March 2020
March 2-4, 2020 - Our Week So Far!
Welcome back to school following February vacation! It was so awesome to see the kids come back on Monday and hear about the many ways they spent their time away. It is crazy to think that they are more than half way to GRADE FIVE! Very exciting!!
This week we have been busy with Read Across America fun, including an awesome read-aloud, "Who Was Dr. Seuss?" which is a book from the "Who Was" series. The kids love it - it's filled with information they didn't know before!
We began topic 7 in Math - factors and multiples, two of my favorite things to teach!
We wrapped up a science experiment about roller coasters, momentum, and force (Newton's Laws of Motion!), and will be starting a new one where kids will be making their own flashlight. We attempted to begin that today but most of the button batteries weren't working. We have unopened ones that we're going to try tomorrow!
We wanted to bring Spring to our classroom so we enjoyed a guided drawing of either a ladybug or butterfly, depending on which card was drawn. They are CRAZY CUTE! Most importantly, the children LOVED having some in-class art time. I heard so many lovely compliments being given to one another by our fantastic fourths.
Have a great night!
March 9, 2020 - 3 Things We Did Today
1. We reviewed ways we want our classroom to be and in doing so, talked about interrupting. We read two awesome books, "Lacy Walker, Non-stop Talker" and "My Mouth is a Volcano." Both emphasize the importance of talking! But they both also emphasize, in a friendly and easily understandable way, why it is also important to listen. We wondered, when is it ok to interrupt, in other words, because if we didn't interrupt, then something huge would happen? We wondered, what things are IMPORTANT, YES, but can wait a moment? For our first list, we we came up with five good reasons: Bleeding (nose, scab situation, or even your tooth just fell out!), Barfing, Bathroom, Seriously NOT Feeling Good, and Saw/Heard Something Concerning (while out of the classroom). Four our second list, we wondered, what things are important, yes, but can wait a moment when a teacher is teaching or a student is speaking/presenting? This list was really big and included things like, "I forgot to hand in my homework," "I forgot to order lunch," "I'm hungry," "There's a pencil on the floor," "My snack is at home," "Do we have indoor recess?" It was a fun and sometimes silly conversation that yielded many ideas for what things are important but can wait a moment.
2. We are LOVING our new read-aloud, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling. We are so excited to see the children writing poetry and adding moons! It has been noticed that their teacher, Miss Lumley, believes they are just like any other children, despite having been raised by wolves and intends to prove it.
3. We are learning about energy that is renewable and energy that is non-renewable. We started today discussing what things are and are not, and then partnered up to read some great books about different places energy is found and how it is used.
Something else we did: Before vacation, we began to talk about what it means when we are CALM: We Cooperate, we Ask questions, we Listen and we Make our move. OUr firscooperation as part of the Choose Love Journey. The kids were broken up into partnerships to create an illustrated person. They had to decide together if their person is a girl or boy, what color hair/eyes/skin they have, how they are dressed, what their name is, what traits they possess, and any other information they wanted to include. They had a BLAST finishing these today and presenting them to the class.
Have a great night!
3 Things We Did Today: March 11, 2020
1. We continued to learn about forms of energy. Today we focused on wind energy. Students received materials to make cars called PUFF MOBILES. They worked so well together to design their cars and test them out. We enjoyed racing them against each other to analyze what made them move versus what problems came up.
2. We continue to work with factors and multiples as well as identify prime numbers versus composite numbers. The kids were amazed by the divisibility rules!
3. Students worked together in groups to re-read their energy books and begin reporting out important information.