Leaping for February

On our final day of February I thought I would share our collection of compliments.  Since the middle of January, I have been collecting compliments from staff members about our class.  Almost every day  I heard a compliment from someone about our class and some days I added a compliment to our collection.    It has been fun to see the hearts growing on our door this month!

Today was Leap Day!  We did some special activities and read a few things about this day and why we have it.  Be watching for these things to come home in the next few days.

Reading Party!

Today we had our Reading Party!  It was lots of fun with many different types of reading!

In the morning, we used the iPads to read or play reading games.  This afternoon we had a snack, read quietly and then read with our buddies.  

It was a great day!  A bonus - our class won the door decorating contest along with other classes from around the school - Ms. Vang,  Ms. Plana and Mrs. Gindorff.  Many of the doors were very well done and showed creativity and a love of reading!  Wonderful job!  

IPad time using an app called EPIC!

Snack time!

Research

Today was an awesome day!  We started our research about extreme weather!

With partners, we used Pebble Go to research our weather topic.   It was a lot of work to read, find the important information and record it in our own words.  All of the groups did a spectacular job!

Thank you to the adults who helped it go smoothly!

Measurement

Today we started our new math unit all about measurement.  First we learned about standard and non standard forms of measurement.  Ask you child about this experiment.

Then, we talked about yards and meters.  We talked about which is longer and when we would use them.  Next, we practices measuring different lengths in our classroom and in the school.  It was lots of fun!

Ask your child about this activity!

Determining Author's Purpose

Today we continued talking about author's purpose.  We talked about the three main reasons authors write; to persuade, inform or entertain.  We practiced as a group sorting titles of different TV shows, articles, movies and books.  We then read the first few lines from several texts and sorted the information into one of the three categories.  Last, we worked with a partner to sort text into categories.  It was lots of fun and I overheard many good conversations.  See if your child can tell you about author's purpose!

We LOVE to Read!

We have been reading some amazing books this month, well this entire school year really.

WE really  L.O.V.E. to read!  Here are three of our recent favorites!

Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Pizza Slice

This is a book that uses fractions to help tell the story.  It has kind of a surprise ending.  Ask your child what it was about!

We have been reading the first book in a variety of series and this is a great example.  Ranger in Time Rescue on the Oregon Trail is already a favorite.  Ask your child about it!  See is they can tell you when the story takes place and who are the important characters.

Today we looked at this book.   It is one of the Star of the North nominees.  It is a wonderful book!  Ask your child to tell you all about it!  It was a surprise to us!

Door Decoration

As a part of "I Love to Read" month each classroom is decorating their door to show a favorite book. While we have many favorites, this is our favorite from what we have read lately.

The Day the Crayons Came Home is a sequel to The Day the Crayons Quit.  In The Day the Crayons Came Home they crayons have been left all over the house and outside the house and want to get back home to the boy who owns them.  They each write postcards to him telling him where they are and what they would like in order to get back home.

In the spirit of the crayons in the book, each student wrote a postcard from the perspective of a crayon.  They included where they are, how they got there and what they need to get back to the little boy.  Many students added funny comments to their postcard in order to sound more like the crayon. Students also created a picture for their postcard that clearly showed where they are and showed perspective, i.e. at the bottom of the pool you would see legs and feet above you.

This was lots of fun for the students!  They were very creative in their postcard and picture.   

Blue Crayon - in the freezer

Red Crayon - under the bed

Blue Crayon - at the Science Museum

Minnesota Percussion Trio

Today we had the opportunity to have a visit from The Minnesota Percussion Trio.  They performed for us this morning and we were very impressed.  We thought they would  be playing traditional percussion instruments like various drums, cymbals made even and xylophone.  We were surprised to find out that they play very non traditional percussion instruments such as cheese graters, five gallon buckets and even springs on a skateboard.  They played an assortment of songs that used a variety of instruments.  The last song was played on tin cans of various sizes using spoons and teaspoons.  It was a avery fun assembly!  We are all very inspired to find instruments that can be made out of ordinary objects.

Ask your child about his/her favorite part!