Quiet Day

Although we were only missing a few friends today it has been a very quiet day.  We are all so grateful to be safe and sound after yesterday's devastating storms.  Because of the weather the Boosterthon Fun Run has been changed to Monday, May 2nd.  That means we have another day to get pledges. They are doing a terrific job!

Today we filled in an April calendar using a computer and our projector.  It was really fun!  The children filled in their individual calendars as we completed the online calendar together.  We also looked at the shapes of letters and are bringing home a sheet about it tonight.  Ask your child to make the shape of your name.  It is a little tricky, but they are doing a great job.

Be sure to visit our garden blog using the link on the left to stay updated on our various plant experiments.  The children have enjoyed adding to it daily and commenting on all of the pictures.

Happy Easter!

Our morning was filled with Easter math centers today.  We sorted and graphed jelly beans according to their color, chose eggs out of an Easter basket and added the number of jelly beans inside and created patterns on a giant Easter egg.  It was a lot of fun!  this afternoon we checked on our plant experiments and updated our "How Our Garden Grows" blog.  Be sure to click on the link on the left to visit the blog and read about our discoveries!

This weekend they have a quick homework assignment.  Please trace your child's foot and send it in on the paper that was sent home and cut it out to return to school Monday.  We will be using our feet to measure and measuring our feet next week.  I think they will really enjoy the activities that have been planned.

Also, please send in an easy family recipe to share with the class by next Friday the 29th.  We will be using these as we begin our study of capacity.  If you would be willing to make it for our class to share one day please let me know.

Happy Easter!!!

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh................

Children's Theatre was a lot of fun today.  The children seemed to really enjoy Hansel and Gretel.

We ate lunch as soon as we returned and then began talking about plants.  We investigated our tree and it's roots and talked about how the roots help feed the plant.  We looked at our celery experiment and can tell that some of the celery leaves are turning blue just like the water that is in the jar.  That experiment gives us a good idea of how roots work and how water travels through them to nourish the plant.  We also started one more experiment ~ the potato experiment.  We drew faces on real potatoes and put them to bed in a cool dark place.  We can't wait to see what happens to them.

Be sure to visit our Garden blog to keep up with all of our class experiments.  The link is on the left under favorite links.

Happy Monday!

Most of the children completed their Dibels testing today.  Results will be coming home next week.  Since testing took up most of our morning we did not have literacy centers.  This afternoon, however, we were able to get a lot of work done.  We made flowers and labeled their parts.  We also talked about why their parts are important.

During math today we compared sizes and practiced saying math sentences.  This is difficult, but the children are catching on quickly.  Hopefully we will have plants to measure before long!

The Fabulous 50's!

Fifties day was a blast!  The children looked precious and had a great time exploring the number 50 and learning about a time long ago.  We listened  to records on a real record player and talked about how it works and that back in the 50's that was how they listened  to music.We made a 45 record to write 150 days on and hang in our room.  We listened to fifties music and learned how to twist too.  We have some great twisters in our class!  After lunch we had a special treat for snack ~ root beer floats.  They were a BIG hit!  You may be getting a request for one soon!  Our bubble blowing contest was fun too.

Today we planted our eggshell people's hair (chives).  We are planning on a salad snack day when we can add some of our own chives to the salad.  Yum!  We also turned into scientific investigators.  We are conducting several plant experiments.  We hung Ziplocs in our window that contain a lima bean and a moist towel to determine if plants need dirt to grow.  We placed two plants in our closet to determine what will happen if they receive no light and some water or no light or water at all.  We placed one plant in front of our window that we will not water and one plant in the window that we will water.  We created prediction charts for each experiment as well and will be recording our results.  Look for an online seed and plant journal coming soon!

Yucky Math!

I played a belated April Fools on the class today during math.  After reading Inch By Inch by Leo Lionni ( a book about an inch worm who measures parts of birds to avoid being eaten) I passed out "worms" to the class.  I made a big deal about them wiggling and feeling yucky and then telling the children as I carefully placed one in their hands to be really careful with them.  Their response was hysterical!  Even after seeing that it was a gummy they continued playing along until the last person got their worm.  One child was even worried because hers wasn't moving!!  They had a great time measuring things around the classroom and were very creative with what they measured.  After measuring they exchanged their inch worm for a gummy worm treat to snack on while we shared what we had measured.  It was a lot of fun!

This week proves to be busy.  Here are a few things going on in our room:

Introduction to our plant unit
Making egg people and growing grass seed for their hair
Making real Mr. Potato Heads to examine their roots
Measuring using non standard measurement
Leo Lionni author study
DIBELS practice

Please review the practice sheets for DIBELS with your child nightly. We will be testing next Monday and Tuesday.

Me and my Shadow

We all had a new friend in our class today... our shadows!  We began the day watching a short clip on the Earth and Sun and their relationship. We learned that even though it looks like the sun is moving across the sky it is really the Earth spinning on its axis.  We talked about directions and learned that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West because the Earth spins in a westward direction.  We monitored the sun's trip across the sky by measuring our shadows throughout the day.  At 9:00 a.m. our shadows were very long and big.  At that time our partners drew our shadows with chalk.  We put our initials on them and checked them at 10:40 on the way to lunch. They had moved!  It was very exciting.  We checked them again at 1:30 after library and they had moved again and shrunk.  They looked like baby shadows!  This was a silly discovery!  We also looked at where the sun was at that time.  It was almost directly over head instead of on the other side of the sky where we saw it this morning.  As an extra homework assignment I asked the children to go outside after dinner and see where it is then.  We will talk about it tomorrow morning.

Bring in the Band!

This morningwe read the book Igor, The Bird Who Couldn't Sing.  We had a lot of fun playing a variety of musical instruments similar to the ones in the book.  Instead of singing every time Igor sang we played our instruments.  Since his singing was supposed to sound awful the louder and clangier our music got the better! 

This afternoon we compared maps and globes and learned a new word, sphere.  The children really like their new big kid word.  After reading about and comparing maps and globes we painted the Earth.  We talked about the seven continents and learned a song about them.  We made sure to show all seven in our paintings.  We also talked about the relationship the sun, moon and Earth have with each other.  Tomorrow we will do an experiment with shadows that is sure to be a hit.  Keep your fingers crossed for lots of sunshine!

The children are bringing home notes today about our 50's day next Wednesday the 13th.  Some of you may remember our plan to have one in the fall, but because of meetings and illness we did not get to implement our plans.  Therefore for the 150th day of school we are going to try it again.  We will celebrate 50 all day long with fun activities and snacks.  The children will be able to dress up like a 1950's kid in poodle skirts, rolled up jeans, t-shirts and bobby socks.  It should be a lot of fun!