Week 10 (October 20 -24)

Week 10 (October 20 -24)

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents
-Emilie Buchwald

 As adults we all aware of the importance of reading in our daily lives! The ability to read is essential for success in life. Reading is a privilege and a pleasure, but we have to help our children understand that! There are so many children who say “I hate reading”! I don’t believe that it’s possible to hate reading, perhaps that child just hasn’t found that one book that they love yet! As adults it is our job to continuously expose our children to books and all other forms of reading. I challenge you to sit down with your child every day and read a book with them! Watch how happy it makes them, just to be able to share a reading experience with the person they look up to most!

Our kids really do love reading, look at how comfortable and cozy they get with their books during their independent reading time!!

Playing with Matter

This week I introduced matter to the kids and let them get very hands 

on! I simply place 3 liquids on one table, 3 solids at another table, and 3 balloons filled with air at a third table. I asked the students to “fool around” with the materials and write down any observation that they notice.

Well they made some very interesting observations and we created a  class chart to display their observations.

Next week we will be looking a little more closely at matter and try to gain an understanding of how matter transforms from a solid to a liquid to a gas.

Measurement

During Module 2 of Engage NY we will be working with measurement. To kick off our module we used 1s unit blocks to measure different objects in the class, but before they could measure they had to predict what their measurement would be. The kids really enjoyed the activity; especially the part where they compared their prediction to their actual measurement. We had great conversations that centered around predicting measurement, how do we know where to start and end our measurement, and what happens if our measuring tool is not long enough. The conversations went very well and we each learned a lot from one another.

Each day during math we always start with some type of fluency practice. I’ve found that a lot of the kids struggle with number sense. One way that we can help our student to gain a better understanding of number sense is to have them practice it. One activity is to have the kid(s) count the things around them. Anything around the house will work. For example count the number of skittle in a bag, the quantity of their snack, the number of books on a bookshelf, or the number of utensils you have. It’s for the sole purpose of practicing counting.  First have them predict and then actually count them. The more practice they have with counting the more fluent they will become. In class we have been working on counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s. We’ve created a chart to monitor their progress and to watch our growth! We’ve only done this one day, so I’m curious to see what happens. We may need to monitor and adjust, but the class has is very flexible.

I’m looking forward to our Red Ribbon Week this coming week and our walk on Friday! See you all on Monday!!

Week 9 (October 13 -15)

Week 9 (October 13 – 15)

What a busy 3-day week we had! We managed to pack a great deal of learning and fun into those 3 days of school!

Math

We have really been working hard on adding and subtracting within 20. As I’m sure that you all know, this week we used number bonds to help us with this. Through number bonds students are able to notice patterns, and piece together numbers quickly to help them add and subtract. Here is an example of a number bond we have worked on.

As always we are still using as many relevant games as possible to practice the addition and subtraction skills we have learned.

Social Studies

Students have also worked hard on finishing up their group community maps this week. I’m so proud of the time and effort they put into them.

After the students finished up on Tuesday they were able to present them on Wednesday. The hard work and dedication paid off because it showed in their final products.

Tinsley Town

 Rainbow Town

 Fun Town

 New York Town

 Candy Land Town

 Beach Town

ELA

Our ELA has been filled with quite a lot of different activities within reading and writing.  We are finishing up Star Girl and the students have really been enjoying the read aloud. There are so many wonderful conversations that arise from our daily readings. As we work on our phonics I’ve been asking students to try to find words with short and long vowels and within their independent reading books. When they do find words they place them on our chart in the back of the room; we are still growing our list. I’m so surprised at the students because now I don’t have to ask anymore for them to search anymore, instead they are already taking the initiative to do it themselves!

As a class we have been working super hard on enhancing our writing. We’ve been talking about the many ways we can grow our writing ideas and our rough drafts. Here are some examples of the work that our kids have created!

I am looking forward to starting another week of school tomorrow and I hope the students are as well. PLEASE try to send in your child a pair of headphones and as always if you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me!!!

SEE YOU ALL ON MONDAY!!!

Week 8

Week 8 (October 6 - October 10)

“Our children will mirror us on how they view themselves” 

–unknown

It is so important that we instill in our children the confidence that they need to succeed. I make it a priority to encourage each of my students daily. The smallest compliments or show of gratification can make the world of a difference to a child. I’m sure that you’re already encouraging your child in many ways, but I challenge you to compliment your child each day, and watch the confidence in them bloom!

Hispanic Heritage Month

This week the students and I took the time to research a Hispanic person of our choice. We researched all week and then finally presented our person to the class on Friday. There were wonderful conversations about how they didn’t know of these people even though they had done great things; conversations on what it means to be Hispanic and how being Mexican and Hispanic were two totally different things. Here is a quick look at the individuals who were chosen.

Math

Engage NY has been very helpful with enhancing the students’ understanding of adding and subtracting within 20. We are continuing to use whole group, workshop, and many many math games to enhance our learning as well. Word problems have continued to be a hurdle for us, but with time and practice, I can see us overcoming that hurdle soon.

ELA

We just finished reading Family Farms, which was a great insight into a rural community from the past and comparing it to a rural community of today. This week we will be moving on to a nonfiction text entitled Life in the Desert. We will use this to discuss nonfiction features and build on the concept of author’s purpose.

In writing we are still working on complete and incomplete sentences, capitulation, and punctuation. We began talking about ways to grow our ideas for writing as well.

Social Studies

For the past week and a half the students have been creating their own towns. They’ve been working in groups of 4 to create a name for their town, deciding what they want in their town (school, banks, food, parks, etc.), and creating a map to display their town. We will finish these maps this Monday and Tuesday and then present them on Wednesday.

I’m so excited to see what this 3-day week holds for the students and I. There is never a dull moment in our classroom and I’m always surprised to hear the wonderful thoughts and ideas of the students. Cheers to another great week!