Pictures!

Found my camera cord, thank goodness! Ok now for some pictures. We've been learning about weather and insects the past few weeks and have done several kinds of activities related to these themes. We have also learned about synonyms and antonyms and reviewed nouns/verbs/adjectives. Some pictures are of students working with a buddy during Reading Workshop to look at nonfiction text and ask questions and find answers. Some are of literacy center activities, and some are from Math! Enjoy! Also, our field trip is scheduled for Monday, June 4th with the raindate on the 6th. A permission slip will come home for that soon!

Hi everyone!I am so sorry I haven't posted in days and days. I can't find my camera cord to upload all of the great pictures I have taken, and it is driving me CRAZY. In the meantime, I will update you on what we have been doing in school and leave you with a challenge for the kiddos! Hopefully I can find that cord soon!

In Reading Workshop the kids have been working very hard at making inferences in their reading as well as questioning/wondering in nonfiction texts. They are learning to use the table of contents to help them to find answers to their questions. They are LOVING the nonfiction! This week we are learning all about insects and this will continue into next week as well.  We have had many visitors lately to see what goes on during our reading workshop and the students are doing a great job at explaining many of the routines.

In Writing Workshop we continue to plug away at Poetry. The students are doing a remarkable job! I am so impressed with their language. We are working hard at comparisons in our poetry and using poetic language rather than "boring" language.  You will see at our celebration!

In Math we are working on place value with the hundreds place, shapes, symmetry, counting money with dollars and coins and much more. Please continue to practice those math facts at home!

We had a great time at the planetarium.  The students loved seeing the constellations!  Our next and last field trip is on June 6th. This will be a walking field trip to Pilgrim Hall. 

Again, with just a few weeks left, let me know if anyone would like to be a mystery reader!

Now for a challenge. 
1.  What is an antonym? What is a synonym? Give an example for each!
2.  What are the three main body parts of an insect?
3.  When you make an inference, you use clues from the text as well as your______________?

Please email me the answers! Have fun! Thank you!!!

Challenge Time

Time for another challenge! Please email me your child's answers! They should get 2/3 correct for a prize. Thank you!
1. What do line breaks give a poem?
2. What are three parts of a plant?
3. Give an example of reusing or reducing.

Earth Day and What's New!?

I hope everyone had a great April vacation! We were so lucky to have the weather that we did. I hope the kids got a chance to play outside! Now we are heading towards the end of our school year. I can't believe it! In Writing Workshop we have begun our next unit, Poetry! The students are learning to explore everyday objects through the eyes of a poet. They are encouraged to look at objects in new and fresh ways. It is a difficult concept but I know the students will become wonderful little poets before my eyes. In Reading Workshop we will review many strategies such as asking questions and monitoring our comprehension. We will also dig deeper into the skill of inferencing. In Math we are working hard at learning strategies for addition and subtraction facts. We will be learning about the quarter and counting coins with pennies, nickels, dimes AND quarters. This is also difficult for the kids so practice is beneficial! We will then get into Geometry! We have only a few more possible Fridays for a Mystery Reader to read, so if someone is interested, please let me know as soon as possible. Aside from our Poetry Celebration at the end of May, we will be going to the planetarium on the 16th. Here are some pictures of various Earth Day and baseball activities we worked on before vacation. The children did an excellent job with their reusing/recycling projects! I was so impressed!!

Oops!

The Poetry Celebration is on Thursday, May 31st. I had said it was a Friday. Thank you!

Mystery Reader #14 and Eggs/Oviparous Animals!

We recently had our 14th Mystery Reader, Kelly's grandmother! She was so sweet to come to our class and read a great book called "In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb" and the kids loved it. She even gave it to our class and it is in the class library right now for children to "check out". She enjoyed reading to our class as she used to be a classroom teacher herself! Thank you so much Mrs. Palmer!

Last week we spent time learning about oviparous (I never want the kids to forget this word!!) animals and doing some fun egg activities. We charted our schema about eggs and chicks and then wrote nonfiction books about them, created an interactive chart of oviparious animals and did some predicting about certain animals beforehand, created little oviparous animal booklets, wrote a story about finding an egg and what hatched out of it, reviewed adjectives and designed an egg and wrote adjectives to describe it, and wrote an interactive chart with the steps for dying an egg using time order words. The children also wrote their own books with the steps to dying an egg and then had the chance to dye one themselves. All in all it was a fun packed short week!

Upcoming Events

Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to let you know now the two dates I have events planned for. The first one is on Friday, May 31st at 11:30 for our Poetry Celebration. This event will last a bit over an hour and will take place in the classroom. Each child will share selected poems that they have written.

The second date is June 12th at 6:00 pm. This is our End of Year Celebration/slideshow. This will be held in the L.M.C.

I will send home a notice regarding these dates/events as well. Thank you!