Classroom Blog
Over the last month or so, I noticed students losing interest when writing during their Daily 5 time. They were feeling a little bored with the routine that had been doing on for the previous months, and I realized something had to be done! Over the break, I got our new Writing Station for Work on Writing organized! Our board shows students the many options they have for writing -- it does not just have to be a story they create or about their weekend. I could be a letter to someone, a comic strip, a car, newspaper article, book review; the list could go on. Everyone was really excited to get started! I also introduced class journals to the students. Each journal has a different topic. Students will write in each journal on the same topics, allowing others to read what they wrote after! I started off each journal with my own entry. I'm excited to see everyone's creativity come out during Work on Writing with our new station. Writing anything at home is great, too! Can be a letter to a relative or friend, email, a chapter book, anything that interests them!
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After sitting in some terrible traffic for over an hour, we arrived for the fourth time at the rice paddies. Everyone was a trooper in the heat!
During this trip, we saw that the plants had grown quite tall. Now, we had to weed the paddy to get rid of the weeds that were going to steal the nutrients from the rice plants, causing them to not grow as well or die. We looked at the weeding tool and noticed that there were simple machines on it to help it move and pull out the weeds. It was a great connection between our two UOIs. Below are pictures of the kids weeding. They soon realized what a tough job this was to do, especially in the water and mud they had to walk through! This week we have been investigating forces and motion. We already knew that a force is a push or a pull, but we wanted to delve deeper into the types of forces and how they move simple machines. We had different rotations that students went through as groups. At each rotation they completed a different activity and then discussed what they believed happened and what forces were at work. At the first center, students dropped marbles down different ramps and observed how far they travelled. At the next center they used 2 different straws to see the distance they could blow a ping pong ball. Next, students pushed two toy wagons from the same starting point. However, one was on the wood floor and the other was on the carpet. They compared the distances and brainstormed why they thought their results occurred. At the last center, students went outside and attempted to keep a hula hoop moving. They discussed why it wasn't falling to the ground, why some students are able to do it longer than others, and how they could keep the hula hoop moving on different parts of their body. Continuing with the forces investigation, later in the week the students completed an art project. They created marble art. They observed that even though they were not touching the marble, it moved and carried paint when the bucket was moved. Students learned that gravity pulled the marble in different directions, depending on how the bucket was moved. On top of learning about the pull of gravity, the art projects came out wonderfully.
Before the break, we started our new UOI on Simple Machines. We started out brainstorming how we would move animals from one zoo to another. The students came up with some creative ideas. We agreed that it all came down to using different objects that ended up being simple machines. Before we got into the specifics of simple machines, we learned that all machines use force (a push or pull) and work. We learned that 'work' does not mean to work on classwork, or to work at a job, but rather is using force to move an object. Below are a few students attempting to do work. Nilesh and Yanga are NOT doing work, because they are not moving the object, even though they are trying quite hard. Paulina IS doing work because she has moved the stool using force. After we learned about the different types of simple machines, everyone picked one questioned they wondered about based on their learning so far. They created a small research projected based on their question. They used books and our iPads to search for answers. Once they answered their questions, they created a presentation using Keynote. They then presented it to the class. Everyone did a great job.
Before the Christmas Break, kindergarten to grade 3 had a holiday rotation before the break. The children were broken down into 4 different groups -- Jingle Bells, Candy Canes, Snowflakes, and Elves. Each group had students from all 4 classes. They travelled to the different classrooms for different activities. In Mrs. Yvonne's class, they read holiday stories, in Mr. Mason's class, they made different snowflake crafts, in Mrs. Jennifer's class, they sang Christmas songs, and in our class, we played a few holiday games. We played Pin the Heart on the Grinch, and made students into snowmen and snowwomen. We all had so much fun! It was great to see the kids of different ages working and playing together. Below are a few pictures of the games in my class, as well as in Mr. Mason's class.
Over the past couple of weeks we have been reviewing place value up to ten thousands. It was great to see that overall, everyone understood and could state the place and values of digits. We did many activities to reinforce these skills. For example, we played Number Top It to create the greatest number out of the cards that were dealt, dice games to create numbers and express the value of each digit as well as drew how they would be represented using base-ten blocks. When we were ready, we moved to tenths and hundredths. We used our base ten blocks to help us understand what these new places represented. We created fractions and decimals based on the flat, longs, and small cubes. We first did this as a class, and moved on to working with a partner. We also used our meter sticks to investigate how how many longs it would take to cover the length of it. We turned our findings into decimals, and continued using our meter sticks to create new fractions and decimals to the tenths and hundredths. This was our first go at fractions and decimals this year and the students all did great!
We just finished our second UOI, focused on rice, natural resources, and conservation. Moving towards our final project, we learned about production, consumption, natural resources, and conserving. Students learned that all products start with a natural resource. We sorted products we have in our lives into the natural resource they come from. Once we discussed conserving versus wasting, we took a tour around our school. We looked for examples of conserving natural resources, as well as wasting natural resources. Students then reflected on what they saw around the school. They decided that we could teach others how to conserve resources. In groups, the created presentations. Some wrote scripts, some created a poster, on how students can conserve different resources. After practicing, they presented to the grade one class. They did a great job teaching them what natural resources are, what conserving means, and how they can do it at home and at school. Great job, everyone!
Paul is the first student in our class to successfully complete our Multiplication Mad Minutes up to the 10x table. He worked hard studying his facts each night, as reflected on his daily tests. Great work, Paul! I know many other students are right behind him. Remember to review each night, everyone!
Last week Student Council help Spirit Week. Each day, we got to dress up in a different way to show our school spirit. Monday was Pajama Day. Tuesday was Character Dress-Up Day. Wednesday was class spirit. We decided to dress up in Malagasy colors. Unfortunately it was a very busy day and I didn't get a class photo. Thursday was Throwback Thursday. Students got to dress from a different decade. Lastly, Friday was Sports Day. We had a great week showing our school spirit. Here is an extra silly picture from the week.
The past 2 weeks have been focused on multiplication. We have been learning different strategies to solve multiplication problems, including repeated addition, arrays, and equal groups. We practiced equal groups and arrays using counters, as well as drew arrays on the whiteboard. We also learned about multiplication and division fact families. Students now know that if they know a multiplication fact, they already know the division fact! We used our fact family triangles to practice both multiplication and division facts. To reinforce our facts, students learned a new game called Baseball Multiplication. One team "pitches" (rolls two dice) and the other team "bats" (multiplies the two numbers together). The goal is to score as many runs as possible with correct answers. Students had a great time playing and practicing their basic facts along the way. As you know, students are currently tested everyday on their basic facts. Every morning they have 'Mad Minutes.' They have one minute to answer 20 questions on a certain times table. We decided to make flash cards to help them practice during centers. As a class, this really helped them memorize the facts. Their goal is to get to 10x by Christmas break! Students used a multiplication chart to help them create their flashcards. We have also had some multiplication apps put on our iPads. Sometimes when students finish their work early, they can use the iPad to practice their skills, as well. Lastly, I wanted to share our Mad Minutes board with you. This is how we are keeping track of who has passed their mad minutes. Every student has a gumball machine. They need to get 10 gumballs to successfully complete this challenge. Keep practicing!
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