June 12th

Summer Break!

Summer break is here! I have sent  home a summer treat and summer practice package! 

There will be Math and English review! Do one question a day to keep those academic skills sharp!   Also there will be a Show and Tell Assignment that your children will need to 

complete over the summer break. We will begin presentations on July 17th! 

Choose one item on the list to complete over the summer break. 1) Bring an item that shows what you love to do, ex) soccer ball 2) Dairy or Scrapbook of your summer holiday   3) A nature box of items collected while outside.

This summer practice package is VITAL to keeping them on track and to help with academic success!

As always you have free access to: 

Raz-Kids: https://www.raz-kids.com/ (dmeerveld0 or aem00)

ABCya!: http://www.abcya.com/ 

Prodigy: https://www.prodigygame.com/ 

PBSkids: http://pbskids.org/ 

National Geographic Kids:https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/ 

Funbrain: https://www.funbrain.com/ 

Brainpop: https://www.brainpop.com/ 

Breaking News English:https://breakingnewsenglish.com/ 

Story online: http://www.storylineonline.net/ 

Epic!: https://www.getepic.com/app/profile-select 

Have a wonderful and safe holiday break!

June 11th

SLIME!

Today for science we made slime! 

Students read the ingredients list and then we took turns reading the directions out loud. Then groups were given the supplies and each member took over a part of making the slime.

After making the slime students filled out some comprehension questions about the process!

We did a few scientific experiments with the slime before it was play time!

We did a poke test, both slow and quick! We did a pull test (testing stretch), a blob test (rolling the slim into a ball), and a bounce test!

Students recorded their observations/data from each test and then got free time to play with the slime that had just created!

June 6th

Reading Circles

I have started "Reading Circles" with my students! This is a classroom instructional strategy that allows small groups of students to get together and connects all aspects of literacy with each other. I have them leveled by reading ability! All low level students are grouped together so that they can receive teacher support and guidance with the reading and comprehension questions/activities and my higher leveled students are independently monitoring their own group work. 

I have 5 different levels set up for my reading circles! I printed off some Raz-Kids leveled readers and worksheets which focus on: 

Reading Strategies, Comprehension, Phonics, Grammar and Mechanics, and Word Work (antonyms, rhyming words, vocabulary, etc).

They each group will then have Discussion cards and a Comprehension quiz to complete for each book they read. 

I will then have one student from each level come together in a Literature Circle to share and inform the other members on the book and tasks they've just completed. 

In literature circles, small groups of students gather together to discuss a piece of literature in depth. The discussion is guided by students' response to what they have read. You may hear talk about events and characters in the book, the author's craft, or personal experiences related to the story.

 This type of activity provides a way for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection as they read, discuss, and respond to books. Collaboration is at the heart of this approach!!!

June 4th

Science-Soil Project Part 1

We have not finished exploring our Soil Unit, but decided to do a mid-unit assessment piece where students choose to make a brochure, a poster or a video on what they had learned so far from the unit.

I helped students by showing them how to visually plan out their posters and we did brochure templates as well! 

Final Student productions turned out excellent~!

These students have certainly been paying attention in science class! Next we will work on adding details to our projects! 

May 24th- Field Trip

We took a field trip today to ZenXin Organic farm! The students have learned about plants in the previous science unit and we have moved onto soils! What better place to consolidate some learning then at a farm where there are plenty of plants and soil to investigate!

We learned a lot about farming and organic practices and we also learned the importance of Mud Balls (To clean and sanitize the water pond)!

Students loved making noodles with their own hands!

We also got to see some animals on the farm; Rabbits, Geese, and Turkeys!

The students enoyed the tour of the farm where they got to try some fresh fruit and vegetables right off the plant!

We were served a delicious lunch full of the produce that is grown on the farm!

Thank you to all the parent volunteers! It was a great day and I can't wait for our next trip

May 22nd

Math- Rounding and Number Sense

Students have been exploring rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100! We have discussed the rules of rounding: 

0 or 5 stay the same, 5 or more round up, 5 or less round down!

Talking about the neighboring numbers and how they play a role in rounding as well!

Students have been working on a number of Math stations to practice their Number Sense skills: Using number lines, tally marks, less than/more than/equal to, using number arrays and puzzles to build and solve problems.

May 21st

Virtue of the Month- C ourage

We've been talking about courage this month and what that might look like, sound like, and feels like!

We've discussed a number of quotes by famous people on courage and what those quotes mean to us personally. 

Students discussed these in groups and collaborated on their answer sheet and then shared their quote and thoughts to the other Table Groups in class.

We watch the Read Aloud of -"The Man Who Walked Between the Towers" by Mordicai Gerstein and discussed how his actions where courageous.

May 14th

Mapping- Social Studies

Students started by creating a 'Mind Map' of all the things they knew about maps/mapping/directions

We then went through some essential basics of map components and practiced some N.E.S.W directional locations (North.East.South.West).

We read -"Mapping Penny's World" by Loreen Leedy. Afterwards we reviewed some of the symbols and parts of maps that were contained in the book.

We then did a "Mapping our World" activity, where students followed a checklist of directions in order to create a map. This also allowed me to assess students comprehension of the content we had just learned. 

May 11th

Soil Horizon Cups

After our exploration of the soil horizons, I had students work in groups to create a representation of each layer. Because I didn't want the students to be on a sugar high all day from candy/food soil cups. I had the groups brainstorm what materials they can use to represent each layer from the craft supplies that I have and from materials gathered outside (ex. buttons for the Bedrock, grass for Organic Layer). 

They will plan as a group what materials to gather, they will then go gather up supplies and will lay them out on a desk and place a label by each object/item. 

Here are some photo's from each group, allowing me to assess understanding/ thinking/ communication/ knowledge skills.

Some groups stacked the cups in layers, which I loved because it made separating the items to recycle much easier! And made it easier to see the distinct materials used to represent each layer.

This group mixed the materials together in the cup (as the instructions indicated). In reflection, I think this style makes it a little harder to distinguish the different layers from each other.