening to Magpie's Baking Day and making connections to The Little Red Hen books. Great reading, Josh!

Math Workshop: 1st graders worked on the turnaround facts. Example: 4+6=10 Turnround: 6+4=10 If you know one...you know both!
2nd graders worked on the trade first algorithm.

Readers' Workshop: we read some more about Harriet Tubman and discussed the features of biography.

Writers' Workshop: we spent most of the workshop taking notes on our biography subjects.

We also went to music and p.e.

Have a great 3-day weekend!

Wednesday Wondes!

Thanks Mashal, our child of the day, for reading If You Give a Pig a Party! Mashal really loves Laura Numeroff books. We enjoyed listening to you read!

We began the day with our morning math work and then worked on vocabulary before going to the PBIS assembly. What fun! I'll let your child share that with you.

When we came back, 1st graders worked on probability and 2nd graders worked on the trade first algorithm for subtraction in our math workshop.

During readers workshop we worked on asking questions and making timelines by reading about Harriet Tubman.

In writing, we learned how to begin taking notes for our biographies.

Tomorrow we have P.E. and music. Homefun is also due.

Tuesday Tales!

Matthew did a wonderful job today as our child of the day! We really enjoyed listening to him read Danny's Dollars! Thanks, Matthew!

Math Workshop: 1st graders worked on subtraction and 2nd graders worked on number stories.

Readers' Workshop: Before we read our book, Ruby Bridges, we activated our schema. After reading, we added to our schema and deleted misinformation. Then we wrote down our lingering questions.

Writers' Workshop: We looked at more biography books and made adjustments to what we think we each might write about.

We also went to library.

Wear your 4C's purple Liberty Shirt tomorrow!

Friday Fun!

Klara was our child of the day and she did a FANTASTIC job reading The Fox Who Foxed and leading us through the calendar. We really enjoyed listening to her read.

We finished our class video book: The Important Thing About Abraham Lincoln. This is another way to publish books. Each student has their own written book that we put together to make a class video book. On the right hand side of this blog, where it says STUDENT WRITING, click, and it will take you to our WIKI. Scroll to the bottom and you can HEAR your child read and SEE their work! ENJOY!!!

We used today to play "Catch Up". Students finished their "I Was Wondering" letters to President Lincoln. Those are up in our hallway. We also had math work that needed to be finished.

We watched a video on Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, David Crockett, and Martin Luther King, Jr. We added events to our class timeline. Next week we will start selecting topics on who we want to write our biographies about.

Have a good weekend!

Thursday Thrills

Bela was today's child of the day and she did a GREAT job leading us through the calendar and reading Try It! She chose the book because she thought it was funny...and it was! Alisha and Gavin did the honors on Tuesday and Wednesday!

Math Workshop: 1st graders have been working on greater than and less than. They learned about the relationship symbols, <,>,=. 2nd graders have been working on comparison number stories.

Readers' Workshop: We continued working on the reading strategy of Asking Questions. We've learned that sometimes we have to infer the answer, sometimes the answer is right in the book, and sometimes we can't answer the question without further discussion.

Writers' Workshop: we are finishing up writing our Important Stories about President Lincoln and our "I was just wondering" letters to him. We also learning about text structure of biographies and who biographies are written about.

We also went to music and p.e. today. Tomorrow we will go to art.

Valentine's Day in Room 318

Enjoy the Video! See you tomorrow!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Valentine Friday

After Art and Enrichment Time, Kaitlyn read Little Bulldozer to the class. She also lead us through the class pledge and calendar. Great job, Kaitlyn!

Grier made a poster about President Lincoln that we all found fascinating! She really showed her understanding about the life of Pres. Lincoln. We put it up in our classroom. Thanks, Grier!

Today was also the 100th day of school, so during math, we had the 100th Day Challenge. Students were challenged to write 100 addition math facts. They also worked on patterns.

We read about Presidents Day today and learned about Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and T. Roosevelt. We were able to add to our classroom timeline.

At 11:00 we made log cabins in honor of the life of Pres. Lincoln. Here are just a few pictures:






And of course the BIG PARTY!!!





More Pictures to Come!!!!!

Lincoln's 200th Birthday Celebration!

Enjoy the video of the reading of the Gettysburg Address:


Grier's mother also came and participated:


On this historic day, Isabella was our child of the day. She lead us through the class promise and read The House in the Tree. GREAT job, Isabella!




Math Workshop: 1st graders worked on place value and 2nd graders worked on symmetry.
Readers Workshop: We learned more about the reading comprehension strategy of asking questions. We went back to answer some of our questions from Recess at 20 Degrees Below. We discovered that some questions are answered directly in the text and that some questions we have to infer what the answer might be. We also discovered that sometimes questions require further discussion or more research. These are the lingering questions that readers have after reading a book.

Writers Workshop: We read the book Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers and then wrote letters to President Lincoln. They were very interesting!

Tomorrow we will have our long awaited Winter/Holiday Party combined with our Valentine's Day Party. It's also the 100th day of school, so in math we will do some number sense activities around the 100th day. Then, at 11:00 we will begin making Lincoln Log Cabins, followed by a pizza lunch. In the afternoon we will celebrate Valentine's Day. Phew! It's going to be a busy day!

Wednesday Wonders!

Kylie was our Child of the Day and she did a GREAT Job reading Muffin is Trapped. One of the other jobs the child of the day does is lead us through the morning pledge and our calendar. Wonderful job, Kylie!

Simi and Grier checked out books about President Lincoln at the library yesterday and they were very anxious to share some of their new learning with us. Thanks for helping us build up our schema.

Math Workshop: 1st graders completed a Unit 4 Checking Progress, then worked on problem solving and number sense. 2nd graders built more 3D pyramids with different bases.

Word Work Workshop: we practiced learning how to spell our words and handwriting. We also worked on our sorts of spelling patterns.

Readers Workshop: We read Recess at 20 Degrees Below, asking questions as we read. Tomorrow we will go back and see if we can get answers to our questions.

Writers Workshop: We looked at different biography books and created an anchor chart of what we learned about text structure. We also recorded our book, The Important Thing About Abraham Lincoln, on photostory. I will publish that as soon as the last few students finish. We've had a lot of absentees this week so it's taking awhile to get them done.

Tomorrow we have gym and music. We will also meet in the gym with the entire school for a simultaneous reading of the Gettysburg Address with students across the country.

Tuesday Tales!

Natalie gave us a real treat today as she read poems to us from It's Raining Pigs and Noodles by Jack Prelutsky. Thanks, Natalie, you did a GREAT job!

We changed our schedule today and now have math workshop in the morning. 2nd graders made 3D Pyramids and 1st graders worked on math facts. Changing the time to morning will give us more time for discussion which is important for building number sense.

After math, we had word work and learned more about our vocabulary words. This was followed today by library where Mrs. Weiss read a book about Abraham Lincoln. When we returned we worked more on the reading comprehension strategy of asking questions. Today we learned that expert readers ask questions before, during, and after reading. In the afternoon we wrote about Abraham Lincoln. These will be posted on the wiki in the next few days after I record students reading.

Monday Marvels!

Bradley did a wonderful job reading When Goldilocks Went to the House of the Bears as our child of the day. He chose this book because he likes the 3 Bear stories. Thanks for sharing this fun book, Bradley!

We went to the Bartlett Library first thing this morning. One of the things that I discovered is that they have DISCOVERY BAGS for check out! These are GREAT ways to enhance learning. There are books and activities in every bag. As an example, Discovery Pack #16 is on Math. There are books and games, Adding and Subtracting Book 1 and 2, dividing, measuring, multiplying and Using Numbers. There are discovery bags on Space Exploration, Astronomy, the Human Body and MORE!!! Check them out!





We also had a Mystery Reader today: Christopher's Grandmother! She AND Christopher read Cook-a-Doodle-Doo! It was a lot of fun listening to them share the reading.




And, in between, we worked on addition and subtraction, and writing our persuasive letters.

Tomorrow we have library so be sure and bring your books!

Thursday Thrills!

Anna was our child of the day and she did a wonderful job reading When the Moon Was Blue! Great job, Anna!!!

We also had a mystery reader today. Bradley's Dad surprised him on his birthday! He read two books: Quickie Makes the Team (autographed by SOME Green Bay Packers Football player!) and Some Dogs Do, about a dog that flies. Bradley's dad is a pilot. Bradley was very surprised and we all loved the books! Happy Birthday, Bradley!





In writing today we learned that when we write a persuasive letter we want our most important reason to be at the end of our letter. The students selected the most important reason from their graphic organizers and then began writing their letters.

We read more about Abraham Lincoln today in preparation for our biography unit beginning next week. We also worked on problem solving, number sense, and even went to art. Busy day!

There is no school tomorrow.

Wednesday Wonders!

Giorgio was our child of the day and did a wonderful job reading Seagull is Clever. We were able to connect the meaning of the word clever with our reading later in the day, Sly Fox and Red Hen. Great reading, Giorgio!

In writing, we continued to work on writing persuasive letters. We each completed a graphic organizer to helps us organize our reasons. Tomorrow we will look at these again and identify the most important reason.

In reading we finished the book Antarctica. We learned that when we delve deep into a book that sometimes we are left with lingering questions that need further research and/or conversation.

We worked on our new vocabulary words this morning also.

In math we counted our Lincoln Pennies: $23.96!!!!

First we each made an estimate of how much we thought we had. Then we divided up into groups and counted the pennies. Then together we added the totals:








Because of every one's generous donations, I will be sending a check for $25.00 to the National Park Service to preserve President Lincolns home in Springfield. We voted unanimously to preserve his life and legacy. Thank you!!!