Week of December 16, 2013

We practiced writing, identifying, and building numbers this week.  One way we did this was by making number strips that started at 1 and stopped at 200.  I saw everyone working really hard on this challenge!

We published our first writing piece this week. Students had to revise and edit their work.  They also got to illustrate using markers and colored pencils. We celebrated by sharing them with Mrs. Jackson's 2nd grade class.

In Word Study, we worked on spelling words that used -ing, -ang, -ong, and -ung.  Our Word Wall words were my, by, and that.

I hope everyone has a fun and restful vacation!  See you in January!

Week of December 9, 2013

In math this week, we did an activity where we had to trace our footprints.  Students had to make an estimate about how many tiles it would take to fill in their footprint.  They checked their estimate by filling in their footprints and counting up the tiles.  We collected everyone's number and analyzed the data as a class.

In writing, students are working on revising and editing their Small Moment writing pieces, so that we can publish them before vacation!  The story needs to have a beginning, middle, and end and lots of interesting details.

We had a celebration today for reaching our points goal last week!  We made crowns this morning and wore them during the school day!  

Our Word Wall words this week were there, where, and that.

Week of December 2nd, 2013

We have been working on subtraction story problems.  These are two pieces of work that made it up on the Marvelous Math Wall.  These two students remembered a label, an equation, their numbers are formed correctly, and their math thinking is easily understood. 

During Math Menu,  some students worked on writing addition and subtraction story problems.  This will be an independent choice next week during Math Menu.  Students will write them and place them in our Problem Box.  Other students will then have an opportunity to solve the problems in their math journals.

Students also worked on their place value skills by playing Base Ten Bingo on the computer.  Here is the link if you would like to play at home!

Base Ten Bingo

During Social  Studies, we focused on maps and the different parts of a map.  We created a map of our classroom.

We started a new read aloud book right before vacation.  It is called Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe.  We have also been reading the Knuffle Bunny books during writing time and looking at the clear beginning, middle, and end of the story.

Our Word Wall words this week were who, what, and when.

Week of November 18, 2013

We have started working on subtraction this week.  Students played Roll and Record Subtraction and Five in a Row Subtraction.

We also worked on subtraction story problems.  Students must show their thinking, have an equation, numbers formed correctly, and have a label.  Here is how one student chose to show his work.

Students have been working on an app called Mystery Math Town.  They must use 2 addends to make a sum.

Our Word Wall words this week were was and were.  We have also been working on adding the ending S to words. We also learned that sometimes S can sounds like a Z at the end of a word.

Week of November 11th, 2013

We have been working more on addition story problems.  Our work must have an equation, show our thinking, a label, and all the numbers must be formed correctly.  This student showed counting on.

In math menu, we worked on combination story problems.  Students built and recorded all the ways to make 10.

They also played Hungry Fish on the iPads. 

Students  played Base Ten Fun on the computer. 

Check it out: http://www.abcya.com/base_ten_fun.htm

They worked in their math binders.

On Wednesday, we played Hang Mouse with words that used -an, -am, or -all.

We have been writing fictional stories that begin with the sentence starter, "One cold night..."

Our Word Wall words were from, have, do, and does.

Week of November 4th, 2013

We have started a new math unit.  The unit is called Solving Story Problems.  We are working on building models out of unifix cubes to show our thinking. Students are being challenged to think of as many combinations to make a certain number.  

We also learned two new math games this week.  They were called How Many Am I Hiding? and Counters In A Cup.  They both require students to solve for a missing addend. 

In writing, we are working on adding our feelings to our Small Moment pieces.  You can tell your feelings but you can also make your characters show their feelings.  We also wrote in our Friday Journals!  Students are getting much better at remembering a letter format.

In Social Studies, we have started learning about Community.  We have read some books about communities and we have brainstormed some communities that we are a part of.  We used Google Earth as a class, and pinned where everyone lived in Jericho.  It was really fun!

In Word Study, we have been working on bonus letter words.  These are words that end with two L's, S's, or F's like the word mess.  Our Word Wall words this week were one, said, and was.

Week of October 28th, 2013

Nurse Amy came to share about calling 911 when there is an emergency.  

We did the spider web greeting on Halloween and we even had a spider for our web! 

We have been working on describing and building different shapes.  We had to draw shapes that had different number of sides and different length sides.  We used the Geoboards to help us build the shapes before we drew them.

Mr. Bouchard taught us the Geoboard app.  Students had fun exploring it today, and it will be a choice next week during Math Menu.

In writing, we worked on unfreezing our characters.  This means getting characters in your story to move and talk.  Some students even tried using quotation marks in their stories!  Thank you to all the parents who wrote letters back to us in our Friday Journals!  Be on the lookout for a new letter coming your way!

Our Word Wall words this week were you, your, and they.

Spelling City!

Looking for a way to practice spelling?  On Wednesdays, we practice our spelling words using a website called Spelling City.  We do it as a whole class using our BrightLink.  Students may use this website at home. You can go to Spelling City and click on Find A List.  You can search for our spelling words by typing in my last name (henault).  Our newest words are on the top, but students could practice any list.  Enjoy!

Fire Trucks Visit!

The Underhill/Jericho Firefighters came to visit us yesterday.  They taught us about fire safety and about their fire trucks.  We even got to see them use their fire hose! 

Week of October 21st, 2013

We started a new morning job today.  Students had to write 10 Word Wall words.

Hard at work during Daily 5 time!  Reading, writing, and listening!

We started a new unit in math.  Students are working on describing shapes and building with them.  We played a game called Fill the Hexagon.  We worked as a group to list all of the ways you could build a hexagon using other shapes.

During Math Menu, I met with different groups to work on story problems.  Some of the work went up on the Marvelous Math Work wall.  These students were working on using strategies to find all of the combinations to make 9.

Be on the lookout for Friday Journals and Friday Homework Folders!  Both of these come home on Friday and should return to school on Thursday.  Students should read the letter they wrote to an adult and the adult can respond within the journal.

Students should be reading at least 40 minutes a week and recording it in their Reading Log.  If students bring the Reading Log back on Thursday, they may put a marble in our jar.  Once the jar is full, we get to pick out a new book for our classroom library.

We went past our goal this week!  Next week we will be celebrating by watching a special Magic School Bus video on Thursday.

Our Word Wall words this week were he, be, she, we, for, and or.