Here's to a better blogging year

Last year was my first attempt at keeping a blog and it went well for while but slowly fizzled out.  This year I am looking forward to using this blog to share classroom happenings on a weekly basis.  In addition to posting pictures and recaps of exciting activities and events, every weekend I will post important information for the upcoming week including our PE schedule, "share" schedule, homework information etc.  Please visit often.

Our One of a Kind Mittens

Here are all of the wonderful and creative mittens students designed with their families (from rooms 7 and 8).  The students had fun sharing them with their classmates and reading their descriptions.  

The Pencil Trick

 We have begun our 2nd science unit on Balance and Motion.  We learned how weight affects balance and how you can add counterweights to make something stay in a stable position.  By far our coolest trick so far was getting a pencil to balance on it's point.  It took some time and perseverance but everyone finally got it.  As you can see by the smiles, the children were quite amazed.  One of the students remarked "It's like we are defying gravity!"

 Some of the pencils leaned over and even "danced" back and forth but they still stayed up.  Pretty cool!

Check out this article about what scientists say about the benefits of dancing in the classroom.  http://teacherpop.org/2015/01/science-says-your-classroom-needs-more-dance-parties/

We love our dance breaks.

December Happenings

Know it's a little late but after a busy holiday season, I'm finally getting around to sharing all of the fun we had.

Room 8 was definitely feeling the holiday spirit.  Reading holiday stories, learning about different holiday traditions, singing holiday songs, making presents, seeing the winter concert, and having a Polar Express pajama day, were just some of the many activities we enjoyed.   Of course, there was plenty of learning to go along with it.


One of my favorite stories to read around this time of year is Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett.  In this story, the Gingerbread baby loves living with Matty but he is lonely when Matty's not around and goes out to search for some friends.  While he is out having some adventures, we can see that Matty at home busy baking more gingerbread.  What a great surprise it is when the Gingerbread Baby comes home to find so many new friends.  it's such a sweet story and the illustrations are amazing.  The children really enjoyed it.  They then got a chance to make their own beautiful illustrations and write about why they liked the story.  I loved their details.

After learning about Chanukah, the children had fun playing the Dreidel game.

Our Polar Express Pajama Party was enjoyed by all.  What a fun, and comfy way to enjoy the last day of school before Winter Break.  We read the story, sequenced the events to help retell and then made our own Polar Express trains out of Graham Crackers.  Love the creativity.

Author Celebration/Popcorn party

During our Narrative Unit we spent a lot of time on the story Ira Sleeps Over which is about a boy who can't decide whether to take his beloved teddy bear on his first sleepover.  Ira is very worried throughout the story and keeps changing his mind about what to do, especially after his sister keeps teasing him.  He finally decides not to bring his teddy bear but then goes back home to get him after he sees that his friend has one of his own.  We took what we knew about Ira and wrote our own Ira stories  with a new problem. Using a familiar character was a great and fun way to try out some fiction writing.   Some of our stories were about Ira losing his teddy bear on an airplane, Ira being worried about the first day of school, and Ira being scared to go on a ride at Lake Compounce.   

 To celebrate all of our hard work on our stories,we had an author celebration with some freshly popped popcorn from an old fashioned hot air popper.  The children were so excited to see the popcorn start popping that they were practically popping out of their seats.

 Children were proud to share their stories with their friends.    I look forward to sharing them with all of you during conferences.

 

Thanksgiving Fun

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday.  After spending weeks learning about The Mayflower, The Pilgrims, and what the holiday is all about, we were happy to celebrate with some delicious pie.  Thank you to everyone who donated pie and came in to help.  We are thankful for all your help in making our pie tasting event a success.  

Grace's mom printed out these great recording sheets.

Our 5 different kinds of pie.  No worries...the children did not get this much. 

Our results.  Chocolate was the big favorite.  Thank you to Addison's mom for the homemade chocolate pies.