Our latest reading unit is on how the world changes. We are only halfway through the four week unit. In the first two weeks, we have focused on how animals and plants grow and change, as well as, animal locomotion. From our reading we discovered that animals move to survive. There are many different verbs to describe movement. We recorded all the verbs we have found in our reading books on a "Move It" chart.
We also used a digital tool called padlet to share our learning. The students had to scan a QR code to have access to the padlet. Then, the assignment was to take a photo showing text evidence of animal locomotion in one of their reading books. The students had to take the photo and upload it to the padlet, they also had to write the verb describing how the animal moved. The students were so excited to share their work.
The children were very interested in the science investigations we did before Halloween with pumpkins. So, we decided to keep it going. Meet Jack and Jake. These two are from our class' pumpkins that we carved on Halloween. Then, after Halloween we put them in a plastic container with some soil on the bottom. In reading, we have been studying how things in our world grow and change and with Jack and Jake we had a real life examples to observe and study.
Our experiment began on November 2nd, our first day back after Halloween. We had a bright, orange, round pumpkin. On day one we drew the pumpkin and made a prediction about how it would look in twenty days.
Next, we watched. Jack and Jake changed. They grew some white fuzz. The flesh of the pumpkins turned black. Part of an eye collapsed and fell. Smiles became quite droopy. And, let's not forget about another significant change.....the SMELL! Yikes! We had to put them outside. About every three days the scientists recorded observations in their journals.
At the end of 20 days, the pumpkins are hardly recognizable. Decay....one way things in our world can change.
Over the last five weeks in reader's workshop we have been researching the question: "How are my friends and family connected to me?" In our small groups we have read several books on the topic. Further, we have had wonderful class discussions. Click on the Friends & Family link above to see the leveled books the children have read in their guided reading groups.
The reading unit began by focusing on friends. In class, we read the book How to Lose All Your Friends. While the students loved the book, they were appalled by the girl's behavior. We decided to do a rewrite! Together the students put together the main ideas of how to be a good friend. They came up with six ideas:
1. Smile.
2. Share
3. Be a good sport.
4. Be kind and helpful.
5. Talk and listen.
Next, the students got into small groups. Each group took one of the main ideas from our list. They used our guided reading books about friends to come up with details (examples) of each good friend trait. They had amazing discussions. Then, we began filming scenarios of children being good friends. We used iMovie to put together this short video trailer on how to be a good friend. The children did an amazing job on their first inquiry project about friends.
In the last half of the unit, we have been focusing on inquiry questions about family. We have discussed how families are alike and different, how families are a part of who we are, and what families share. Through all our reading and discussing, one main theme kept reoccurring: all families look and act differently but love is the most important thing to share. Here is a poster of all our inquiry questions about friends and family and the notes from our class collaborative conversations.
To wrap up our family study, each student composed a story about their families. To begin the writing project I showed the students a pencil drawing of stick figures and told them it was my family. While the students were being very polite about my drawing, I eventually got them to tell me that my picture lacked detail. I then showed them a colored drawing of my family that included lots of details. They felt that drawing was much better. The students then made very detailed drawings of their own families.
Next we compared two stories, one lacked detail (This is my family. This is my mom. This is my dad.) It reminded the students of my stick figure drawing. The writers had the assignment to take my "blah" story, cut it up, and add details. They learned to revise.
We are still working on editing and publishing our family writing. The children are proud of their work. They are loving sharing their stories with the class. Stay tuned, the published stories should be hanging in our hallway by the end of the week. Here is a quick preview of a couple of the papers.
This is My Family
This is my family. My family is nice. This is my dad. He likes to build stuff. He likes football. This is my sister. She has a lot of friends. She went to this school for three years. This is my mom. She likes making glass. She is a nurse so she can help me when I get hurt. I love my family.
This is My Family
This is mom. She likes to be pretty. She likes to snuggle. This is my dad. My dad likes to rake. He is funny. This is my brother. He plays a lot. His favorite color is green. This is my sister. She is cute. She loves me. This is my family.
Friday was the 55th day of school. We celebrated the 55th day with all sorts of 50's themed activities. We had a "Boogie Woogie" great time! We started the day by greeting each other with the "Hand Jive." The students were confused by our outfits, so we spent some time talking about the 50's and now. We used the interactive white board to sort pictures into a Venn Diagram about the 1950's and now. The students were surprised that the hula hoop, Candy Land, and Legos were all popular toys in the 50's. Good thing all those things would be part of our day!
During math we had four different stations. One was measuring 50's objects with Tootsie Rolls. Students also practiced three addend addition with a bowling game. There was a Count, Tally, and Graph activity with 50's objects like records and jukeboxes. The last station was building something with 55 Legos. In a very 2015 fashion, students took a picture of their 55 Lego creation, uploaded it to their digital portfolio, and wrote a caption about their creation.
During spelling, the students spelled 50 words. We listened to 50's music and roamed the room with clipboards to find the perfect 50 words. During read aloud, we listened to Harold and Purple Crayon because it was published in the 50's. We also ordered the recipe for making a Root Beer float. Our day ended with a hula hoop contest. Mrs. Bond's class won, they were amazing! We had Root Beer floats. Thank you Ms. Claudean. For our final 20 minutes, the students enjoyed playing Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders.
We were busy learning and playing all day. It was so much fun! I couldn't get all the photos or activities into the post, so here is a little slideshow with some more!
This week we continued to work on subtraction. Subtraction is a tough concept so I am always looking for new and interesting ways to practice. I found these great minus mustaches from a teacher blogger named Elizabeth Hall, then Miss Schultz was willing to add it to her lesson. The children got in lots of subtraction practice in between all the giggles!
