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!

Awesome Maps!

The children did a fabulous job on their bedroom maps.  They have really enjoyed sharing them with the class.  It looks like pools and trampolines are the most popular items in the fantasy bedroom collection.  I especially like the ones where the trampoline also serves as a diving board!

We have been really busy this week.  Our schedule has been off again due to testing, however today was the last day.  Yippee!  It makes for a really long day when we come in from lunch and recess around 11:40 and are in the room until 3:00 with no breaks.  They've been troopers, but are ready to get back  to normal.  Me too!!

In addition to our bedroom map project we have completed a "map of me" at school.  We read the book Parts, which they loved, and talked about our body parts.  We then made "mini me's" complete with a shirt that opens like a book where we included our map keys.  The children identified their eyes, nose, mouth, heart and belly button by using different symbols and then created a map key for people to read their maps.  They did a great job on this!  There are a couple of pictures of them below.

Today we compared what a map of the city and country would show.  We watched a short video of The Country Mouse and The City Mouse and then compared the city and country using a Venn Diagram.  Tomorrow we are going to read The Little House and add additional comparisons.

We are also discussing fact and fantasy in the books we read.  Yesterday we read a book that had facts about different means of transportation in the back.  We painted beautiful hot air balloons and added a fact about a favorite means of transportation and then added it to the balloon's basket.

Today we painted kites after reading The Kite Festival and wrote two things we remembered about the story on kite ribbons.  Tomorrow we will cut our kites out and add our tail and  ribbons.



Me on the Map

Yesterday we began our study of maps.  We created a KWL chart (what we know, want to know and have learned) about maps.  The children did a really good job listing things they already know about maps and what the want to lean about.  I will use their responses to guide our study of maps.  Today we color coded a map of LES and then created a map key or legend for our map.  These will be hung up so the children can refer to them during our study.

We are still discussing money and have lots of play money to work with.  We should be ready for our Truck Stop to open next week.

Finally, testing in the upper grades started today so we have a crazy schedule this week and the other testing days.  The kids think it is so funny to go places at the "wrong" time.  Be sure to ask them about it!

Happy Spring Break!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Spring Break.  See you on the 21st!!

Happy Tuesday!

We have been busy today talking about community helpers, goods and services.  Goods and services is a difficult concept for the children to initially comprehend because of the terms involved.  Once we discovered that goods has nothing to do with being good, but about things we buy it got much easier!  Please continue reinforcing these concepts at home.

We are continuing our discussion of money and are learning about quarters this week.

Today we welcomed a new student, Hunter, from North Carolina.  We are all excited about him joining our class.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We had a fun day celebrating Dr. Seuss' 107th birthday today.  We had a surprise guest in the library this morning to celebrate with us.  It was The Cat in the Hat!  Everyone was so excited.  After listening to a story the Cat came to our room and took a picture with us.  We read Green Eggs and Ham, Are You My Mother? and Hurray For Diffendoor Day!  We even watched a short video of Green Eggs and Ham.  The children loved it. 

We began a new round of community helper centers today and worked on a fireman page for our community helper book.  We also watched two short videos of friends of mine who are a police officer and a firefighter.  They told us about their jobs and showed us some of the special tools they use.  Officer Wood even sounded the siren on his police car.  It was so cool!!

Our special guest!