Tales from Tuesday

Francis was our child of the day and he did a wonderful job reading Sebastian's Special Present. He chose this book because it reminded him of a special present his sister got. Look for his video later on tonight on the website. Just click on Community of Learners (to the right under Hot Links) then, child of the day 2, then his name. Enjoy!

The BIG EVENT was the field trip to the Paramount Theater to see Bodyology. The kids had a GREAT time and learned a lot. Here's a QUICK video of our trip. Unfortunately, we can't take pictures while the performance is on and that's the BEST part, but look at the smiles!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We had a QUICK lunch when we came back and when I came back into the room I was excited to see the kids sitting quietly and singing Puff the Magic Dragon:



We had math the rest of the afternoon: 50 minutes!

Have a GREAT night. Remember, tomorrow is the reading MAP...get a good night's sleep and eat a healthy breakfast.

Marvelous Monday!

What an exciting day for Sofia. She was our child of the day and her dad was a Mystery Reader! Sofia read a traditional tale: The Little Brown Jay that explained how the blue jay got its beautiful blue feathers. Look for her video on the website later tonight. Thanks Dad for surprising Sofia!

We continued learning about determining importance as we compared fiction and non fiction books. We also looked at maps of the world and of Australia. In math, juniors learned about 3-D shapes and seniors continued learning about fractions.

Tomorrow is our field trip and we will have the 2nd lunch when we return. Our reading MAP test is Wednesday so be sure everyone is getting a good nights sleep and eats a healthy breakfast.

Have a GREAT night!

Polygon Video

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Today the juniors made polygons and they were excited to share them with everyone. We made a video for everyone to see. The Seniors were very encouraging. They can't wait till they have their video!

Aayush and Anjali's reading videos are up on the website. I also posted our link to our Kindergarten friends in New Zealand. Take a look at their blog!

Fabulous Friday

Anjali was our Child of the Day and she read Something Beautiful. This is a wonderful book about finding things that are beautiful in our ordinary lives, no matter our circumstances. Anjali chose this book because she liked that the character was able to do this. Look later tonight on the Community of Learners website for the video of her reading this great book. (P.S. Look for Aayush tonight too!)

Natalie added a story to our classroom website: My Bunny Katie.

This was the story that sent Natalie to the office to read to the principal!!! Take a look...go to the Community of Learners website, click on student writing, click on student writing page 2, then click on Natalie's Katie Story. Enjoy! Although...it may make you cry as well!

We were so excited to hear from our New Zealand Buddies today! After reading their comment on our blog (check it out under yesterday's post) we pulled up Goggle Earth and zoomed in on their location. We then went exploring all over the world: we went to Sydney Australia and saw the Opera House;Rome, Italy where we saw the Vatican, and Naples,Italy, where we zoomed in on the oceanfront.

We also zoomed backed to American and looked at Liberty School! We ran out of time because we had to go to gym, but we will use this wonderful internet tool next week to explore more places around the world.

You can download Google Earth on your computer if you want...it is free. Just go to Google, click on the feature More...and you'll see it.

We also had visitors (teachers) from another U-46 school who came in to see our classroom as the kids went through our daily phonemic awareness activities. This is the second time they have been observed and they should be proud of themselves as to how well they are doing and other teachers want to see them!!!

In math, the juniors made different polygons, while seniors worked on fractions. We made a video that I will get up on the blog shortly where the juniors show their creations.

We have a field trip Tuesday and we have our reading MAP test on Wednesday. Look for the newsletter Monday night for more information.

Have a GREAT weekend.

Thrills from Thursday!

Aayush was our Child of the Day and he read If Dogs Rule. He wanted to read this book because it is funny and he knew his friends would enjoy it. (They did!) Listen later tonight to him reading by clicking on the Community of Learners Website, child of the day 2, and his name and date. You'll laugh too....although we all know CATS rule and dogs drool!!!!

We were very excited today as we checked out a blog from New Zealand. Since we are studying the continent of Australia, we linked up to a blog from a kindergarten class in New Zealand by connecting with the Spring Trail K blog (see hot links) We were able to enjoy pictures of New Zealand and listen to some of the kids talk about climbing a mountain. We sent them a message on the blog and hope they will communicate back with us!

Tomorrow we have gym so make sure they wear their gym shoes! And don't forget homefun is due tomorrow, too!

Have a GREAT night!

Wednesday Wonders

Gabrielle was our child of the day and she did a wonderful job reading the book Miss Rumphius. She chose this book because her mom read it to her 3rd grade class when she was teaching. Gabrielle did a great job reading with fluency..it was exciting and everyone enjoyed it. Look for her video reading tonight on the website.

We worked some more on determining importance using a non fiction text. We read about Elks and then listed important and unimportant facts. We used the strategy later in the morning as we read about Australia.

Today the students are bringing home a copy of their HOW TO book that the class made. I'm sure you will enjoy the stories. The students also spent time today drawing their final maps to go with their Secret Shortcut Stories. Look for that book to go home later in the week or early next week.

Please be sure and vote on Meghan's survey. We did not have enough representation to make our interpretations in the classroom, so I have reopened it till Friday. The students know this is part of their responsibility to sign on and vote. We reviewed again how to sign on the computer, log on to the internet, and then sign on to the blog. Parents....please let them do this and read together what we did during the schoolday. Here's a perfect way to find out what your child did each day and have a conversation with them.

Vote!

Tales from Tuesday

Alexis was our child of the day and she did a WONDERFUL job reading The Goats in the Turnip Field. The students really enjoyed this traditional tale and many were reminded of other traditional tales we have read. Look for the video of Alexis reading later tonight on the website. (go over to Hot Links on the right hand side of this blog; click on Community of Learners; when the website comes up, click on child of the day 2, then find Alexis' name and date)



We want to introduce our new student: Jacob

Welcome to our classroom. He is transitioning into our room from Mrs. Korenstra's 1st grade classroom. He's been with us for several weeks for math and now is here all day. We are so happy to have you with us!

We read The Biggest Bear today and looked at what details supported the big idea of the book. Yesterday, we learned that the big idea (or main idea) is one that runs throughout the book. Today, we looked at what details support that main idea: which ones were the most important. We used those most important details to retell the story.

We also learned new word wall words: because; part; even; back; must

Here's a picture of Nichole teaching the class about the new words:


We are integrating social studies with writing as we study geography, in particular the continents and the oceans. Yesterday we learned there were 7 continents. Today we watched a video and collected facts about Australia. Tomorrow we will read and collect facts for our classroom book on The World.

Today was picture day and we went in the afternoon. We spent time illustrating our How To Class Book (a copy will be coming home for you!)and illustrating some of our finished stories so we can put them on the website. When we finished, we worked on our math menu. I meet with some of the 2nd graders on fractions and got to play a game of POISON with Kyle! (It's a fun math strategy game!)

We are also learning a new song. Here's a picture of Gabrielle as we are learning Puff the Magic Dragon:



2nd grade Parents: Please note: YES...you're 2nd grader will learn cursive writing. One of the 2nd grade classes began today; we will start next week. 1st graders will not be learning cursive but will continue to work on their printing.

Be sure and vote on Meghan's question. It's the last day!